If your serious about improving your productivity, you’ve got to master the basics. Here are 5 simple tips to improve your productivity:
1. Get Your Beauty Rest
If you have an irregular schedule, getting work done during the day can be challenging. The best way to combat this is by regulating your sleep as much as possible. Start by going to sleep and waking up around the same time every morning, this will balance your energy levels and increase your efficiency.
2. It All Starts With the Night Before
Before you go to sleep take five minutes to write down your to-do list for the following day. Emphasis on “write down,” it’s very important to physically see exactly what you need to get done. The next day you will wake up knowing exactly what you need to do, minimizing distractions and downtime. Everything is on paper. You just have to do it.
3. Upgrade Your To-Do List
Writing a to-do list the night before is amazing and potentially very helpful, but it might not be enough if you are a master procrastinator. But here’s what will seal the deal: timing.
When you create your to-do list, estimate the amount of time it will take to complete each task. This is a powerful way to avoid a single task dragging on and on for hours. With this technique, you know that after the set time, you have an escape: you need to move on to the next task. This will help force your brain to find solutions more quickly, or allow you come back to it with a fresh mind. To upgrade even further check out our GlowUp To-Do List!
4. Prioritize
No matter how badly you want it, you will not be able to do everything that’s on your mind in one day. You have to figure out how much you are realistically capable of achieving in 24 hours, and create your schedule with that in mind. You will have to willingly leave some things for later, otherwise you’ll be frustrated in the evening when you don’t check off the 20 tasks on your to-do list. So how to do you avoid the frustrations of an unchecked task, learn to prioritize. Eisenhower’s Matrix is a great way to gain clarity on the tasks you need to complete, check it out here:
Urgent tasks need to get done, and important tasks are you what you want to get done. It’s vital that you stay in the “important but not urgent” quadrant as much as possible, that is how you prioritize. Focus on what is important to you personally. If you only tackle the urgent tasks like sending emails and making phone calls, you will not have time for the important things like working out, taking care of your spiritual life, or learning a new language. Thoroughly plan out your days to incorporate tasks that you make you feel accomplished, and fulfilled. Make time for the important things, what’s urgent will get done eventually, as you have “no choice.”
5. Use Your Network
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel when tackling unfamiliar tasks. Women who work together accomplish so much more, so use your network to get a little help. Think to yourself: Who’s done something similar before? Who might have colleagues or friends who know how to do this? Then go ask for advice instead of staying stuck in a rut. You’ll be surprised by the number of people willing to share their experiences with you, and you’ll probably learn way more from them than you were even expecting.
Now get your priorities straight, write a list that works for you and get things done. Don’t forget: “You have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé”.