10 Tricks To Be More Productive

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.” – Franz Kafka

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer

Personal productivity is an important part of your daily life, be it your personal or professional one.

Productivity is essentially a measure of the time it takes for someone to accomplish a given task or a set of tasks. People want to be more productive, which means doing as much as they can in the least amount of time.

However increasing productivity, at times, can be easier said than done. People often end up hitting a ceiling in their personal and professional lives, which limits the amount of work that they can get done, or tasks that they can accomplish in certain hours, or a day, for instance.

Low productivity can hamper your personal and especially your professional growth, not to mention become a big source of personal frustration for a lot of people in the process.

Here are 10 rock-solid ways – real solutions – which you can incorporate immediately in your daily life in order to boost your productivity (and become a better person!)

1: Develop and stick to a routine

This is a personally tried-and-tested method. One of the first things you can do as an individual is ALWAYS sticking to a particular schedule!

If there are too many changes to your daily schedule, it will definitely have an adverse effect on your productivity.

Develop a proper routine, which allows you to (a) get the proper amount of sleep, (b) work for a certain amount of hours, (c) socialize, (d) allows you to have a bit of ‘me’ time every day (more on this in just a bit), and (e) allows you to get a bit of exercise.

Above all, stick to this routine even on the weekends (I know, I know, it is easier said than done!), which brings us to…

2: Waking up at the same time every day (read: early!)

Sleep is awesome, and you should get plenty of it every day. But here’s something that’s even more important, and might also be having an adverse effect on your productivity: not waking up on time on a regular basis.

A big part of developing and sticking to a routine is actually waking up on time. For most people, this isn’t a problem.

However for a large number of people out there – including yours truly – this can be a bit of a problem.

Getting up early every day allows you to start off your day on the right foot, and have the maximum amount of hours in the day to get as much work done as possible.

3: Plan your day when you wake up

One of the first things I do when I wake up is to lie still in bed and think of the things that I need to get done in the day.

Visualizing and planning your whole day, including the tasks that you want to accomplish – and even thinking about the small things such as what route to take – allows you to plan your day, and help create goals that you would want to accomplish throughout the day.

Making mental notes every single day on what I want to do and how I plan on doing it allows me to remain on track, and be productive.

4: Prioritize

Prioritizing tasks is as simple as dividing or categorizing your tasks into high-priority and low-priority ones, and giving more time to, and spending more energy on high-priority tasks.

Pro tip: Work on high-priority tasks early in the day – however, this can vary greatly for certain people.

For instance, some people might find that they are most productive in the afternoon, or late at night. This is when they should work on priority tasks!

5: Set time limits

Set a time limit for your tasks, and your working day.

Don’t work with the mindset that ‘I’ll work as long as I can’.

Say that you will work for 9 hours today, minus 1 hour for lunch. Say that you will start work at 9, and leave everything at 5, and try to produce as much quality work as possible during this period.

Remember, it’s not about quantity, quality should always be your priority! And don’t work beyond the time limits you’ve set.

Pro tip: Try working more in the beginning days of the week.

6: Take advantage of technology

Technology is wonderful; embrace it! Technology – at least the proper use of tech – can do wonders when it comes to being more productive through your day and in your life.

For instance, there are tons of smartphone apps that you can use to boost your productivity such as these, and many apps and services such as these.

However, my personal favorite, by far has to be Evernote! Use computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones to increase your productivity in any way that you can.

Subscribe to LifeHacker for tips on increasing productivity. And above all, cut down the hours you spend on your Facebook! 😉

7: Avoid Multitasking

Yes, I mean it! Multitasking is bad for productivity, in fact, it downright kills it. Stop multitasking right now. Remove it from your routine.

The human mind is not meant to work on more than one thing at one single time, and any attempts to do so will actually be counter-productive.

Instead, pick a task – one task – that you want to be done, and focus all your efforts and energies into completing that task, before turning your attention to something else.

8: Meditate

When was the last time that you tried meditation? Meditation allows your mind to recharge itself – it is the equivalent of sleep for your body and has the same effects on your mind.

Set aside time to meditate for a few minutes every single day, especially if you often feel tired, unenergetic and stressed out.

It will help your mind relax, and get rid of negative energy, can be extremely beneficial for your mind and your body, and can provide a ton of other health-related benefits as well.

Here is a great Wikihow article on meditation that you might want to look at.

9: Change your working environment

Sometimes, a change in your working environment, despite the fact that you might be comfortable where you are, might do wonders for your productivity.

For instance, switching your work-station to a different one, decorating your table with a plant or some fauna, or taking a couple of hours every day to work from the coffee shop might just be the impetus that you need to boost your productivity immediately.

Give it a try and see if you get a positive result out of it.

10: Take regular vacations and time-off

Understand that sometimes it is very important to break your routine.

One of the big problems associated with a routine is that at times, you might find yourself stuck in a rut, or on the verge of burning out. Taking a breather once in a while – at least once every year – allows you to recharge your depleted batteries, and give your body and mind a much-needed break.

Go out on a vacation, take that road trip you’ve been meaning to take, hang out with your friends, give your family a visit, bake or cook, or work on those personal projects that you’ve been holding off for very long.

You’ll notice a considerable improvement in your productivity when you get back to work!

(Image courtesy BeMoreProductive)