Top Tips To Boost Your Productivity: Get More Done In Less Time!

So much to do, so little time.. Sound familiar?

If you’re here, reading this post, then I’m pretty sure you can relate to:

• The feeling of never having enough time to do everything you want/need to do

• Endlessly working your butt off while your to-do list seems to keep growing, and

• Feeling completely overwhelmed and exhausted by it all (which results in getting even less done)

Here’s the thing, there’s a difference between being productive and just being busy.

We all have the same 24 hours a day, but the key to boosting your productivity is how you spend that time. 

In this post, I’m going to share with you my favorite productivity tips and my four-step productivity plan that will teach you: 

•  How to be more productive so you can get more done in less time

•  How to work smarter, not harder (and give yourself a break)

•  How you can balance it all and finally accomplish those big dreams that have been sitting on your bucket list for years

Step 1: The list

Get everything out of your head and onto paper. Write a list of everything that you have to do. 

Step 2: Prioritize

That endless list? It’s a no-go. If you want to be productive, the fluff needs to go, and the rest must be prioritized accordingly. This is the fun part! So how do you prioritize? I like to use the Eisenhower matrix. It’s simple and effective and will help you make the most efficient use of your time.

Divide another page into four quadrants: 

1.  Urgent and important: These are vital tasks you should focus on first

2.  Important but not urgent: These are high-priority tasks but not so time sensitive, so you can schedule them for later

3.  Urgent but not essential: These are pressing but low-importance tasks; they can be done by someone else

4.  Not urgent or important: These are insignificant distractions and must be eliminated

Step 3: Plan

You know how the saying goes: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail..” We’ve all experienced this at some point. Let me tell you, you can be far more productive with your time if you plan it properly. 

Being productive starts way before you even begin doing anything; it starts with planning. So, it’s time to get really good at how you allocate your time!

How do you plan ahead to set yourself up to naturally be more productive? Well, first, you need a planner, duh!

Tip #1

When planning your time and blocking out your schedule with to-do’s, schedule outcomes versus actual tasks. For example, don’t set aside an hour on Monday afternoon “to work on your side hustle”; instead, set aside an hour to “create a new post outline” or “schedule all social media posts for the week.”

This will keep you more accountable to a specific task and give you an outcome to focus on achieving rather than just working towards something non-specific for an hour (and potentially getting nothing done). 

Tip #2

Use task batching to your advantage! When planning your week, schedule your tasks in batches so you’re not constantly switching between tasks. Focusing on one task at a time boosts your productivity, and switching costs precious time as you settle into the new task and find your groove. 

Tip #3

Don’t overwhelm yourself! Break big projects down into bite-sized pieces and develop a clear action plan. Focus on the three most important tasks for the day and smash them. Pick three of the highest priority tasks from your priority matrix and schedule them into your day. Focus on one at a time and tick them off your list as you complete each one. Believe me, you’re going to feel unstoppable!

Step 4: Doing the work

So, you’ve prioritized and planned your time and tasks; how do you ensure you’re being productive while actually doing the things?

1. Distractions – whatever those are for you, fiercely eliminate them!

2. Use the Pomodoro technique – set your timer for 25 mins (uninterrupted focus time) followed by a 5-minute break, and repeat until the task is done!

3. Give yourself a set amount of time to do something – if you’ve only got an hour to write that blog post, you’ll get it done in one hour, but if you give yourself a week, that same blog post will take a week. Don’t believe me? Try it!

4. Don’t allow negotiations with yourself – If something is in the planner, it needs to get done, so get to it. You’re only wasting time by procrastinating and coming up with reasons why it doesn’t have to get done right now.

7 Top Tips to Finally Stop Procrastinating and Get Stuff Done 

And there you have it, the simple and effective four-step guide to becoming insanely productive! 

I felt like adding more sprinkles to the cake, so here are some more helpful things to think about…

Routines

Looking at the lives of admired and successful people, you’d see many rely on various routines and rituals. There’s a reason for this. Routines make you more efficient by taking the decision-making out of the picture, which saves you both time and energy. Score!

If I could recommend any routine to invest in, I’d say a morning routine is your best bet. A morning routine allows you to start the day with clear intentions that will set a positive tone for the rest of the day. Build the perfect morning routine by including things that fill your cup, motivate you, make you feel good, and set you up for success.

How to Create the Perfect Morning Routine for Success

Some more routine ideas: a night routine, exercise routine, skincare routine, meal prep routine, and self-care routine.

Awareness

If we all have the same amount of time in a day, then where is yours going exactly? It’s time to do a time audit to get an accurate idea of how you’re spending your time.

Over the next few days, write down everything you do and how long you spend on each thing. At the end of the audit, calculate how much time you spent on each activity each day. You might be shocked! For example, I had no idea I was spending so much time on social media before I did this… 

• How can you free up more of your time? Look at your schedule and see if anything doesn’t align with your goals and needs to be dropped. Scrolling for hours on social media is a definite timewaster. 

•  If you can’t eliminate a “time-waster” like spending two hours on your daily commute, brainstorm ways to make that time more productive (for example, you could listen to a podcast or audiobook).

•  Procrastination is another huge time-waster that takes up quite a bit of space on the calendar when you look at it from this perspective.

Monitoring how you spend your time can open your eyes as to where your time is going. You might think you don’t have time, but it often comes down to unintentionally wasting time or not allocating it in a way that best serves you and what you’re trying to achieve.

Habits

Habits that could make you even more productive:

• Take more breaks (sometimes less is more). When you allow yourself to enjoy well-timed breaks instead of trying to constantly power through everything without taking a breath, you’ll find that your work’s quality will improve, and so will your attitude towards it.

• Stop multitasking – research shows that humans aren’t built to multitask. Focus on the first task, tick it off when it’s done, and then move on to the next one. You’re way more efficient in focusing on only one task at a time.

• Learn to say no more often – it’s simple, if you have less on your plate, you have more time to focus on the things that are actually important!

Strategy

This is your time to brainstorm how you’re going to work smarter, not harder. How can you be more efficient? Here are some tips and things to think about:

• Schedule tasks based on your energy level

• Be realistic with your schedule and keep your to-do list manageable

• How could you enjoy your work more and bring more passion?

• Brainstorm easier ways to do things (there is usually always an easier way)

• Look into whether you could delegate some things on your plate

• Take a look at your environment; how could you edit it to serve your productivity?

• Reflect on what is and isn’t working and make adjustments accordingly

What productivity-boosting tips will you be trying? Let me know in the comments below!