As a busy business professional, it is sometimes difficult to find enough hours in the day to get everything done! Balancing work life with family, extracurricular activities and other commitments can be a daily challenge. Are you up to it? Here are our seven quick tips for being more productive:
Don’t hit snooze! Famed author Lewis Carroll once wrote “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” It’s amazing the things you can get completed early in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day set in. I find that the morning is a great time to take care of things I want to do for myself (emailing a friend, browsing my favorite blogs, etc.) before I get started on my work tasks for the day.
Stay organized. This is a given! Organization drives productivity. Find a system that works for you and that helps you to manage your tasks. Is it a physical planner that you carry around? Do you prefer to use a calendar on your computer? Different organization works for different people, so test out some different materials until you find one that works for you.
Refuel. Nothing is worse than trying to be productive while your stomach growls. Make sure that you’re eating enough during the day to keep your mind focused on the tasks at hand. If you’re in an office, keep some nuts or granola bars at your desk for when the munchies set in. Also, be sure to drink lots of water!
Schedule. In the same vein as staying organized, scheduling will help to maximize your productivity. Don’t burden yourself with too many commitments on a given day. Try to schedule your time so you’re able to focus best on the task at hand. For example, do you really want to schedule an important meeting for 8:30 in the morning after your son’s basketball game? You likely won’t have had much time to prepare the night before. Think about overlapping commitments as well. How can you schedule to be most productive?
Take some alone time. Though you may be tempted to dive into activity after activity without stopping, make sure to take some time to yourself before your next big project. Even if you can only squeeze 15 minutes, that’s a start! Jot down your goals for the day or week, both personal and professional. Think about where you want to be when your week ends and figure out what it will take to get you there!
Rest! Though we don’t want you to hit snooze all morning long, it is important to get an adequate amount of sleep at night. A cloudy mind isn’t going to get much accomplished. When you’re well-rested, you’re ready to maximize your productivity!
Enjoy. Productivity is an important step in building success, but you need to make sure that you’re enjoying the ride to the top! When you take pleasure in your work and personal activities, productivity rises as you meet with more success. Enjoy what you do and what it takes to get you there!
What makes you the MOST productive? Tell us below!