Today I will be sharing with you ways to improve your motivation. When reaching for a big goal, self-motivation plays a key role. But making a change in your life requires persistence, and many of us find it difficult to stay motivated over time. When…
Are you looking for simple work from home tips and advice? Do you need to get more done, but most of the time you struggle to get through the day? We all know working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. Gone…
Today I will thorough tips to be more productive.
Do you sometimes wish you could be more productive instantly? I am sure you have! Everyone gets into productivity ruts sometimes. With these easy tips, you can start feeling more productive instantly. Read this post, but then don’t stop there.
We all want to know how to increase productivity and how to improve our time management strategies in order to lead more productive and fulfilling lives. But sometimes, however hard we try we just find ourselves getting distracted by everything, everywhere.
Whether you’re a student or a professional in the workplace, there’s always a way to procrastinate and waste time, and that to-do list you were so sure you’d finish by the end of the day, just goes out the window. With barely anything checked off of it, you go home at the end of the day with a feeling of self doubt and annoyance knowing you could have got more done should you have just concentrated harder and been less distracted.
However, productivity hinges on mental energy, a sense of motivation and alertness. It often rears its head when you find yourself naturally enjoying what you’re working on.
Researchers in the past have noticed that productivity can be cultivated through focusing on meaningful elements of a larger goal, or focusing on a larger meaningful goal that can help activate energy and drive to complete tasks.
With that in mind, it’s time to increase productivity whether you’re at work, studying at school or just looking for a way to get more done during the day and we’re here to give you some of the best tips and tricks to help you improve your productivity starting today!
I hope these activities will help you feel more motivated.
Now it is time to get right into the tips, so you can start being more productive right now.
We easily fall into a routine of expecting too much from ourselves. As life goes on and the pressure from school and work increases, you feel the need to have sky-high ambitions. The downside of this is that most of the time we never fulfil these ambitions because the task set out was never reasonable enough, to begin with.
When setting reasonable goals, you have to take into effect your mood, schedule and other aspects of your life in order to make them achievable. Knowing your work ethic and feelings towards a task will help you in creating reasonable goals for yourself.
Analyse yourself before setting your goals, that way you’ll make sure to achieve them.
I know we all think we’re superman and will remember everything we need to do. Trust me, you don’t. Chances are you will forget to do something, which will probably pop up in your head right when you’re about to fall asleep.
But aside from this very annoying occurrence, there are many benefits to keeping a to-do list. It decreases chaos, provides us with a plan, and checking off items gives us a little dopamine rush which makes us more likely to tackle the next task.
And though it has not been proven, I always find they work well because of a perceived deadline effect. You know how a task always takes as long as you give yourself to do it? A to-do list implies I’m meant to do it today, which will make it a lot more likely that I will actually do it today.
For a to-do list to work well, it’s best to be as detailed as possible.
We all know the stress that can come with a busy work week. Especially when you’re laying bed on a Sunday night thinking of everything you’ve got on in the coming week.
However, if you were to plan ahead, whether it be daily, weekly or monthly – you’d feel more in control of your day-to-day life.
Planning ahead has lots of benefits as you’ll spend less time worrying about what will happen and more time in the moment, not to mention how missed meetings and forgetting to send emails will become a thing of the past. This is because when you create an effective plan you’ll be able to stay accountable.
If you have no clarity regarding what you need to get done in a given day, you’ll probably feel busy, but you won’t be productive.
Start planning your days in advance, even the night before and you’ll see how you’ll not only get more done in less time, you’ll also experience an easier flow to life full of useful work that adds value to your life.
So make sure you start scheduling your day at least the night before to get the most out of it.
Prioritising is a huge part of having a productive day and it is especially important when you are not feeling overly motivated.
The first part of this is that when you prioritise your day you assure that you accomplish the most important tasks. So that if you really can’t motivate yourself to finish everything, then at least the most important tasks of your day have been completed.
The second part of this is it will make you feel more accomplished to compete important tasks that are weighing on you. And even that little bit of motivation that comes with feeling like you accomplished something can help push you to finish everything else you have to do.
The word reactive basically means that you don’t use, or have initiative. You let others in the workplace tell you what to do and make the decisions, while you’re the ‘doer’ who gets things done.
In contrast, the word proactive implies that you anticipate things, find new ways to work and new ideas to bring to the table on your own accord. Nobody needs to tell you what to do because you’re usually a few steps ahead anyway.
In short, being proactive is the same thing as being reactive with one BIG difference – you do the reacting ahead of time.
To become more proactive and use your time productively and efficiently, not to mention impressing your colleagues more you need to remember 3 main things;
I have always found I am more productive in the mornings. So, for me, getting up early can allow me to make the most of my most productive times. There’s also something strangely motivating about being the first one up – being able to get through some tasks that could be harder as more people start the day and there are more distractions going on around you.
Making a habit of starting your day early is one way I can allow myself to settle into my work day – getting through my inbox first thing and getting started on my priorities.
Everything should be in your calendar – meetings, when reports are due in, when reports are due out, financial incomings and outgoings, etc.
By having all of these in your calendar, both meetings, deadlines, and reminders, it’ll help you be more aware of what is coming up within the next month, or week.
Knowing what is coming up, rather than relying on a reminder from someone else, is going to reflect better on you and your work, and will help you be better organised.
Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis, overthinking things, worrying and lack of self confidence won’t get you anywhere. Instead, focus on what you can actually do and what actions you can take to keep moving forward.
Everyday, ask yourself; ‘what is one small step I can take today to move further towards my goal?’ write it down, and get it done.
Slow down. Seriously, stop trying to race through things you need to get done as you won’t do them well. Instead, the way to achieve better and more focused work is to simply slow down. By implementing this, you’ll find that just by completing a task at a slower pace you’ll feel less of a mental burden and be less likely to procrastinate.
Take one internet free day a week, where you totally disconnect from the digital world and spend time with the people that matter most. Go outdoors, read a good book, watch a good movie – whatever you like just get offline!
There’s a whole world out there and you’ll find that by disconnecting for a while you’ll feel recharged and less distracted. Not to mention having more quality time with the people in your life is always a bonus.
If you’re anything like me, once you get started on a big project, sometimes you’ll get sucked into the work and try to finish it all without taking a break.
While this seems good, at the end of the day it only leads to burnout. Then, there’s the law of diminishing returns.
Part of good goal setting and healthy productivity is taking breaks.
Schedule a break into any major projects or goals for the day, and make sure you actually take a break when you hit your targets.
Breaking bigger goals down into smaller milestones helps you see your progress and stay motivated.
If your brain is all over the place, and you simply can’t figure out where to start, then you can do a brain dump.
Grab a sheet of paper and just start writing down everything that you are thinking of: things you have to do, things you want to do, household tasks that have to be done, things you have to buy, etc.
Then start putting checkboxes next to tasks, exclamation marks next to things that are urgent or time-sensitive, and smiley-faces next to things you want to do when you have time. (You can use these things as rewards for when you finish sections of your to-do list or large tasks.)
Also, note if you can delegate any tasks to someone else or if they don’t really need to be done. You may want to grab another sheet of paper and put your tasks in sections, or you could use arrows to group tasks together. You may even want to colour code your list.
Then you can prioritise the tasks on your list and get to work!
Many of us are aware of the distraction in our lives that take away from our work ethic, the main one being mobile/cell phones.
Recognise what distracts you and put it away.
In my case, loud noises or conversations from outside distract me, so I always work with headphones on.
Learn how to combat your distractions. If getting a notification distracts, you’re from your work hid your phone from yourself to focus better. This might be a tough one but getting over your distractions will help the most in becoming a productive person.
Before you go home or stop work for the day, determine your first goals for the next day and prepare any materials you might need to start work immediately.
This will help you with continuity, particularly if the goal is something challenging, time-intensive or undesirable in some way.
For example, if your big goal is to work out early the next morning, make sure you pack your gym bag and anything you need the night before.
A lot of us get into bed at night with a whole bunch of thoughts of things that we need to do, forgot to do or didn’t have enough time to do. We hardly have any time to process what we actually got done, simply because we are so stressed out about what’s directly ahead.
So, at the end of every week review your lists and daily schedules to see how you spend your time, and while doing it to optimize your productivity ask yourself the following questions;
This is a powerful tactic for determining whether you are really managing and spending your time wisely and productively. Then, once you’ve answered those questions, see how you can improve for the coming week and what you can do differently to be even more productive.
The final thing you can do to help turn your day around when you are feeling unmotivated is to take 10 minutes to really think about your dreams.
Remembering your dreams and goals is one of the best ways to get yourself going and motivated.
You are doing things for a reason! And even if the dream or goal is small it is still important.
If you have the time it can be very helpful to write down 10 of your main dreams or goals that you are working towards right now.
I have this list as a note on my phone and laptop and it’s great to glance at it when I am feeling unmotivated to help re-motivate me.
Right now, is an adjusting period for us all. During this adjusting period, it’s important to remember that you are not alone in this and that you are not the only one who is struggling to adapt to a new normal. We all have our own struggles.
The best thing that we can do when we are lacking motivation is to just continue on in bits and pieces and to keep moving forward as best as we possibly can.
Nobody is perfect, but those who never give up will eventually find their way.
What do you do to boost your productivity in your life? I’d love to hear the tasks you’ve included in your routine to help the whole day get off to a good start.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what you are doing to change your life in the coming days and years!
If you have any questions please reach out to me via adam@adam-lawrence.org. I would love to hear from you!
I really hope you found inspiration in this article.
Hello! My name is Adam and welcome to my space on the internet. Here you can find me writing about subjects such as spiritual growth, self-discovery, wellbeing, addiction recovery and mental health. Please connect with me on my journey and join the community!