How to be productive throughout the day?
Let’s agree this pandemic has not been kind to anyone. Amidst all the chaos, a lot of us were stuck with working at home. When compared to how we used to function before the pandemic, we can agree that the level of efficiency and productivity has decreased.
Many people confuse productivity with staying busy. When you’re staying busy all day, doing your tasks, and trying to achieve your goals, – at the end of the day you’re completely drained of energy. But while you’re being productive, you can achieve your goals most efficiently without depleting yourself of energy. It is important to have some time doing things that replenish your energy levels and reset your mind for the next day.
Rightly said by Franz Kafka, productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before. Every one of us would want to boost our productivity to be more efficient in our day-to-day life and make time to replenish our energy levels!
Here are 7 easy changes you can make in your daily routine to be more productive!
1. Welcome to the 5 a.m. club
When you see people around you boasting about the 5 a.m. club, they’re not wrong. Waking up early provides you more time in the daylight, giving the illusion to have a long day to yourself. This way you can deal with things in time without delaying and overworking yourself.
2. Movement
I can not stress this enough, you must find yourself 30 minutes of movement in the morning. It will help you stay active throughout the day. A fit body and a fit mind in sync can create wonders.
3. No screen time till you have a real breakfast!
Most of us are slaves to digital devices, which could be the main reason for procrastination. What I prefer is having a healthy breakfast and then checking my emails or having any kind of screen time. This allows me to be more assertive towards my time.
4. Set goals and a to-do list for the day
Planning your day will make you a lot more productive than you think. Being clueless, we take forever to decide on what is important for the day and waste a lot of time on that. Instead, if you have a goal ready, and a list of necessary things to do, all that is left for you is the doing.
5. Eat the frog first.
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” – Mark Twain
When you do the most difficult task of the day on priority, then the rest of the day is a lot calmer and easier. Doing the difficult task first gives you a sense of achievement that allows you to be more confident in tasks for the rest of the day.
6. Do not multitask!
A lot of us are guilty of picking up one thing and starting another before completing the first one. Multi-tasking divides your attention and energy which in turn can be quite unproductive. Instead, finish one task completely and then pick up another.
7. Say No and take more breaks.
Continuing on from the previous point, there are times when urgent things show up, that is why we leave the previous task and jump on to the urgent one. Here is where saying NO is essential. Don’t jump on the urgent task, check if it can wait a bit for you to complete your current task, this will save you a lot of time and energy.
Along with this, I tend to take a lot of small breaks. It is like rewarding myself with a little free time after I complete a task. This helps me refresh a bit and relieve stress.
Bring it all together!
Of course, it is not possible to adapt to these changes and inculcate them in your life overnight. But, if you can make these 7 changes in your life and stay consistent enough for them to turn into habits – let me tell you, you’re going to change your life!
