7 things you can do today to boost your productivity.

Let’s face it.

There is nothing worse when at the end of the day you realize you have achieved nothing.

Waking up, with pressing deadlines coming up, you plan to get your head down and do some work.

Before long you're back…

procrastinating.

Checking out social media and doing anything but the task at hand.

Before long, it gets worse…

Deadlines start looming, anxiety overcomes you as the mountain of work starts piling up, like a pile of neglected dishes by the sink.

Panic sets in…

You didn’t mean to leave everything to the last minute, but what now?

Luckily I am going to share my 7 things you can do today to boost your productivity.

Ready to get some work done?

Let’s begin.

#1 Know what you are doing tomorrow

without a solid plan, you are going to struggle.

In the evening, plan the next day. Look at what you can do tomorrow to bring you closer to that weekly goal.

Open a word document and note down your working hours.

9 am — do task A

10 am — do task B

11 am- do task C

And fill in your schedule for the next day.

Each day open this document and tick off your completed tasks as you go on. At the end of the day change it to tomorrow’s schedule.

This keeps you organized and removes overwhelm as you know what needs doing and when.

Try this exercise tonight and see if you’re more productive tomorrow.

But don’t forget to…

#2 Wake up earlier.

It was Benjamin Franklin that said ‘ Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Go to bed early and get up early. In those early hours, you will be amazed at what you can get done.

For example, wake up at six instead of seven. In those early morning hours, you may find that you’re more productive.

Skip the late-night binges when you’re close to a deadline. Plan your day and go to bed, wake up, use the extra time to get the big stuff done.

Just make sure to…

#3 clear your mind.

Declutter your mind to put you in the zone.

Meditation may seem a bit out there, but with calming music, quieten the mind, it will work wonders for your productivity.

This will remove stress and overwhelm. You will feel calmer, more in control, and focused to tackle the day moving forward.

Take the first 15 minutes of your day to quieten your mind for 15 minutes.

Headspace is great for this.

This will put you in a more productive frame of mind that makes getting into the zone that much easier.

And don’t forget to…

#4 delegate and automate.

Don’t sweat the small stuff…

look at what you need to personally do. All of the other little things…

Delegate them.

Freelance sites like Fiverr are great when you need something affordable at any budget.

Also, consider apps and software such as zapier to connect two services.

For example, you can move email attachments from Gmail to dropbox where you get an alert on slack.

Freeing up your time instead of searching and being distracted by emails.

Delegating your time, you won’t waste hours doing all the little things that clog up your time.

You could find that you have two days of workload completed in a single day.

Next is the…

#5 20 minute method

Do work only for twenty minutes at a time.

Know your next task, set a timer on your phone.

Do nothing else but focus on the next task for the next twenty minutes.

Cut out all distractions.

Set your phone to silent block out social media, and just focus on that task.

As soon as your beep goes. You can have a 5–10-minute break while reminding yourself of the next task.

It is at this time you can look at social media. Just don’t forget to set another timer for when your break is over.

In one hour you will have done a full 40 minutes worth of work focusing on the tasks that you need to be doing.

Just remember…

#6 Live by the 80/20 Rule

80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts.

You want to prioritize, look at your schedule, and think what are the biggest things you need to do to move the needle forward.

If you had to only do only three tasks to get the best results what would they be?

What about the top two tasks?

What is the top task that you can do today that will yield the best results?

These tasks will yield 80% of the results that you get.

At the end of the day, put these tasks at the beginning of your next day schedule. Or at the hour your most productive.

You will find that you will start to get much more done.

instead of doing the smaller tasks that are easier to do but yield fewer results.

And finally…

#7 look at the big picture.

You need to look at the map to see where you are going.

Look at the big picture and know what your end goals look like.

Know what needs to be done at the end of the:

• Year
• quarter
• month
• week
• day,
• hour.

This will give you a plan to work by, so that day by day you know you’re getting closer to your goal.

As you can see where you are going at any given time. What needs to be done and what you have missed.

You can start to prioritize and hit those targets that at one time seemed difficult to hit.

conclusion.

You’re now ready to tackle your day.

Imagine this…

Instead of falling behind and getting to the end of the day achieving nothing.

You know the most important task that you need to do at this hour.

To get started…

Today, start to know the bigger picture.

Know what needs to be done at the end of the month and week. Work out what you need to do tomorrow. What are the top three tasks that will get you the most results?

The top two?

The top task?

Schedule these first, then break up your daily goal into hourly tasks that you complete throughout the day.

Think of what you can delegate. Go to bed, wake up early tomorrow, you have work to do!

Clear your mind and meditate for just 15 minutes. Grab your phone and set your timer for just twenty minutes and start to work.

You will be amazed at how productive you will start to be.