Productiveness is what I admire about people and what I decided to master myself a year ago. This was a real challenge for me since I had a bad time arranging my schedule, and had never gotten enough sleep by procrastinating tasks and chores until I became stuck among piles of pending projects with rates declining.
That was the moment when I realized I had to do something to get my life in order, otherwise I’d lose my job and lose myself as a professional. I took a notebook and wrote out the tasks that had to be accomplished and meetings to be held. That was the starting point for my increase in productivity even though I had no idea it was.
Welcome to Habit Tracker Reality
First of all, I needed a clear picture of my schedule to manage my working time and coordinate my leisure. I had used lots of apps before I found the habit tracker that not only reminded me of important events but also helped to transform daily duties into habits.
I chose Habitica as it was so easily managed and it took me almost zero time to adjust. It’s available on both iOS and Android. There really is some kind of a trick: it motivates you after completing the tasks and you gain experience and bonuses just like in a game.
Single Focus, No Distractions
The second important aspect I owe my productivity boost to is reducing distractions. The point is that you need to stay focused on one task within a certain period of time; don’t do something else simultaneously.
Have you ever heard or used the Pomodoro Technique? It is a number one in fighting against procrastination. Its main idea is to break the whole pile of work you have to do into smaller tasks or goals and devote 20 minutes to each of them. After a session, there is a 5-minute break you must take without distracting calls, emails, social media, etc.
At first, it was almost unbearable, but then I got accustomed to focusing on one subject for the allocated time. Believe it or not, it increased my productivity considerably.
Lunch Hour
The third crucial element of my road to an increased productivity rate was discovered in an article by Mayberry. The author of the article recommended leaving the office for lunch, and it really restructured my whole afternoon activity. To be more precise, this small habit that is not that hard to develop and establish (rather easy for me) led to a decrease in stress level, refreshment of energy and creative power as well as an excellent opportunity to re-focus once you are back at the office. Moreover, it was almost like starting a new office day since I had a 10-minute walk, communicated with people, and let my brain relax for a little while.
During the days I had to work at home, I used the same advice for coffee breaks: I never made my coffee at home, but rather went out for 20 minutes. My personal experience of practicing this habit reveals that many creative ideas and even solutions emerge in your conscience while you are out for coffee or lunch.
Get Fit and More Productive
It is open knowledge that sports make you not only fit but disciplined. One more crucial step toward my productivity boost was the gym. Indeed, once I finally managed to find that precious time for exercising, I really acquired more energy for working purposes. I had to clear my schedule, which in the beginning caused some issues with deadlines and free time, but once I realized the empowering effect of exercising, I had even more motivation to finish all my current tasks. Motivation is an underlying constituent element of any productivity paradigm you will ever be presented with. Find several activities that will motivate you significantly and embed them into your daily schedule. You will see how much they matter and how they help incredibly.
Your Space, Your Rules
Extremely effective and wise advice I heard from Thomas Frank states the obvious: you should redesign your office and/or home space in such a way that useful things are close to you and bad habits or undesirable activities are kept at bay during working hours.
I am an SEO specialist which means I sometimes work distantly, not necessarily in the office. Therefore, I started arranging my working space apart from my sleeping or relaxing zones, making it harder to find distractions such as magazines, cell phone, snacks and similar stuff. It is incredible how much it can do for your productivity. Move your cellphone to the bedroom; you will check social media apps less frequently.
For that same purpose, I deleted all messaging apps and quit social media accounts on my laptop so emerging notifications would not disturb me. My email is still on since I need it for work, and this is not a distraction, but rather a necessity. Switch off the internet on your phone and totally dive in a task you have to finish right away. Otherwise, you can still get distracting sounds and alerts on your phone even if it is in the other room.
Reading? Definitely Yes
Lately, I noticed that part of my time I had previously dedicated to reading was replaced by inefficient surfing of the Internet and scrolling through social media apps. After I started planning my daily routine, I structured my leisure time as well. I responded to messages first, then focused on reading, and only after I had completed a certain number of chapters was when I could surf the Internet. It was certainly not that absorbing after reading an interesting book, as my mind had been occupied with more complicated yet intriguing subject matter.
Prioritize, My Friend
Finally, spend some time working on your list of priorities. Every schedule of daily tasks should have the prioritized ones highlighted, and your working process should rely entirely on this to-do list. It may be challenging and even intimidating at times (especially at the beginning), but once you get used to it, you will see how useful and constructive this approach is. Hence, take your time this very evening, or the next morning (in case you are a morning person) and rank all spheres in your life in terms of priorities, then do the same with global goals, and learn to do the same with all the schedules you face daily. Smart prioritization is what will guide you in difficult moments and what will lead you to eventually make your dreams come true.
Get started immediately, since the longer you delay, the harder it gets. Your productivity is something you can create and improve day by day. So go for it!
