How many times have you woken up in the morning and said to yourself, How am I going to get everything done today? Then, by lunchtime, you’re burnt out and wondering how it got so late already.
We all want to be more productive, but it’s hard to do when we feel like we don’t have time to focus on anything but our day-to-day tasks and immediate needs. While productivity tips are always useful, sometimes people need to be reminded of basic ideas that can have huge impacts on their productivity levels.
1. Wake up early
while it might not seem like a productivity tip, waking up early is one of life’s best tricks for getting more done. Research has shown that individuals who rise before 8 AM are generally healthier and less stressed than their late-rising counterparts.
Why? Morning hours are when our minds are at their freshest, and we have a built-in window of time to act on big ideas before responsibilities rush in to fill our day.
If you want to rethink your day and get ahead of everyone else, make an effort to hit the snooze button just once… then ask yourself if sleeping an extra 30 minutes would actually make you happier or more productive.
For many of us, waking up early is one of those should in life that we just can’t seem to master. However, as a productivity tip and time-management strategy, it makes sense.
The earlier you wake up, there are a few things you can do with your extra time; exercise or get a few hours of work done before everyone else wakes up!
Waking up early is one of those productivity tips that gets thrown around a lot. It makes sense, though — after all, who wouldn’t want to spend their days working toward big goals instead of just going through them?
And if you’re trying to save money and make some extra income on top of your main gig, waking up early will allow you to do so while also minimizing distractions.
Being productive first thing in the morning can help you achieve more in less time, as well as set you up for success during your day. It’s an easy way to rethink your day positively.
2. Eat well
If you’re looking to get more done and be at your best all day, eating right is a no-brainer. A healthy diet helps fuel your brain and body, keeps you feeling full, so you don’t overeat, and may even increase creativity.
It might take a little extra time to prepare a few healthier meals throughout the week, but it’s worth it if it means getting things done efficiently. Here are nine ways healthy eating can make your life easier.
Focusing on eating healthily will not only make you feel better, but it can also boost your energy levels and give you more mental clarity. This is especially important when you’re overwhelmed with work and need to be on top of your game.
Plus, healthier habits are just easier to maintain in general — no one wants to go through life feeling sluggish, right? Set aside some time at least once a week to plan and prepare healthy meals.
For optimal productivity, you need to eat well. Skipping meals isn’t a good way to manage your time better, and it’s also not a great way to maintain your focus.
To help you rethink how to eat well so that you can maintain productivity levels throughout your day, follow these nine simple tips. (See also: How Healthy Is Your Breakfast?)
You should try to have three balanced meals a day, says Mikkel. If you’re not eating well, you’re probably not exercising as much and your body isn’t going to work properly.
This affects your whole life — not just productivity at work — as stress causes more cravings and prevents proper sleep, which means less energy and fewer cognitive skills.
Along with a healthy diet, he recommends getting enough exercise (cardio and strength training), having good posture, getting adequate sleep, drinking lots of water, de-stressing when possible (meditation is one way to do that), and saying ‘no’ from time to time if you can’t handle something on your plate.
3. Drink coffee,
I can’t count how many people I know who are out of ideas at work until they’ve had their morning cup of coffee. If you’re guilty of grabbing a cup before you dive into your work, it might be time to rethink that practice.
The more cognitively alert you are when tackling a task, the more potential solutions will seem obvious — you just need to think about them in a new way.
One study even showed that caffeine can make consumers temporarily more creative (whether it actually helped boost creativity for longer periods is up for debate). In other words, don’t skip your Joe on those mornings where your head isn’t quite there yet!
While coffee can be a huge productivity booster for some people, it’s not for everyone. It has around 100 milligrams of caffeine per 8-ounce cup, which can help increase your alertness and energy levels when you don’t get enough sleep.
The downside to drinking coffee is that it dehydrates you — when you consume caffeine on an empty stomach, it will have more diuretic effects than if you ate it before you consumed it.
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach combined with little sleep can cause dehydration issues throughout your entire body. Keep in mind that even decaf contains a significant amount of caffeine — about 5 mg per 6-ounce cup.
It might be easier to dismiss coffee as another health fad, but a cup of Joe actually has its place in improving productivity. There’s been a lot of hype around caffeine and its effect on us, with some research pointing to it being able to improve cognitive function.
Now, most people are aware that caffeine is found in coffee and tea — but there are also sources like chocolate and colas that contain it, which is why I think we need to be careful about our intake.
4. Say no to meetings and social events
When it comes to getting things done, there’s no better productivity booster than saying no. In an ideal world, we could get everything done and still make time for a social life.
But there are only so many hours in a day — and if you try to do too much, you can quickly fall behind and miss key deadlines or let important tasks slip through the cracks.
So when your boss asks if you can sit in on a meeting or go out for drinks after work, sometimes it’s best to say no — it might mean sacrificing some of your downtimes, but it’ll ensure that you have time to concentrate on more important tasks.
Get really good at saying no. As an entrepreneur, your time is precious. If you don’t protect it, you will lose it. Saying no to a meeting or social event — especially if you say yes to everyone — will allow you more time to focus on what matters most: yourself and your business. No one can say no to you, so start making your own decisions right now.
This can be hard, but it’s necessary to stay productive. If you don’t have a clear idea of what your day looks like, you’ll likely make time for things that aren’t important — like getting coffee with someone when you should be working.
Don’t get me wrong: networking is important. But if it’s not adding value to your life or business, ditch it. Use productivity software and apps to help you stay focused:
The beauty of today’s technology is that there are tons of tools out there designed to help us be more productive and focus on what matters most. Use them!
5. Say no to meetings and social events
Tempting as it may be to book meetings or social events back-to-back, a well-structured day of working can actually leave you feeling more energized. By saying no to commitments outside of work (or at least not scheduling them right in your calendar), you give yourself time to rest, reflect and prepare for tomorrow’s tasks.
And let’s face it: balancing your time between work and play is important for any job — but for some professions, meeting deadlines is crucial. If running short of free time makes you stressed out and frantic.
Take a second look at how you’re planning your day so that you’re leaving enough space for necessary breaks. And if after all that brainstorming, something feels off with your daily plan?
When you’re trying to focus, distractions can kill your productivity. There are two main types of distractions: internal and external. Internal distractions include feelings of anxiety or boredom that don’t necessarily have an immediate source; they just creep up on you and pull your attention away from what you’re doing.
External distractions are those pesky smartphone notifications and Facebook posts that can pop up out of nowhere — and make it hard to get back into the zone.
To beat these problems, try some distraction-reducing strategies: For example, time management expert Alan Lake in recommends writing down three things — someplace where you can see them all day long — that inspire positive thoughts about what you want to accomplish in life.
Don’t be afraid to unplug from work when you need to. Sometimes we get so caught up in our jobs that we forget about everything else, but doing so can backfire and make us feel worse at work than if we took a few minutes to refresh ourselves.
Unplugging and reconnecting with friends and family — or just catching your breath — can help you stay more focused at work because you’ll know that there are things outside of work as well.
According to Fast Company, 25% of adults are distracted while they’re working. It’s not hard to see why: we’re doing more of our work from home and using multiple devices (hello, smartphones!). To get rid of distractions, try these tips
6. Delegate the non-urgent tasks
Multitasking is a skill that many of us strive to perfect, but for most people, it only leads to a loss of productivity. Multitasking can be useful in certain situations.
Like when you’re working with time-sensitive materials or have multiple projects that need your attention, but for tasks that don’t require your immediate attention and aren’t urgent, it’s best to hand them off.
Not only will delegation free up time in your schedule, but you’ll also ensure that everything gets done efficiently and on time. Delegating may even allow you to find someone better suited than yourself at doing a certain task if they have more experience or better skills!
The first step to becoming more productive is to remove yourself from tasks that do not need your attention, ASAP. It is much easier to get ahead of your daily tasks if you are only managing things that are due today.
Don’t let a lack of confidence keep you from delegating things to others who can accomplish those tasks for you (while maintaining a high quality). One thing’s for sure — by continuing down one path without taking time to reassess, it’s inevitable that people will become bored or fall behind with other priorities.
When you’re overwhelmed by a large task, your instinct might be to draw up a list of everything that needs to get done and then focus on those. But actually, experts say that it’s better to make a new list of everything that can be delegated — and then prioritize things based on their urgency rather than your level of responsibility.
For example, if someone else is responsible for creating content, but you know they won’t finish it on time, give them a heads-up and move it down your list until they catch up.
On the other hand, if there are sales reports or analytics that need to be reviewed right away, get them finished ASAP, so they’re not distracting you while you work on more urgent tasks.
7. Do hard things first thing in the morning,
It’s one of those productivity tips that might sound counterintuitive. If you’re looking to be productive, don’t you need more time during your day? Shouldn’t your hardest tasks come at the end of a long day? No.
The idea behind doing hard things first is that your energy levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day, and early morning hours tend to offer more energy and focus.
Therefore, by tackling difficult tasks in these parts of your day, you set yourself up for better outcomes than if you had waited until later in the day, when that willpower may wane and deadlines become more pressing.
Hard tasks are often intimidating, but doing them first thing in the morning eliminates two things: Distractions and energy level. By focusing on hard tasks at 8 a.m., you don’t let other distractions pull you away from your goal.
Plus, research shows that people tend to be more energetic earlier in the day; it might be because of our circadian rhythms or because people are just tired of being awake by late afternoon.
Either way, getting those difficult tasks out of the way early means they won’t drag on into an afternoon slump where motivation dies off rapidly. Eliminate noise and distractions: If there’s anything that can kill productivity, it’s distractions like email notifications and pushes notifications on your phone.
It’s common to start your day with emails, social media, and various other distractions that end up gobbling away large amounts of time. Instead, set yourself up for success by doing hard things (if possible) first thing in the morning.
For example, if you want to write a book in 30 days but don’t feel like it one morning, set aside an hour to do it before checking your emails or social media accounts.
By starting with what’s hard and important instead of what seems fun and easy, you’re setting yourself up for a productive day. If a task can’t be done right away, schedule it, so you don’t procrastinate — and learn how to keep yourself accountable while doing so.
8. Get enough sleep at night
Sleep is obviously important for our brains and bodies to function properly, but it’s also incredibly important for our productivity. If you’re trying to be productive during your day, you can’t work at full capacity if you’re running on low energy from not getting enough sleep.
Take a nap, or go to bed earlier so that you have plenty of time in between getting up and heading into work or school. Not only will your ability to focus increase dramatically with more sleep, but your mood will improve as well.
The better you feel, the more likely it is that your mind is clear and ready to tackle complex tasks that require a high level of mental acuity.
The hours you spend sleeping are among your most valuable. Studies show that getting enough sleep can greatly boost your productivity, plus it can help you maintain a healthy weight and even improve your memory and mood.
What’s more, if you’re short on sleep, you may end up eating more as a way to make up for missed calories during an extra-long day of work — which can also lead to weight gain.
Try going to bed at a decent hour every night so that when waking up becomes part of your daily routine, it doesn’t throw off your body clock (and cause exhaustion or overeating). For example, you should be in bed by 10:30 PM at least six days out of seven.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in what you’re doing, but don’t let it interfere with your sleep. Studies have shown that lack of sleep can lead to a loss of productivity and memory lapses — not to mention weight gain, mood swings, and irritation.
A study conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University showed that getting just 1 less hour of sleep for one week led participants to eat an additional 493 calories daily and become more sedentary.
9. Exercise regularly
Regular exercise can promote productivity and even help you sleep better. Studies show that it may also help people perform certain tasks more quickly.
Exercise, along with other healthy lifestyle habits, can lower stress levels and improve moods. And, of course, exercise is one of many things known to keep your body in tip-top shape! If you’re already exercising regularly, then great — but if not, it’s never too late to start!
Exercising can reduce stress and sharpen your mind, making you feel better equipped to handle even complex projects. Several recent studies have found that workers perform better when their bosses exercise regularly too.
One study of human resources employees at a consulting firm in Minneapolis, for example, found that managers who exercised regularly were less stressed out and more able to tackle issues head-on than those who didn’t exercise.
Why? A well-exercised body releases higher levels of serotonin — sometimes called the happy hormone — and endorphins — which are linked to positive emotions and motivation. The extra energy may help you power through tasks faster or make it easier to bounce back from roadblocks like angry clients or tight deadlines.
Exercising isn’t just good for your body, it’s good for your mind as well. When you exercise regularly, you reap all sorts of benefits such as stress relief and a stronger heart. Plus, regular physical activity can improve your energy levels and sleep patterns.
Plus, research has shown that exercising can even help improve memory and cognitive function in older adults (1). What more could you ask for? No time to hit up a gym? Check out these 7 at-home workouts that only require your body weight. Or try one of these quick exercises that also only require a chair or sofa.
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