The key to staying productive over the long-term is to build a strong foundation of integrity. In this article, you will learn how a manager can improve work ethic by focusing on the first pillar of integrity: impeccable agreements, as well as 7 ways to sabotage productivity and 4 key parts of Agreement Logs.
When you have a solid integrity base within yourself and with others, you are trust-worthy and reliable. People want to work with you. Being impeccable with your word goes a long way towards building a work team that people want to be part of.
7 Ways To Sabotage Productivity
On the flip side, the 7 easiest ways to sabotage work ethic and productivity are simply …
- Not keeping promises you make,
- Failing to put a “by when” when you agree to something,
- Making fuzzy agreements,
- Committing to something you don’t want to,
- Not changing agreements that aren’t working,
- Not owning up to broken promises, and
- Failing to communicate your desire to change an agreement when it comes up.
An agreement is a formal or informal contract with yourself or another person. It is anything you have said you would do or anything you have said you would not do. It could be as simple as “I commit to writing in my journal every evening before I go to bed” or “I agree to call you at 11:00 am Friday.” It might be complex like “I commit to finish writing my book by September 15” or “I agree to complete a first draft of my chapter by the end of next week.”
The secret to starting and staying on the straight and narrow path of being impeccable with your agreements is to written them down. Taken them out of your mind and put them on paper. If you’re like me, you’d appreciate having one less thing to think about. Doing so frees up more creative energy that would otherwise be tied up in trying to juggle too many things mentally. Don’t rely on your mind to remember everything.
Write down all the agreements you make … from this point forward. On a separate piece of paper, create an Agreement Log for yourself. Write everything down as close to the point of agreeing as possible.
Agreement Log
There are four key parts for you to include in your agreement log:
- With whom the agreement has been made,
- The smallest measurable action step towards completion,
- By when you plan to take action, and
- Date in which you took action.
Stay productive and increase your work ethic by writing down with whom, the next action step, a “by when,” and the date all agreements are completed.
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From Phil Johncock – The Productivity Genius
