HBR 20-Minute Manager Boxed Set (10 Books) (HBR 20-Minute Manager Series)

Why Invest Time in Improving Your Productivity?

5

Commit to change

It’s important to believe that you can become more

organized, that you can change your work habits and

improve your effi ciency. You may think that you’re

built to work a certain way or that the way you work

is too ingrained to be altered—either you’re a morn-

ing person or you’re not; either you’re organized or

you thrive in chaos and clutter. This is not true. Good

habits can be learned, and, even better, they can be-

come routine.

In today’s world of instant communication, we

have become drawn to urgency. It pulls us in and

gives us a false sense of productivity (see the sidebar

“Busy Doesn’t Mean Productive”). But putting sys-

tems in place to organize your work helps to dissipate ...