What is Effectiveness

According to Peter F. Drucker, efficiency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things.

In order to increase your efficacy, have good organization and make it possible for you to achieve your personal goals and objectives, you should have more control over your attitude, emotions and activities. You must practice better habits and take actions that increase your productivity and self worth.

"People, like nails, lose their effectiveness when they lose direction and begin to bend." - Walter Savage Landor

Improving Personal Effectiveness

Focus on the most important thing.

Decide on your goals and then stick to them. If you neglect this, you will easily get out of focus and fake yourself as being busy. Concentrate on what you have to do first and forget the rest. Keep asking yourself what you can do to become more efficacious.

Plan well.

Always plan your schedule days, weeks and months in advance. Write down your goals. Break them down and list your action steps. Planning your days eliminates unproductive habits and time wasters.

Control and manage your emotions.

Think positive and use your emotions to drive you instead of holding you back. Your emotions affect your thinking and thus your efficacy. Emotions are powerful and can either make or break you. Manage your emotions and you can and will improve your efficiency.

Make decisions faster and take action even if you are uncertain of the outcome.

Procrastination increases doubts and fears. Make your decisions faster and take immediate and consistent action. You overcome your fears once you set yourself to do the things that you were afraid of. Once you start something, you overcome inertia and will make a certain amount of progress. Even if you make mistakes, you'll gain something useful, become more competent and can restart all over again.

Model or emulate those who have achieved what you are seeking.

It is a shortcut to your learning process and increases your knowledge and skills. Other people are doing great things and if you want the same success, learn from them. You will gain insights and ideas, identify your capabilities. It helps you lessen your chances of making mistakes.

Use your creative imagination.

Make use of your creative imagination to speed up your success rate. What you can imagine, you can do. Creating mental images helps in overcoming your fears and affects your results and performance. Think of the times when you were efficient and recreate those moments in your mind.