Productivity, for me, is more about how you use your time in your day compared to what you do. I tend to be easily distracted, one minute I could be reading an email then the next minute my head is back into a spreadsheet looking over social media metrics and then I’m back in my inbox when I hear a new email land.
It can be hard to keep focused during the workday so here are what I feel are 10 great ways to make your day more productive! Trust me, if you follow these 10 steps you will be amazed how much more you get done in a day and how much stress it will relieve.
You can thank me later.
1. Create a good morning routine
Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love my sleep but setting your alarm with just enough time to shovel your breakfast into you and then run out the door isn’t where you want to start. Heading to the gym is my favourite way to start the day as it makes me feel much more energized and focused.
Start off your day by getting up 15-20 minutes earlier and get a good breakfast. This sounds simple, but it’s a really effective way of helping set yourself up for the day and to make sure you aren’t rushed in the morning.
2. Clean and organise your workspace
Remove any clutter that is on your desk. Having your workspace organised will enable you to work harder without anything to distract you. I like to only have my notepad, pen and water bottle on my desk.
3. Set 3-5 daily goals
When setting targets and objectives for your day, set 3-5 daily goals and list them with the most important first. If there is one that you really don’t want to do, do this one first! This will help you out for the rest of the day!
For me, I use the “Productivity Planner” from Intelligent Change. This is already structured out and helps me achieve more in my workday. Although it seems quite expensive at first, but if used every day it works out at less than 20 cents a day!
4. Budget your time
When creating your 3-5 goals decide roughly how long this should take you to complete this. If this is a lengthy task give it extra time, this will help in case it takes longer than expected.
Look at how long it takes for you to complete your task, if you’re still working on it after your allocated time assess whether you should add additional time to complete this task or if you should move on to the next task and come back to it later.
5. Remove distractions
This is a big one for me! Before starting your first task make sure you are ready and are not going to be distracted.
The first one is to put your phone on flight mode and out of reach! Those Snapchat or Facebook notifications won’t help you get your work done. Once you have done this close any unnecessary browsers that you have opened and only have the things you need opening for the task at hand.
If you like to listen to music while working make sure you have a playlist that you enjoy and that the songs will not distract you by making you go in and change it.
6. Focus on one thing at a time: (Don’t multitask!)
You may feel that when you are juggling two tasks at one time this helps you do more in less time but unfortunately, this is not true. When multitasking distracts our focus so that the first and original task becomes much more challenging and takes us longer to complete.
Studies found that when we are in the stages of multitasking, our attention switches between two or more pieces of work that depletes the energy resources of our mind. This is why sometimes we feel tired & exhausted yet we have done little or no physical exercise.
7. Allow breaks and rewards
If you are someone that struggles with focusing even when there are no distractions then segment your goal in to smaller 15 minutes, after each 15 minutes interval give yourself 5 minutes to stand up and stretch but stay away from your phone and try not to distract your focus from the task you are working on.
Once you complete each goal give yourself a bigger break where you can check emails, reply to calls, get a snack. Set a timer on these as well so you don’t get carried away.
8. Limit your time on social media
Working on social media this is one that can always distract me. Limit your use on these as these can completely distract you from being productive. You are able to set timer limits on use of apps. If you have an Iphone click this link and it will show you how to set limits on apps.
Google also have their Digital Wellbeing app which can help you unwind down and even grays out apps once you have exceeded the time you have entered.
9. Use your commute time
This is time in your day that is regularly wasted by many! Why not take advantage of this time by listening to audiobooks, podcasts or educational programs to help increase your rate of learning!
If you spend 1 hour commuting in a day over the space of a year this can amount to 14 full 24 hour days where you could have been using as valuable time.
10. Prioritize Your Next Day Before
This one I found really helps to get your next day started off right! Before leaving work you could write down your tasks and goals that you would like to complete the next day. This means that you are able to get going and start working as soon as you get into the office the following day!
Try some of these out for a whole week and see how much your productivity improves. Is there anything else you do which helps with your productivity? If so, let us know, we’d love to hear from you! Click here and contact us.
