Many people look for ways to improve their productivity but in actuality they only increase their busy work. Let me show you how to increase your productivity and improve your happiness.
“Focus on being productive instead of busy.” – Tim Ferris
We often get caught up in our day checking off tasks and moving on to the next without evaluating whether or not we are actually accomplishing anything.
Yes, you do feel accomplished by the end of the day when you glance back at what you’ve checked off your list but have you moved closer to achieving your goals?
I want to show you 7 things you can do that will improve your quality of life and increase your productivity. Used properly they will increase the amount of time you have to enjoy life.
1. Plenty of Sleep the Night Before
Getting enough sleep each night is a basic necessity but one of the most important ingredients to having a successful day.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night to maintain optimal performance.
Proper sleep also allows your body to maintain specific hormones in your body. These processes that are affected by lack of sleep lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The main hormone affected is growth hormone. So we don’t get off track too much by diving deep into the bio-physiology of the body, growth hormone in essence helps the body repair itself.
So when you decide to pull an all nighter or stay up late working instead of getting your needed sleep. You are causing your body to underperform leading to suboptimal performance and a less productive day.
2. Are you a lark or an owl?
Now many of you are probably asking yourself, what in the world do these two animals have to do with productivity?
Determining if you are a lark (morning person) or an owl (evening person) will help you decide how to schedule your day. A morning person will be more productive during the morning into early afternoon hours. Whereas an evening person will be the opposite.
A bit of information that will help your day become more productive is knowing, larks have a tendency to be more creative during he evening hours and owls during the morning hours. This could even further optimize your day.
I’m considered a lark so I schedule my time blocks of work for the morning and early afternoon, following my morning routine. I schedule my fun time, going to the beach and relaxing in the afternoon and evenings. This allows me to be more focused and achieve my goals.
3. Have a morning routine
Many successful entrepreneurs have been using their early morning hours as a way to set the tone for the rest of the day. It helps start your day by putting you in the zone!
There are 4 main parts to a successful morning routine:
Journal
This doesn’t need to be a lengthy process. You can write what you’re grateful for, jot down your favorite affirmations or write your life goals. The goal of journaling is to create a positive mindset to the beginning of your day.
Meditate
Meditation is another integral part to starting off your morning in a positive manner. Meditation helps clear your mind, increase happiness, reduces stress and leaves you feeling focused and more connected.
The goal of meditation is not to clear your mind of all thoughts but to let these thoughts naturally occur while at the same time letting them go without pondering on them. This allows your mind to go beyond and cause a feeling of happiness, peace or bliss.
Exercise
Exercising in the morning helps get your blood pumping and endorphins flowing which helps creates a perfect environment for being productive. It can consist of running, yoga, cycling or a weight workout whichever works best for you.
Healthy breakfast
This part of the morning is often skipped most of the time due to time constraints. This doesn’t have to be a huge meal but rather something healthy to give your body energy and boost metabolism.
I recommend a green smoothie which gives you some protein, greens and good fats.
4. Eat healthy
Eating healthy is often not taken seriously and a majority will eat for convenience. This can somewhat be contributed to our fast paced daily lifestyles that we have developed.
While eating for convenience is nothing new, the frequency that it occurs has dramatically increased due in part to technology. Technology has sped up every aspect of our lives creating a slippery slope of fast and easy.
There are many thoughts and ideas on what eating healthy is but the main takeaway is everything in moderation. Avoid bad fats, simple sugars and processed foods as much as possible.
This allows your body to function at an optimal level providing you with plenty of energy while avoiding those afternoon sugar crashes following lunch.
For more on my recommendation for healthy eating read The Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Gundry.
5. Plan each day the night before
Planning out your next day is crucial for follow through. What do I mean by this? Creating a plan for your day makes it much easier to stay focused and complete your most important work.
Schedule blocks of time
I’ll give you an example here, it will make more sense.
Each evening I set down and look at my goals for the week. My weekly goals are obtained by me setting 6 month goals and than breaking them down by priority to create monthly and weekly goals.
I have four 60 – 90 minute blocks of time designated on my calendar each day for my focus work. This allows extra time for any unforeseen extras that may arise or for extra work in any areas that may need it.
After each 60 – 90 minute session I take a 15 minute break. During my break I normally walk outside or at least get up away from my desk. This is mainly a mind break and I’ll explain more about the breaks next.
Use the Pomodoro technique
The Pomodoro technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo. It consists of having a task, working on that task for a set amount of time than taking a break.
The time frames are controlled by a timer so everything is precise to keep you on track.
The goal of using this technique is to reduce the amount of interruptions and keep you focused.
Parkinson’s law
The definition of Parkinson’s Law is that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
What this means is that a task will take as much time as you allow it. If you set an hour for a task it will take an hour, if you set 30 minutes for the same task it will take 30 minutes to complete.
This is why it’s important to set deadlines for tasks and projects.
6. Focus on your most important projects
This goes right along with knowing your goals. Setting goals allows you to have a visual of what you need to accomplish.
Knowing your goals creates a sense of focus and prioritization of your projects and tasks.
Single tasking VS. multi-tasking
Multi-tasking is something that we’ve all ben guilty of, myself included. While many feel that this allows them to be more productive, it actually causes them to be less productive.
This is where having a pre-scheduled plan of your most important things to accomplish each day is crucial. It helps you avoid distractions and be completely focused on your “one thing” or single tasking.
Avoid distractions
In todays world distractions are everywhere!
Texting, social media, email and I could go on and on but you get the point. These distractions are what keeps us from achieving our goals and makes our days non-productive.
Avoiding distractions and staying on task will not only allow us to reach our goals quicker but will create more time for us to enjoy. Distractions not only leave us feeling frustrated but also keeps us from reaching that state of flow. Which is that level of focus where we perform our best work.
7. Have some “fun” time
I know I’ve talked a lot about completing work goals in an effective, productive manner. What I want to touch on now is creating time for FUN!
Creating or scheduling fun time into your calendar has as much importance as completing your work. Most people never place an emphasis on enjoying life. Sure they will say That’s what they want but they hardly ever make time for it.
So many of us work every day to reach a financial goal that we often forget to reach our health and happiness goals. Saying “I’ll do that when I get the time” or “I’ll put that on my bucket list for when I retire”. Most never take the time to enjoy the life they have right now, to appreciate their health and take advantage of the time they have.
My passion is to help, even if only a few, realize that life is short and we ned to be grateful and enjoy each and every day.
