journey

PHOENIX FOCUS | How Productive Are You?
1 | When working or doing household
projects, I generally:
How Productive
Are You?
A. Keep an organized list of tasks that I check off when I
finish them.
B. Will create a list, but often I don’t use it.
C. Just go with what’s in my head when completing
tasks. I don’t write anything down.
Take our quiz and find out if you’re
up to the task when it comes to being
productive.
2 | When I’m engaged in something that I
need to concentrate on for a few hours in
order to finish, I:
A. Only check emails at a designated time, when I know
I can respond to them. I don’t let anything interrupt me
when I’m working.
By Jenny Jedeikin
B. Work for an hour without checking emails, but then I
interrupt whatever I’m doing to check email.
Iconic American novelist Ernest Hemingway
once quipped, “Never mistake motion for
action.” Indeed, if you want to be more
productive, don’t just get busy putting in
more hours. Instead take a look at how much
you actually accomplish in a day, and try to
improve your ability to focus on tasks through
completion.
C. Check and read emails as they come in, no matter
what I’m doing. I’m obsessed with reading new emails. I
don’t mind distractions.
3 | When I need to find an important
document, like a birth certificate or a
computer document that’s more than a
year old, I:
4 | When I start something, like a book or a
home project, I:
5 | If I’m in the middle of a project and I suddenly
remember an unrelated task I need to do, I:
Whether you’re working on a website redesign,
filing your income taxes or redecorating your home,
by becoming more aware of your productivity and
understanding your habits, you’ll find ways to enhance
your process.
Our quiz helps you discover your productivity quotient.
A. Know where things are filed. I can always find what
I need.
B. Can locate it sometimes. Some items are organized,
while others are not.
C. Have to give myself at least an hour or two—my
information isn’t very organized.
A. Always finish what I start.
B. Will finish it, although it may take me several weeks
or months.
C. Don’t finish it because I’m often distracted by
something else.
A. Jot it down briefly and go back to the task at hand.
B. Might take a few minutes to work on the new task, but I’ll get
back to what I was doing a bit later.
C. Will likely shift gears entirely and start working on the new task.
Multitasking is how I work—I have a hard time sticking to just one
thing.
14 PHOENIX FOCUS | Spring 2016
alumni.phoenix.edu 15