How to Make Your Day More Productive

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Be More Productive

Do you think time management is important?  Do you think it helps you be more productive?

Well, I think if you answered yes, you’re correct.  Time management does help us get things done, brings order to our day, and leads us into a productive day.  But without it, we would probably end up getting nothing done by the end of each day.  We’d be spinning our wheels and wondering what to work on next.  In other words, your day would probably be a disaster without time management.

So, what are some time management strategies you can start to save you time and frustration throughout your busy day?

PLANNING

If you have a busy day without a plan, you’ll be stressed.  Without a doubt, you’ll be. But when you actively plan out your day knowing what you need to finish each day, you’ll have a much more productive day. You won’t have to wonder what you should be working on next. Your plan will tell you that.  

Now, if you want to get really intentional with your planning, you need to start prioritizing.  All prioritizing is, is taking your list of things to do and mapping out what your important tasks are, what tasks should get done, and what you’d like to get done. This will get you crystal clear on how you should attack each day.  

So, how do you do this?

Start by making a list of everything you need to do. Important and non-important things.  Everything.  Do a brain dump if you need to. Just get every idea out of your head.  Even ideas that are weighing on you.

PRIORITIZING

Once you have your list, now it’s time to prioritize it.

Identify 3-5 tasks that you know you have to get done today.  These are important to you and you won’t be happy with yourself at the end of the day if they aren’t finished. These are your must-do tasks.  

Then, using your list again, pick the next 3-5 things that should get done today.  These are things that aren’t super important but you’d like to get to them if you have time.

And lastly, from your list, identify 3-5 things that you’d like to get done today.  For this list, these tasks are only started when the other two lists are finished, your must-do and should-do lists. Things on this list should be things that’ll be fun for you to do so that’s why this list is last.  

The reason prioritizing your list works is the fact that you aren’t looking at a huge list of 25 things and not having a clue of what you should work on first.  And chances are, you’ll want to do the fun or not so important things first since doing the important tasks can sometimes be harder and not so fun.  But, our important tasks are typically moving us closer to our goals so we’ll want to be focusing our attention on those first every day.  

There will also be no more stressing out when you have a bunch of things to do that day.  And just remember, you’ll have the next day to tackle more things on your task list if you didn’t get to everything on the first day.  

Now, next time you feel flustered with a lot going on, do a brain dump and start planning and prioritizing your day for what you need to get done.

TIME BLOCKING

Now, even with a list of 3-5 things could feel like you don’t know what to start with. That’s when time blocking comes in. Take your 3-5 tasks in your must-do list and figure out how much time you’ll need to complete each of them, giving yourself a little extra time with each time block.

For example, if you have a task that you think will take you an hour, add 30 extra minutes to that hour so you won’t feel rushed to get it done.  As you get more comfortable knowing how long things take you, then you won’t need to add as much extra time.  

Plan your day using time blocking throughout the day.  This way, you’ll know how much time your tasks will take up and know how much you’ll be able to finish in a day.

When you have this planned out, you won’t feel discouraged when you know you only got to three things that day.  You’ll understand why.

Now, when you set up your time-blocked tasks, make sure you are taking a quick break between tasks.  A quick 5-10 minute break will do. Just make sure you take it. We can’t work straight through the day, going from task to task without any breaks.  You may think you can but you aren’t giving 100% to all of your tasks when you’re pushing yourself.

ROUTINES AND HABITS

The more you continue to plan out your day, prioritize your list, and time block each task, you will eventually get into a routine.  And once it’s a routine, you will start to build a habit. You’ll know when something becomes a habit because you won’t have to give it much thought to get the task done.  You’ll know exactly what needs to get done and just do it. 

If you are routinely doing a brain dump, it will eventually become second nature each time you do one.  When it comes to planning, prioritizing, and time blocking, it will get done on autopilot because you’ve built up a habit.  

Do these every day so you can start building these habits into your life and be more productive.

Final Thoughts

These time management strategies will help you on the busiest of days. They’ll keep you focused so you always know what you need to be working on and what comes next.  Don’t start another day without these strategies.

There’ll be no more forgotten appointments, no missed opportunities, and nothing gets neglected. Everything is planned, you have your list of what needs to get worked on and in what order, and the tasks are time blocked for when you’ll be working on each task.  There’s no guesswork and you’re constantly working toward the things that matter the most to you.

What strategies do you have for a productive day?  

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