One of the most common “illnesses” of the modern world is the lack of productivity. We live in the age of information and yet, all this information being thrown at us only serves to reduce the speed in which we work and produce something new. Just look up and see how many distractions you can spot! There are phones ringing with notifications, computers humming and so many different things that draw your attention elsewhere – especially when you are working from home!
Succeeding at your task requires a lot of focus. And you can achieve it easily – with a couple of habits that boost your productivity! Some of these are easy to create – and some are hard – but learning about them is the first step to a better, more productive you!
#1. Set up good, measurable goals and follow them through!
As you might already know, having goals you can aim to achieve is always great. They serve to inspire us and push us forward even when we feel like giving up! However, some people often have a wrong opinion that only the long-term goals are good ones. They feel like having something to chase is what it is all about – and that achieving your goal might disappoint you.
However, one of the main traits of productive people, as well as one of the most important habits you can create, is to set up weekly goals! Believe it or not, these are a great guide throughout a week – if you are smart about tracking them! Successful people simply sit down at the end of every day and examine how close they are to their weekly goal. There are many ways to do this, either by creating checklists or electronically with a tool such as ideabuddy. After that, they adjust based on that – either deciding to speed up or slow down their process. This gives you a hands-on approach to problem-solving unlike setting up long-term goals does!
Another great habit to have is setting up a morning routine. However, instead of immediately jumping into sorting through your inbox, trying to figure out how much work you have to do and similar doomsday scenarios, you should again sit back, relax, and take a moment for yourself. Read, meditate, and get in the right mindset for the upcoming work. Repeat this daily and you will be able to tackle anything that comes your way!
#2. Limit the use of electronic distractions
There isn’t really much that we can talk about here. Everyone knows just how dangerous to your productivity these can be! One little notification can decrease your office productivity by a huge margin!
This is why it is of extreme importance that you set aside all electronic distractions during production hours. There are multiple ways to do this. First, you can simply turn your volume down if you do not expect any calls. Conversely, disconnecting from the Wi-Fi or disabling notifications from your social media apps is also a choice. Finally, there are even other tools that help you monitor your application usage. They can lock you out of a certain app if you use it more than your set limit, which will in turn make you think twice before reaching for the phone!
#3. Set up smart breaks to ensure you stay productive
Another important habit to keep your more productive is setting up breaks in a smart way. As you already know, your productivity is bound to fall after some time. Instead of making yourself push through it, it is beneficial you break up from what you are doing, focus on another thing instead for a short while, and then come back. You will be surprised just how effective this can be in boosting your productivity levels once again!
When you think about break, though, you might consider a nap or just slouching in the couch and doing nothing. This, sadly, is wrong. If you were doing something passive, like studying for exams for example, a great way to take a break would be to stand out and stretch for a ten minutes. This way, you will wake up your body and remove any discomfort you might feel. Experts usually advise a five to ten-minute break every one or two hours, but you should try and build your breaks around how you feel, too! Just remember not to overdo it!
#4. Use good tools to keep you more productive
At the beginning, we talked about the ago of technology and how it impedes our productivity. However, this isn’t necessarily always the case. There are actually many tools and apps that can help you more productive! We already talked about monitoring your electronics usage, and tools that do that. These are just one type of many that you can use in your everyday life! As we already mentioned above, tracking your productivity and adapting to how fast you are solving your problems is beneficial to staying productive. And it offers a great way of tracking your progress and managing time! Using it correctly is bound to boost your productivity unlike anything you have ever seen!
#5. Try to reduce procrastination
Procrastination is the one big bad enemy of all productive people. It has been with us for much longer than you might realize (even Socrates and Aristotle talked about it when they coined the word Akrasia!), and it has stopped people from achieving their goals fast and efficiently.
There are many studies that suggest even more ways in which you can stop procrastinating and start being productive. However, these don’t always work simply because there are so many different people with different needs and wants. It is up to you to figure out just how you will deal with your procrastination and defeat it. The important thing to remember is not to stop – your productive life is around the corner!
Unnati Vaidya
Unnati Vaidya is a freelancer Content Writer and SEO generalist. She is an enthusiastic reader of Novels and a big fan of watching Sci-fi movies and seasons!