7 Tips to Finally Be More Productive

+3 Fundamental Concepts To Help You Win The Day

Have you ever gotten to the end of a month or year, and you’re like, dang, I worked my butt off, but I didn’t actually achieve any of the things I set out to do?

Sometimes, it can be difficult to strike the perfect balance between getting things done and not going crazy or spreading ourselves too thin.

I don’t love those days when I feel like I’m really busy and getting a lot of things done, but then I look back at the end of the day, and I’m like, what did I even accomplish?

Of course, I prefer to end my days and feel satisfied with what I achieved, even if it was just a few things. I’m sure you do too.

Productivity is not doing a million different little things but doing the right things and doing them well.

The productivity tips I share in this article have helped me shape how I work every week, plan for big and small projects, and ensure that I’m not just feeling productive but actually being productive.

Before Diving Into The Productivity Tips

I think a few fundamental concepts are worth going over as understanding these and applying one or all of them into your daily routine will give you some major headway into being more productive. It’ll also make the productivity tips that follow easier to incorporate into your lifestyle.

The 80/20 Principle

It’s one thing to learn how to be more productive, but if we’re not focusing our energy on the right tasks in the first place, what’s the point?

I’m sure you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, and you’re probably sick of being reminded about it. But have you actually done this exercise? ;)

The 80/20 principle says that 80% of what you achieve at work comes from 20% of the time spent on those things. Said differently: 80% of outputs result from 20% of inputs.

What tasks or activities generate the most leads or revenue in your business? Those are the tasks you should be prioritizing.

The ONE Thing

I recently read The One Thing by Gary Keller, and this question that he stresses we should be asking ourselves all the time has been a real game-changer for me :

“What is the one thing, such that if you accomplish it, everything else will be easier or obsolete?”

Every morning I ask myself this question, which helps put things into perspective and ensure I don’t get distracted on tasks that won’t actually move the needle for my business.

If you haven’t read The One Thing by Gary Keller, I can’t recommend it enough. You can even listen or read the 15 minutes synopsis on Blinkist with a 7-day trial (aff link). Blinkist is my favorite app for discovering new nonfiction books and getting a taste before purchasing them.

Batching (Calendar and Time)

Calendar batching and time batching are entirely different concepts, but they’re both time management systems that aim to organize your tasks in the most efficient way possible according to your available time.

Both of these productivity systems can be powerful when combined.

If you calendar block your time while taking into account batching similar tasks together, you’re setting yourself up to reach peak productivity during your day.

Calendar Batching

Calendar blocking is the act of assigning a task or event for each slot in your schedule. You can clearly define when and how much time you dedicate to work.

Calendar blocking allows you to see at a glance how much time you are allocating to each activity just by looking at your calendar. It allows you to balance out different areas of your life because there’s a visual representation of the allotment of time.

Time Batching

Task switching is one of the best ways to feel productive without actually being productive.

Time batching is a system that allows you to focus on groups of similar or identical tasks during a dedicated period without interruptions.

The idea behind time batching is minimizing distractions for a workflow that requires you to be focused and have attention to detail. By grouping similar tasks together, you are making it easy for yourself to get to the gist of those tasks and avoid distractions.

When we batch all those similar tasks together during the same timeframe each week, we can fly through them with much more ease.

The hidden power behind this approach is that different tasks require different types of energy.

Productivity Tips

Plan Your Ideal Week

Much of our productivity boils down to our planning ahead of time.

Planning is the secret to productivity that doesn’t feel overwhelming. You can do this at the beginning of your week by looking at the tasks, responsibilities, deadlines, and anything else that you have coming up.

Some helpful questions you can ask yourself when planning out your week are :

• What would my ideal week look like?
• What would I like to accomplish?
• When would I do them, and what kind of timeframe does it require?

Of course, things will come up. Your ideal week might never really quite happen the way you plan it, but by mapping it ahead of time, you ensure that you’re working towards that ideal week as much as possible.

“The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities.” — Steven Covey

Pick One Task

Choose just one essential task every day that you want to finish above all else. The goal then becomes to do whatever it takes to finish that one thing.

In the past, I would choose three to five things that I thought were important that I wanted to get done in a day, but that just made it easy for me to dance around the one most important thing and not get that done.

It’s also important to be realistic with that one goal because sometimes we choose this one goal that’s just too big and lofty, and then we beat ourselves up for not getting it done.

Don’t Put Off Your Most Difficult Tasks

Those tasks that are weighing on your shoulders that you keep putting off?

What happens when you put off these difficult tasks it builds up and affects your creativity, productivity, and what you can bring to each project.

If you find yourself in this situation where you’re constantly putting things off, ask yourself what would happen if you tackled that task. Will it make things easier? Will it unblock other steps in the project you’re working on? Perhaps it’s time to consider delegating some of those tasks you know need to get done that you simply dread.

Perform in Your Peak Working Window

You might’ve noticed that there’s a two-four hours window in a day where you tend to be the most productive. For me, it’s between eight and noon. For you, it might be earlier or later in the day.

It doesn’t matter when it is; what matters is that you’re mindful of when that window is and that you’re planning to work on your most important task during that timeframe.

I try to schedule the most important, difficult task or the one that requires the deepest work during that peek window of time when I have the most energy.

Protect Your Flow and Increase Uninterrupted Work Hours

There’s a big difference between working hours and uninterrupted work hours.

We all know that interruptions are pretty detrimental to our progress. Anytime we’re interrupted, we lose momentum, and it takes a lot of mental energy to remember where we were and pick things back up again.

A study found that it takes on average more than 23 minutes to return to your task when interrupted.

Whether you’re working from an office or working from home — especially if you’re working from home, there are going to be lots of interruptions, none greater than the people around you.

What can you do to protect that window of time when you need to do focus work? Could it be to turn off your phone, close your office door, put on noise-canceling headphones, etc.?

Step Back

It’s important to remind ourselves that we can’t be productive or do our best work all of the time. Sometimes working harder isn’t necessarily always the solution.

I’m a Generator in Human Design which means that when I’m passionate about what I do, I can work all day, every day. But the reality is that I do my best work when I’ve had a chance to step away, when I’m rested, and feeling energized.

Stepping away can be as simple as taking a shower or cooking dinner. I find that downtime is when the best ideas emerge.

Take Breaks

It sounds counterintuitive that breaks can increase our productivity. Still, when we work for long periods without resting or taking breaks, our minds, focus, and attention gradually wear out over time, meaning that we’re getting less done.

So if you want to be productive without going crazy or experiencing burnout, consider scheduling breaks.

One popular way of doing this is the 50/10 rule, where essentially, you’re working with laser-focused undistracted for 50 minutes and then taking a 10-minute break, and you keep repeating this cycle as needed.

Building in a 10-minute break into every hour will help you avoid burning out, cut down on distractions, help you digest new information, and will typically help you be more productive during designated work time. — Aspen University

Limit Your Screen Time

Our phones are powerful devices that we can use to accomplish a lot of good, but at the same time, they can often become productivity killers, particularly when we’re using them during times when we should be getting things done.

Those small little moments when our phones capture our attention do add up over time, and it can hugely impact your productivity.

If we’re constantly stopping to check a text or a notification, those are small little things that add up and can break our focus and hamper our ability to be productive.

When I need to engage in deep work, I like to put my phone in a different room than the one I’m working in.

Final Thoughts

These are my tips on how to be more productive without going crazy. I hope they gave you some ideas or inspiration on engaging in healthy productivity to get things done but doing it in a manageable and realistic way for you.

To recap :

• To be more productive: plan your ideal week, choose one essential task to focus on each day, don’t put off your most difficult tasks, work during your peak working window and protect your flow.
• Protect your flow by increasing uninterrupted work hours and taking breaks.

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