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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1178 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
12 Guidelines to Increase Productivity - Ask Gramps


Wisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge.  Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy.  Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1178 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday, we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable.   If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com

So the question for this week is:

“Hey, Gramps, you seemed to remain very productive in all areas of life, while I struggle with productivity and feel like I can‘t keep my head above water to complete even some of the basic tasks that I should. What are some wise tips that you can give me that will help to become much more productive?
12 Guidelines to Increase Productivity
While it may appear that I am very productive, I have to admit, that I too struggle, at times, to remain productive.  I am very agenda-driven, and attempt to follow my daily tasks list, but when unexpected, or expected interruptions enter my day, I too can find myself heading down a rabbit trail.   Here are 12 guidelines, or rules, that I have found to be helpful, and if you apply them, they should help you also.

Choose the right time. Nearly everyone has times of the day when they are most effective and times when they tend to drag. It’s smart to schedule the most critical tasks for your most effective time of the day. For me, it is definitely between 7 AM and 12 Noon.
Toss it. If a task doesn’t really need to be done, just get rid of it altogether. So often we get bogged down with non-essential task. They are just fillers.
Get the bad stuff out of the way. Do the unpleasant items quickly and as early in the day as possible. That way, they are clear from your mind, and you can stop procrastinating because you know they still need to be done.
Create your task list the night before, or at the very beginning of each day. This way, as you begin each morning, you will know what you need to accomplish that day. This can be even most effective when planned the night before. Once you have a sense of direction, you can spend all your time getting things done!
Eliminate all communication. While you’re working, turn off the phone / cell phone, and don’t check your email. Hang a sign that says, “Do not disturb,” if necessary. You don’t have to do this for all your tasks, but at least do it during the more difficult items. There are very few calls or emails that require immediate attention.
Batch similar tasks together. Do all your emailing at one time. Make all your phone calls at another. Open your snail mail during a set block of time. You’ll waste less time doing your work in this fashion.
Set a timer. Even if a task might take hours,