1. Start the most important items first
It sounds simple, but we’ve all made the mistake of leaving the most important task until the very end when there’s little chance of ever completing it. To avoid falling into this trap start by identifying the two or three tasks that are the most important to complete, and do those before anything else, regardless of how long they may take. There are multiple steps to prioritizing you can familiarize yourself with for extra assistance in planning.
2. Get a full night’s sleep
Your body needs sleep, as most experts will agree. Getting your regular 7-8 hours will help you focus and think more creatively because your cognitive abilities will be enhanced. A common mistake is to stay up late to get tasks done and limiting your sleep time, but the sacrifice will come back to haunt you the following day. Instead, stick to your normal schedule.
3. Wake up early
They say that to be successful you need to get an early start. It’s logical that the greater the number of hours in the day you have at your disposal the more opportunity there is to dedicate to completing your business. Waking up early goes hand in hand with forming a healthy sleep pattern in that it becomes easier to get out of bed if your body has received sufficient rest the night before.
4. Give each task your full attention
Distractions make it harder to focus on the task in hand. As you are reading this you may have more than one tab open on your computer or even one eye on the television in the background. Your attention is torn between multiple points of interest, and your ability to concentrate is severely reduced. These techniques for improving concentration can assist in teaching you how to shut out all distractions and be more productive on the whole.
5. Don’t be a perfectionist
Don’t get hung up on how much detail should be spent on ordinary tasks, particularly those which require minimal planning. Time is easily wasted if you constantly review the work you have done again and again, as this plants doubt in your mind as to whether you have truly completed the task to a satisfactory level. Finish up, move on and revisit at the end of the day if you absolutely need to.
6. Set time limits
Most of us can admit to doing a better job at managing our time on a daily or weekly basis. It’s a huge part of being productive that’s often difficult to conquer. One way to get around this is to allocate a set amount of time for each task in your schedule by using an app or online tool. Record your time spent to work out which items are taking longer than others.
7. Take regular breaks
Staying motivated means having the energy level to push on at any stage of a project regardless of what’s going on around you. No one expects you to go full steam ahead every minute of the day, for the sake of your mental and physical well-being. So utilize the pockets of time you have to recharge your batteries so you can return with greater focus and concentration levels. Fresh eyes may even offer up a new solution to getting the job done. These tips have helped me streamline the way I work on a daily basis and I hope you fine them to be of use in your routine.
