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In yesterday’s post, I mentioned Ben Yoskovitz’s Ultimate Guide to Productivity, which looks like it’s shaping up to be THE definitive collection of helpful hints, tips, ideas and just plain good sense when it comes to, well, the P-word.

The refreshing thing about someone like Ben is, although you never doubt that he has it all together when it comes to productivity, he doesn’t try to come across as some know-it-all guru or anything. Nope, he’s more than willing to admit there’s more than one way (warning: cliché alert!) to polish that pumpkin. As a matter of fact, he’s asking for your input.

If you’ve got a suggestion, tip, helpful hint, method, creative thought, passing fancy, or even a glimmer of an idea on the subject of productivity, then all you have to do is write a post about it and drop Ben a line. There’s already about 75 or so entries, and once he tops 100, he’ll start collecting them into an e-book.

Now wouldn’t that be the cat’s meow!

Anyway, what finally kicked me off was getting tagged by Gayla McCord over at Mom Gadget with that productivity meme that’s been traveling around since the project started. So, although it’s a bit late (sorry Gayla, I’m afraid my synapses took the scenic route) here’s my contribution to the pile body of knowledge on the subject.

My Key to Productivity: Focus

What I’ve discovered, after meditating on it a bit, is that I don’t really have any actual productivity technique. Now, although that sounds a bit strange at first, if you’ll bear with me a bit I’ll show you what I mean.

At home, I am admittedly somewhat, er, less-than-productive. That isn’t to say I don’t get things done – I do. But generally speaking, I have a relatively relaxed view of life, and what I don’t get to, well, I just don’t get to. Oh, sure, important things like bills, home upkeep, etc. – well, no problem there. But elective stuff, like planting a new bush or painting the dining room – well, sometimes it takes me a while to find that pesky round tuit. (‘Course, it’s even worse now that I’ve discovered blogging!)

But at work, it’s a different story. As a Project Manager, I generally have to maintain a certain level of productivity in order to keep my head above the waves, so to speak, which translates into a heckuva herd of cats for every project (and I currently manage a bunch). However, I’ve found that I sortof “do what I have to do, when I need to do it” without any specific plan, or guide, or whatever.

I mean sure, I use the usual tools: Outlook, Excel, various scheduling tools, etc., but when you get right down to it, those aren’t the things that make me productive.

It’s…  focus.

After everything is said and done, the fact is, the things I focus on are the things that get done. And, by focusing on the task at hand, then being productive comes almost automatically. After all, the challenge isn’t in knowing what to do; most of us already know that.

No, the real challenge for most of us (and I’m including myself as a charter member of this particular club!) is in actually focusing our energies on it. That’s when we become productive. The truth is, every tool imaginable, no matter how useful, won’t make you productive.

But Focus will.

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