I have always been obsessed with getting the most done in the shortest span possible but hadn’t been particularly successful. Having a full-time job, being a part-time freelancer, and a grad student, I have to juggle a lot and needed to make the most of my time. I fell down the productivity rabbit hole, spending hours reading lengthy articles to endlessly watching productivity videos on YouTube. There was so much overwhelming information; I tried to implement what I learned, and was successful in some instances, but was not content with my overall performance.
I realized that my failure was due to my search for shortcuts and
hacks to being productive when all I had to do was have a system that worked
for me. I deduced that productivity is a lifestyle, which very subtly boosts
the quality of our work and life. While I hope to delegate subsequent articles
to each point, here is a brief look at six ways to boost your productivity by 3
times.
1. PLAN YOUR DAY
“Have a bias towards action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.” Indira Gandhi
It has been proven time and again, that planning goes a long way in
the success of any endeavor. As such, this same principle is applicable when it
comes to enhancing your productivity. Here is a planning routine that I have
found to be extremely helpful.
i. Plan The
Night Before
The best possible way to have a head start is by preparing the
night before. Make a list of things you have to achieve the following day. Bear
in mind that as human beings we can only do so much in a given day. Therefore,
your to-do list must follow this pattern;
ü Tasks should be written down the night before; It always pays well
to get up knowing exactly what you have to do, and when you have to do it.
ü Tasks should be arranged in order of their priority, with the most
important ones appearing on the top of the list
ü Tasks should be allocated times; write an estimated time you
require to complete the task at hand. This will give you an idea of how much
time you will be using, how much you have left, and where to utilize it.
ii. Account For Time Cushions
We generally underestimate the time required to complete tasks.
This leads us to put in more time than we had anticipated, and the timeline we
established fails. Failure is always a buzz kill and may end up putting you
off. To avoid this, begin by tracking the time you generally take for those
tasks, and with time, you will become as precise as it gets.
iii. Be Realistic And Reasonable!
Don’t overwhelm yourself by packing in so many things. Having a lot
of unaccomplished tasks on your list can give you a sense of failure. As
established earlier, this feeling hurts your productivity and growth. We have
limited time, and limited manpower, and writing down so much on your list can
put you off. Be realistic and practical when drawing out the things you want to
achieve the next day, and give each task a reasonable time.
2. CREATE A MORNING ROUTINE
Ugh, these nasty nasty mornings! To be honest, I am the worst
morning person ever. I have to wake up early because over time I have learned
that it is the most crucial time for personal and professional growth, but it’s
still not my favorite time. Personal grievances aside, a good early morning
routine is a common denominator in the lifestyle of all successful people, be
it our all-time famous Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, entrepreneurs like Sir Richard
Branson or performance coaches like Tony Robbins.
i. Waking Up
Before your day can begin, and your plan brought to reality, you
have to wake up. But isn’t that the actual problem? Yup! It is the first hurdle
of the day you have to overcome. I use Mel Robbin’s 5-second rule to wake up at
the same time every day.
Here is a summary of 5 the second rule in Mel Robbin’s own words,
“If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5
seconds or your brain will kill it … When you feel yourself hesitate before
doing something that you know you should do, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and move
towards action. There is a window that exists between the moment you have an
instinct to change and your mind killing it. It’s a 5-second window. And it
exists for everyone.”
So, instead of hitting the snooze button to grab the extra minutes
of sleep, quickly count backwords from 5 to 1, and jump out of the bed.
ii. Create A Routine
Create a routine of healthy habits, which will gradually stick and
become second nature. My previous article on Strategies to overcome bad habits
lays out the way to implement new habits while cutting out bad ones.
According to a study by the American Psychological Association, by
creating and following a morning routine, your stress, depression, and anxiety
levels will start to plummet and your life satisfaction levels will begin to
soar. You’ll notice that you feel more motivated and your to-do list will seem
less daunting.
Here are some healthy habits to give you a jump start
ü Drink a glass of lemon water; Squeeze a fresh lemon into a glass of
room temperature and drink it. It’s not only refreshing, it has a long list of
health benefits you could use.
ü Meditate/Pray; While some subscribe to religion others don’t. In
either case, it helps to dedicate some time to meditate/pray to relax for inner
peace and gratitude. Make sure it’s not soothing, and relaxing, as you may
begin to feel sleepy, and go for the bed, rather make it about focus, and inner
growth.
ü Make your bed; Many studies have proven that making your bed right
after waking up, not only prevents you from crawling back right into it, but
also helps build your confidence.
ü, Take a cold shower; for me, this has been a non-negotiable element,
as it has a guaranteed result of bringing me out of my dullness into active
mode.
ü Eat a protein-rich breakfast and cut down on the sodium
By the time you are done with your rituals, you will still have
time for something you enjoy doing. I use this time to do things that require a
fresh mind, predominantly these activities include; working on my articles,
reading chapters I am having difficulties with, and working on a project that
has been giving me problems.
Pro tip: Avoid social media and checking emails. Do them later on
in the day.
3. EAT THE FROG
Mark Twain is said to have once stated that, if the first thing you
do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the
satisfaction of knowing that, that is probably the worst thing that is going to
happen to you all day long. Applying this to your work routine simply means
doing the most difficult tasks first, and moving down the slope to the easier
tasks. But what do you do if you have two frogs to eat? In that case, eat the
ugliest one first.
If you feel pulled in various directions and going crazy by the
number of tasks on your plate every single day, I will highly recommend this
method as a powerful tool. You must focus more on what is important than on how
fast you are going. According to various researches, it is best to spend 20
percent of your day on the most important tasks and you will accomplish 80
percent of your results. Divide and conquer your to-do list, strike out the
difficult tasks first, as you have the energy, and then gradually move down to
the less hectic tasks.
4. AVOID DISTRACTIONS/PRODUCTIVITY KILLERS
Focus is everything where productivity is concerned. The rate and
efficiency with which a task is executed depend highly on the ability of the
doer to focus. Distractions are the little devils that pop up all around us and
are great productivity killers. Distractions can be anything from social media
alerts, music, conversations of others, or even other tasks you have to do.
Studies have shown that multitasking significantly slows your
progress and makes the result relatively inefficient. So while you may be
thinking that tackling two things at the same time will help you finish your
tasks faster, you are impairing not only your productivity but also your mental
health.
Pro-tip; Do a complete audit of your distractions, and find out
what your productivity killers are. After my distraction audit, I found that
Twitter and candy crush were my biggest distractions.
Complete your tasks efficiently and effectively by focusing
completely on one task at a time.
5. REVIEW YOUR DAY
“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re
constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it
better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about
how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk
We cannot progress until we know the ups and downs of our lives, and make efforts to rectify those downs. Get a designated journal, in which you write an honest review of your day, do yourself the favor of being true to yourself, and get those pesky little details right. An end-of-day review helps you in understanding what you could have done better, and how you can do it. Over time you can determine if the changes you made are working for you or not. Moreover, it gives you a chance at appreciating and celebrating your wins. Remember to celebrate the little wins, they make all the difference. You can also get reviews from friends and colleagues who look out for you, and do not mind giving you the truth whether you like it or not. Get feedback, as it enables you to grow into a better version of yourself.
I cannot guarantee that these steps will help you as much as they did for me. But I can guarantee that change begins with a strong will, determination, and persistence. It doesn’t matter how many times you have to start over, as long as you get up with a renewed will.
