Being productive can be really tough nowadays when basically everything is a distraction. Our phones, our surroundings, our thoughts and the never ending list of “what should I be doing”. It is hard to pay attention and have a schedule that brings out the best of you.
But in order to achieve your goals you have to pay attention to time. Because productivity is basically the maximum amount of work you can do in minimum time.
Productivity is the maximum amount of work you can do in minimum time.
How can you bring yourself to get started? How to pull out EVERYTHING for the amount of time you have? How to actually progress through your journey?
1.Use TO-DO lists
To-do lists are essential if you want to stay organized with your tasks. Writing down your goals over and over again will help you keep them in your head. You can also find motivation by looking at your tasks. Why did you write them down in the first place?
Tip: It fills me with satisfaction if I can cross out something on my list. When I do that I instantly feel like I’ve accomplished something, I see progress which pushes me to do more.
2.Prioritise
You can prioritise in two ways and I recommend to use what works the best for you.
You can prioritise by doing what is harder first. When you start your productivity session you still have the energy to do the kind of stuff that otherwise you wouldn’t even consider starting. So if you want to get something done, then get it done! That’s it.
The other way is to get the things done that are more important. This is logical of course, but you might now have enough energy for longer tasks later.
I recommend using these two as a mixture to bring out maximum productivity.
3.Pomodoro method
I’ve been hearing about the pomodoro method for quite some time before trying it out myself.
It is a pretty well known method where you traditionally work 25 minutes in length and have a 5 minutes break between the intervals (also known as pomodoros).
You have 3 pomodoros before you can have a longer break which is usually 20-30 minutes.
The point of this technique is to focus fully for 25 minutes on your task, without any kind of distractions. 25 minutes is not that long, you can stand to not look at your phone nor reply to someone else or any kind of craziness that may go around you.
If you get distracted, you have to postpone the pomodoro.
I really like this method, but I wouldn’t use it all the time. When I am in the flow I can do something for a whole hour without distraction, so sometimes it’s really unnecessary for me to take a break.
If you are new to time management you should try it out because it’s really easy, and you can learn about yourself during the process so in the end, you will be able to schedule your time the best way possible for personal needs.
4.Break down big tasks
This is a cheap way to get started with things when you really don’t want to.
Let’s say you need to clean your room. Instead of writing down on your to-do list “clean my room” break the objective down!
“Throw out the trash”
“Do the laundry’
“Wash the dishes”
Since these things are simple actions you instantly feel like it’s easier to complete them. So it won’t be that overwhelming to start and clean your room, because you already know what you need to do, and you can also keep check on the progress, so if you have to do something else, you won’t lose where you were.
It’s an instant motivation, because you feel like it’s easier.
5.”Where did my time go?” – syndrome
I often see people struggling (sometimes myself included) with finding out where their time goes? They had a whole sunny day ahead of them, but now they are sitting on the couch, watching Netflix and with zero progress.
A great way to solve this problem is to track your days minute by minute. Write down everything you did from getting up in the morning until going to bed at night. Do this for a week and after that you will be able to recognize patterns or activities that are not contributing to your goals.
Let’s replace them with something else!
6.Building habits
Consistency is key. You can’t expect to change and rule the whole world in just one night (or maybe you can try but you won’t be able to keep it up for long. But hey! You can always try!).
You need to build a lifestyle that fits your goals. That will make sure your time and efforts are going straight to where they are beneficial for you.
Doing something for 30 days becomes a habit. Doing something for 90 days becomes a lifestyle. So holding onto your habits is really important.
Doing something for 30 days becomes a habit. Doing something for 90 days becomes a lifestyle.
I know it’s hard, I’ve been struggling with it a lot, but trust me! It’s going to do you so much good in the future to stick to these things. And after 90 days it’s going to be easy. You will miss the habit if you don’t do it so you will get yourself to it way more easily.
7.Have time management
One day is 1440 minutes. That’s 1440 minutes you have to spend efficiently everyday, because when the day passes you will never get back those minutes. They are gone forever. So the best time to start everything is now.
It is super important to manage your time right in order to be extremely productive.
Time management is your habits, your to-do lists, your goals together. Setting a great daily routine will get you where you want to be in a blink of an eye.
8.What NOT to-do
There are certain things, habits or methods that are just wasting our time. Which are not contributing to us and the whole process.
You have to eliminate those parts of your life. Try to elevate whether those things you spend your time and energy on, are really that important?
Is it beneficial for you? Is it worth that much time and energy? Will you get something more important out of it than the time you’ve spent on it? If it never worked before, why would it work this time? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to change the method?
A what NOT to-do list is also really important. Stop spending your time on things that are not worth it!
9.Find motivation
Since we are humans, the most motivating thing for us is to see progress, but chances are you won’t until a certain time. So you have to find other sources of motivation around you.
Good for you. I’ve already written a post about this and if you click here you can check it out right now. My blog post about 12 things how to stay motivated.
+1.Want it REALLY BAD!
You have to want it really bad. So bad, that you really can’t imagine your goals not becoming reality. When you would rather just explode, if you have to create a plan B for your goals, because there are no other options.
You Will Succeed!
If you can hype up yourself so much about all your goals and projects you won’t ever need any other help from others to stay on track. You will have the willpower and energy to just go forward no matter what.
I’ve always had huge goals for myself and I tried out many many different things from how to set up goals, how to be productive and how to stay motivated. These were my tips that worked for me so far, but I am always open to meeting new methods and techniques.
These are really basic to use, so if you just start your journey to success or looking for ways to be more productive I recommend trying out these first. The long term goal is to figure out what works best for you. You don’t need to do everything exactly how they are. Make changes, evolvements to match it to your own needs.
