One of the most recognized universities in the world, Harvard, says that you can be making mental mistakes without realizing it, and they are mistakes that kill your productivity and prevent you from achieving your goals and success.
Harvard experts have spent a lot of time studying the subject of success, what helps us achieve it, the tools, and even the habits that can make anyone more capable of achieving what they set out to do, but sometimes it is not only a matter of establishing good practices, but it is also necessary to identify the things and elements that negatively affect us and eliminate them.
To be successful, you have to be productive. That doesn’t have much science, and if you want to be productive, then you have to pay attention to what goes on in your mind and to those details that may be the reason why you never finish your earrings.
What Mental Mistakes Kill Success?
According to an article by Alice Boyes of the Harvard Business Review, only 26% of people end their work day having completed the tasks that were set out at the beginning, which means that most do not have a good level of productivity, which reduces their chances of being successful. That is connected to the fact that there are certain mental errors that are a problem.
5 Mental Mistakes That kill Success
1. Believing you have More Time than you Really do
The expert says that to achieve anything, you need to have concentration periods where you can fully focus on that task, and it’s easy to fall into thinking you have much more time than you really do, leading you to “extend” the task since you can’t finish it because other things appear.
With this in mind, Boyes recommends that you try to plan your day more realistically and identify priorities so that you have plenty of time to finish the most important tasks before moving on to the next ones.
2. You Ignore Effective Methods because they Seem Simple or Boring
Many studies have found methods that help you be more productive, work better, and accomplish more without rushing or spending all your time working, but many people choose to ignore this because they think it’s too simple or basic to be real and effective.
The truth is, you don’t need thousands of apps, hacks, mind games, or a smart office to be productive. Boyes says it’s all about planning and not taking on more than you can handle, even if it sounds too obvious.
3. You have an all-or-nothing Approach
To create good habits and productivity strategies, it is worth starting little by little, making mistakes along the way, or falling into bad habits from time to time. You don’t need to make extreme changes all at once, as that can lead to frustration and wanting to give up because everything doesn’t go perfectly at first.
You have to start with small changes and actions that, in the long run, will help you continue advancing, improving, and growing. Start with the changes that can be most easily achieved. Like keeping your phone in the drawer so it doesn’t distract you or setting your alarm 5 minutes before so you can get to work on time.
4. You Ignore Necessary Tasks that are not so Important
There are things that we all need to do, like taking the car to the service, maintaining the computer, or changing the light bulbs in the bathroom. These are not everyday tasks, and it is easy to forget them, but there are some cases in which doing this can affect your productivity.
For example, if you don’t check that your monitor is working before a presentation, you may run into problems on the day of the meeting, and that can leave you with a late start and a lot of stress. This is why Boyes recommends that you have a list of “instructions” about things to do and when to do them, so you don’t forget them and don’t rely solely on your memory.
5. You Ignore Small “Leaks” of Time and Energy
Things like playing games on your phone, answering a call that gets too long, or focusing on tasks that aren’t as urgent or important take time out of your day. Maybe you think that they are short moments and that they do not affect you, but when you add them up, they can represent an important part of your time, so you must take that into account when you have a deadline or a project to finish.
When you plan your day, you should include moments of rest, small breaks, or even things like your lunch time or coffee time in the afternoon, so you can have a clearer idea of what you can do.
