Host: How can I use my time to increase productivity?

Sean McArdle: Now, that is a good question because in essence, productivity goes back to values. What do we want to be productive at? I saw a machine on an airline magazine that says in four minutes a day you can get the same workout that somebody gets somebody gets in four hours over the period of a week.

Is it true? My answer is probably, not. But it does not mean that people do not understand the meaning of time. So, in order to be more productive if I could take something that now takes me four hours and do it in four minutes that would be highly productive. So, it starts with the value sort. What do I want to be productive at? Then investing the time on purpose, planning it on paper in advance to do those things that you need to be most productive on, on a regular and consistent basis.

Now, I also want to say this, one of the things about The Theory of Relativity is that Einstein we are told was trying to figure out how long it would take to drive his motorcycle to the Sun and the answer is that is relative to two things, distance and speed. If you were going 60 miles an hour, it would take him half as much time as if he were going 30 miles an hour.

So, in that case the motorcycle speed made him more productive. So, what is going to make you more productive is increasing your skill sets at the things that you think are valuable. So, for instance, at work if typing is valuable to you and you are a Hunt and Pecker then you should invest your time in a touch typing course, so that you become more productive when you are typing things, because after all, typing itself is not a very productive effort, but if it is part of your job and you have been saving immense amount of time by doing it more effectively, it is something I would invest some time in.

So, go through your life, do the value sort and then make a decision to become better and better and what it is that you think is most important to you.