High performance and productivity have more elements and characteristics than you can shake a stick at. The literature in the field is full of tips for improving your performance and productivity.
But you don’t want to spend months or years trying to figure out what works best for you. So, from time to time those of us who spend a great deal of attention on these issues come up with handy little lists of essentials to help you focus on the more meaningful and helpful areas to work on.
Here’s one of my latest ones. I’ll be taking each of the elements and expanding them in later posts.
But, don’t just wait for me! You can use the list to go out and research what others have already said. And if you do wait for me, I’ll be including my favorite links in those future posts on the elements.
The List: 10 Essential Elements of Performance and Productivity

1. Energy — You have to have the physical and psychological stamina and drive to start, follow through and finish up. We all have be taught to think about time management for getting things done, but the real work is in energy management. You can plan and strategize and schedule all you want, but if you don’t have the energy at the time you schedule the action or the stamina to go through all the steps to finish, the time doesn’t matter at all.