Twenty four hours seems like plenty of time to get everything done. But when you factor in eight hours of sleeping and the time spent travelling, eating, washing, looking after your kids, and doing chores, there’s not much left in the day. Most people find it hard to be productive at times. You want to work on your personal projects, but life gets in the way. And it’s not always for lack of trying. You can be constantly busy throughout the day, yet never find time for the things that really matter to you.
Perhaps you want to set up your own business, write a novel, work on your website or simply be more effective in your job. The following tips will give you some helpful advice on how to squeeze more time out of your day and get more accomplished by the time you go to bed.
Get more sleep
A productive day starts with a good night’s sleep. If you wake up feeling rested, you will have more energy and motivation to maximise your day. If you are constantly exhausted, you will not only struggle to get a lot of work done, but you’ll also make more mistakes. Give your brain a chance to refresh and recharge itself after a busy day by shutting down and catching some much-needed Z’s. Aim to get eight hours a night wherever possible. Remember, it’s not just the duration of sleep that’s important, it’s also the quality. Just because you’ve been lying in bed with your eyes closed throughout the night, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be well-rested. Set yourself up for a better night by shutting off from technology for a few hours before bed, and banning screens from your bedroom. Here are some more great tips for getting better-quality sleep.
Eat breakfast
Once you’ve woken up feeling healthy and revitalised, you will need some energy to fuel you for the day ahead. It may be a cliche to say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but there’s a lot of truth in it. You’ve gone a full night without food, so beginning the day on an empty stomach will only cause you to crash due to low energy levels. Eat a nutritious breakfast with plenty of complex carbohydrates to power you through until lunchtime.
Plan your day
If you have a lot to get through, it’s a good idea to create a plan for your day. This will keep you focused on the tasks you need to do and prevent you from getting distracted. A simple to-do list is more than sufficient for most people. It provides a clear agenda for the day and allows you to enjoy the satisfaction of crossing off completed tasks one by one. If you need a bit more of a rigid structure to guide you through your daily projects, consider a morning journal, which provides a much more detailed way of tracking your progress and being accountable for your successes and failures. Perhaps you don’t have a list of things you need to complete. Maybe you want to make some headway on a creative project. As long as you set yourself a goal and have a way of measuring your progress, then you have a target to keep you focused.
Set a deadline
Simply having a goal is not enough to keep you productive. There’s nothing like a deadline to get you working harder, so try to set yourself targets that are time-sensitive. It might be as simple as having completed all your tasks by the end of the day or getting to a certain word count by lunchtime. This will create some gentle pressure that will hopefully nudge you in the right direction. Without time goals to motivate you, it’s easy to stretch simple tasks out far longer than necessary, wasting valuable time you can’t afford to lose.
Complete the biggest task first
The writer Mark Twain once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” Although it’s unlikely you’ll need to swallow any amphibious creatures, he makes a good point. If you have a particularly large or unappealing task to do, you should complete it first so that the rest of your day will be a lot more pleasant. Most people tend to put off the hard jobs, focusing on the easy, immediately satisfying errands like answering emails or tidying their workspace. Fight the urge to procrastinate and swallow the frog first thing. This way it will be a load off your mind and once complete, you can focus your energies on more enjoyable tasks.
Stay away from social media
Three of the biggest productivity black holes that exist are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Perhaps there are other social media sites you favour, but the point remains the same. They are highly addictive time-wasters that are incredibly effective at diverting your attention and sapping your productivity. Although a quick scroll through your timeline might seem harmless, it is a slippery slope that can lead you on an hour-long journey across the most pointless realms of the Internet. It’s crucial that you set yourself up to avoid these distractions.
That’s not to say you should give them up entirely. Social media is useful for keeping in touch with friends and family, but it should not interfere with your productivity. Set strict times during which you are allowed to use these sites and reject the urge to break these restrictions. Some apps and programs enable you to block certain websites from your computer for a set amount of time, and many smartphones now come with digital wellness settings that allow you to limit your access.
Don’t multitask
Although working on multiple things at the same time might seem like a good recipe for getting more done, it is one of the worst mistakes you can make for productivity. Even if you think you’re good at multitasking, research shows that it reduces your productivity by around 40%. Working on three jobs simultaneously means you will take far longer to complete them all, and your work will be of a lower quality than if you tackle each job one at a time.
Take productive breaks
In much the same way that physical exercise tires you out, prolonged cognitive activity can lead to mental fatigue. Working hard for long stretches at a time is exhausting, so it’s important to take breaks to allow your mind to recharge itself and maintain the high quality of your work. When you’ve worked consistently and you feel your energy starting to flag, get up and stretch your legs, grab a drink, and take five minutes before getting back to work. You could even set up a timer to schedule allocated breaks throughout your day.
Save time in other areas
If you looked back at your day and added up how long you spent doing individual activities, you would be amazed by how much time you spend doing very little. Although you might think you are constantly busy, there is a great deal of gap time between tasks and time spent on unfulfilling activities such as checking Instagram, scrolling the Internet, waiting in line, and mindlessly watching TV. There is a huge amount of opportunity to get more out your day by eradicating the unnecessary time-wasting. For example, time spent waiting at the doctor’s or sitting on the bus could be used for doing work, productive reading, or catching up with correspondence.
What about household chores? These are generally necessary, but is there a way you could make the process more efficient and spend less time on them? Perhaps by asking other members of the household to help out or cleaning things as you go rather than at the end of the day.
Email is the biggest time killer of them all, so if you can find a way to eliminate unnecessary correspondence, you will free up a huge gap in your schedule. Unsubscribe from unwanted email lists and try to be more efficient with the emails that you send in order to prevent the need for a lengthy back and forth.
Create a positive environment
The environment in which you spend your time has a profound impact on your ability to be productive. A messy workspace will lead to a disorganised mind and poor quality work. Although tidying is one of the classic procrastination methods, spending a bit of time before getting down to business to ensure your environment is tidy will make a huge difference. Whether you’re at home, at the office, or in your garden shed, start the day with a tidy desk and everything in its right place.
Most people could do with a few more hours in the day, but this is unlikely to happen any time soon. In the meantime, follow these tips to get as much out of each day as you can. Before long, you will find your productivity starts to skyrocket.
