Productivity is one of the most important aspects of our life. Without managing our productivity, our leisure is limited and our work output is hindered. Here are my five simple, yet powerful productivity tips to help anymore become more productive.
Wake up at the same time every morning
Waking up at the same time every morning helps give our day consistency and predictability. Whether we plan our days the night before or that morning, waking up and starting at the same time is going to make everything a Hell of a lot easier to accomplish. How many times have you woke up late on a day off and felt like not doing anything at all? That’s because you’ve now lost predictability of your day just by waking up whenever you want.
Never having to rush, being able to comfortably get ready for the day and most importantly, setting a predictable pace are all worth developing this productivity habit.
Having a Morning Routine
Having a morning routine is only possible if you wake up at the same time every morning and it goes hand in hand. Having a routine in the morning helps ease stress and create a comfortable and efficient environment. Wake up at 6:30AM, fill out your to-do list, take out clothing for the day, jump in the shower, make breakfast, go to work. If you have a streamlined routine, your day will start out as comfortable as possible. You’ll have an accurate measure of time and will most likely never have to worry. The key is never having to worry and getting things done effortlessly.
Imagine not having a morning routine, just waking up and going random. You’re faced with a few problem. The first problem you’re facing is that now your order of operation is all messed up. Let’s say you decide to cook breakfast before you take your clothing out and then the next day shower before making breakfast. One sequence might take longer than the other because you might have to compensate for the effects of one action. For example, what if you usually cook after you prepare your clothing for the day and shower last, but today you’ve decided to wake up and do whatever you want. You get up, cook, then shower, then when you get out of the shower, now you have to decide what clothing to wear, but then realize you forgot to fill out your to-do list.
Constantly having to recall your morning chores is a headache, but keeping a consistent, efficient sequence will make your world a lot easier. That’s less brain storming and stress in the morning, the time of day you just want to get up and get out.
Have a night time Routine
Just like your morning routine, I think it’s important to have an night or bed time routine. A night routine is the foundation of waking up at the same time every morning. Turning the TV and/or computer off at 11pm, brushing your teeth, making tea and reading for an hour before bed is an example of a night time routine that will set you up for a consistent morning wake up time. This will promote a consistent morning routine. A great beginning to your day really does all start the night before.
Without an bed time or night time routine, our energy level might be inconsistent and that will effect when we wake up the next morning and how we feel when we wake up. Let’s say you decide to watch a move that ends a half hour past the time you’re use to sleeping. You’re likely to sleep late, but you’re also likely to have a much different energy level than you’re use to after reading before bed. It might be harder to go to sleep afterwards and that’ll make waking up even harder. You’re more likely to make mistakes in the morning or slip off course.
Being derailed can have devastating consequences that can ruin your days to come. Avoid this productivity killer at all costs. Remember, your morning starts the night before!
Avoid Checking emails & social media Sporadically
Most phones these days have instant notifications. This makes life a lot less consistent for us because if we’re in the middle of something and get a text message, we are very likely to get distracted. We are likely even drop what we’re doing to address the alert, depending on what it is. Having a system to manage these alerts and interactions is very important for productivity. Perhaps putting your phone on vibrate or in another room while you’re working and only checking emails during lunch.
If we allow ourselves to fall victim to the evolution of social media and instant communication, then we’ve failed to adapt and our productivity is completely destroyed.
Don’t cram so much in one Day
This is a mistake a lot of people make. Instead of trying to find their level of tolerance when it comes to workload, they always try to add more and end up getting nothing done. Sometimes they can get everything done, but was it worth cramming everything haphazardly and dealing with all that stress? Is there a prize for getting things done faster? Relax……..Be patient and identify your capacity for work in a day and the weight of a certain task. Let’s say you’re use to 4 tasks a day, but find that on gym days, you can’t go shi’t after your morning workout. That means working out holds more weight than dropping something in the mailbox. If you can identify the weight of certain responsibilities, then it can make your life at lot less stressful.
Doing less is always better than trying to do more than you’re capable of. As long as you aren’t neglectful and get things done before they are urgent, you never need to worry about cramming so much and trying to do things fast. Cramming so much in a day and then getting nothing done or doing things poorly just to get them out of the way quick is a huge productivity killer!
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