6 Tips to Help You Stay Productive
Let’s talk about productivity and motivation, and how they are actually two different concepts. The way I see it, motivation is the fuel to put your ideas and dreams into drive. Meanwhile, productivity is what keeps the car going. It’s you stepping on the gas to keep the car in motion by completing the tasks, projects, etc. required to keep your business alive. While motivation comes and goes, productivity, however, is based on your work ethic and self-discipline.
The bottom line, productivity is important but how does one stay productive when the to-do list of things is never-ending and distractions are plenty? While there are plenty of ways to accomplish a task, here are six things I do that help me get shit done.
1. Unplug from Social Media
Ditch your phone!! Leave it in a different room if you can and put it on silent. If you have an Apple watch, put that on “do not disturb”. Trust me, if someone wants to get ahold of you, they will find a way (if it’s that important). There is no DM, iMessage, or email that is so pressing that it can’t wait an hour. This is your time to get focused without notifications beeping in the background. Moving my phone out of arm’s reach prevents impromptu breaks, where I end up mindless scrolling because I “just wanted to check this one thing”. You know we all are guilty of this.
FYI: if you leave your iPhone in another room with the ringer on, but set on “do not disturb”, the people on your favorites list can still contact you as it’ll still ring (for them). Also, if someone calls twice within 2 minutes, your phone will also ring.
2. Time Blocking
Time blocking is a genius method that I use to plan my work schedule. The trick with time blocking is that you first need to see how long different tasks actually take for you to complete. By now, I’m pretty familiar with how long it takes to write a blog post, edit photos, create a stop-motion video, clean the apartment, fit in a workout, etc. With that in mind, I’m able to prevent myself from being overbooked. Time blocking relieves a lot of stress, helps me plan out my week and allows me to keep it real with my expectations of how much I can do.
Let’s face it, doing too much can be hard on your mental health and not to mention that we live in such a “hustle” society, that we’re often left feeling guilty over the things we didn’t get done. However, let me remind you that your health comes first and so whenever you feel overwhelmed, take a break or two.
3. Get Strategic About Emails
Sort through your emails at specified times throughout the day. It might be the first thing you do in the morning and again before the end of your workday, or after you get a solid few hours of work in, and then again before bedtime. You do you; whatever works best for you boo!
Remember when you are answering emails you are actually working towards someone else’s to-do list. Keep your inbox time intentional; star/flag messages to review later and reply to the most important ones right away.
Keeping your inbox tidy will also help to declutter your mind. Delete spam and promotions messages and get your inbox down to zero when possible - it’s so satisfying. It’s also great to batch your email responses and then come back to it later when your recipients have time to respond, versus jumping in and out of your inbox all day whenever you get a notification.
4. Turn big tasks into smaller ones, then take breaks
Large projects are super daunting to tackle, so instead of working straight through 8 hours to complete it, I break it into little milestones.
Instead of putting, ‘write 30-page paper’ on my to-do list I’ll write:
Do research/find supporting documents for paper
Write an introduction and outline methods
Complete discussion and findings
Crossing off these smaller tasks keeps you in a good mood and allows you to have a seamless workflow, where everything you’re doing is going to help the end result. Less anxiety and worries. Remember, time blocking will help you figure out how to break this down and budget your time properly.
5. Limit Multitasking
You can do it all, but you can’t do it all at once. Trying to listen to a podcast while doing any sort of writing just doesn’t make sense, and constantly switching between tasks will only slow you down. This is where limiting your phone and email usage comes in handy. Focus on one task at a time and give that task your undivided attention.
I get it, sometimes we are working on something and another thing comes to mind and you think, ‘omg I have to do that’ or ‘I can’t forget to do that I better do it right now’. Did you know it takes, on average, 25 minutes to get refocused after every distraction?! Instead of jumping over to do that other thing, I keep a pen and paper nearby and brain dump anything that comes to mind as I work.
6. Take Breaks
I like to work 45-minutes with a 15-minute break or complete one task before taking a break.
I usually do something mindless during my breaks like tidying my desk, laying with my kitties, maybe even meditate if I came home from running a bunch of errands and need to get grounded before settling into studying or work.
Admittedly, I also use this break time to scroll Instagram and respond to any texts. Although I have noticed that doing this usually makes it harder to refocus.
Productivity in Practice
You won’t always feel 100% motivated, but you can be productive as long as you keep moving forward. Of course, there are going to be days where you choose not to be productive and these tips won’t save you, and that’s okay.
When you’re in a slump, try a workout or go try completing a fun task (that’s easier) from your list. There are a ton of ways to encourage productivity so find what works best for you! You are so capable of handling everything on that to-do list, just make sure you equip yourself with the tools and mindset to get it all done!
Go, girl (or boy), you got this!
This post was written by Johanna, a freelance content writer who specializes in Influencer Marketing