So having some time to think about this recently, I realised how my own personal productivity has fluctuated during the last few years, then to observe what was going on in the world, both locally and globally. Most would tend to agree that money is quite a big motivator, some would say love (love of someone, something, etc) and some would say that it’s the challenge. I’m sure there are other motivators, but this is the objective of this post.
During my recent MBA, I noticed that I had an incredible rate of productivity, almost to the point where a few hours of sleep where enough to sustain me for the incredible learning experience I was receiving. When I think back to my pre-MBA employment, even during the normal working hours, my productivity was much less. So through analysing my situation both pre and pro MBA against that of my MBA experience, I started to draw some conclusions regarding my own productivity.

1: Direction & Distance - by applying D&D in a metaphorical sense it allows you to know where you’re going and how far you’ve gone, and how far you still have to go, making it measurable.
2: Information Flow - sometimes in the job, you don’t always get the right information, or know where to find it, sometimes you have to tackle info-hoarders to get it and sometimes there’s just too much, making it an overwhelming task. Ensuring a healthy flux of information to all the right people when and where they need it helps to remove productivity lag.
3: Capacity - as individuals or companies, we all have different capacities to process information, or to produce different quantities or qualities of work, by understanding the capacity you can optimize your productivity and take appropriate measures to compensate for lack of capacity.

I believe that you can apply this simple concept to many different situations, be that sport, business or an individuals pursuit of self-improvement. This is the starting point, the rest is up to you!