Don’t Look at your Phone or Computer First in the Morning
The biggest killer of a productive day is distraction and distractions often use up all your motivation. Once your motivation is used up and your energy level has fallen to an all time low, you’re stuck in that unbreakable look of youtube videos, text messaging and emails.
Do yourself a favor and shut your computer off before bed at night and set your phone in another room (unless you use it as an alarm clock).
Having a morning routine is incredibly helpful in warding off unnecessary distractions. Write down your morning routine on a erasable board in your room and just follow it every morning.
Example:
Shower
Get Dressed
Eat Breakfast
Pick out first task of the day and start it
Being able to wake up and know exactly what your first and last morning steps are can help you put on your imaginary horse blinders and get shi’t done.
Turn Notification off on your Phone
Your phone is like that little kid that doesn’t stop pestering you about the smallest things. You get a ping, ring and ding for every little thing that happens. Facebook, Twitter, Email, text message, you name it.
By turning off your notification, you’ll remember to check on your messages and emails on your time. If you’re busy doing a certain task, then you won’t be distracted until you’re done. This will save you a lot of mental refraction time.
Just think about how hard it is to regain focus when you’re in the zone and someone texts you, breaking your concentration. How frustrating does it feel to come back and tell yourself “so where was I?” It almost feels like starting from the beginning.
Go to sleep at the same time every night
Part of being productive means that your time needs to be predictable and consistent. What better way to maintain consistency than to sleep and wake up at the same time every day?
Your morning starts the night before. If you can sleep at the same time every night, then chances are you can wake up at the same time every morning. When you have a start time and an end time to your day, you’ll find that your in-between times are easily managed.
A night time routine that you start about two hours before your bed time can help with this.
Example:
Turn off computer
Shower
Take out clothing for the next morning
Read for 30 minutes
Journal
Bed
Being productive isn’t that difficult, but if you don’t know where your failure point lie, then you’ll have a difficult time managing your time. Distractions are the number one productivity killer. These three tips can help you identify your own distractions and get you one step closer to a more productive day!
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