In the past few months, I have been focused on creating my ideal day. I have been more focused on trying to do what’s best for me. Here are 20 productivity tips to live your best life.
Color Coded Life
Having things represent a certain color has made a visual difference in my schedule. I have used this method for my paper planner, digital planner, and Google calendar. It has made a huge difference in how I see my schedule. In my planner, bills are red so when I see that color I make sure I paid that bill for the day. When I see green it’s payday, and I check my account to make sure the amount matches my paystub.
In the past, I have written in my planner with only 1 color and it stressed me out. It makes me think I have a whole list of things to do when I might not. Sometimes things might just be reminders or notifications but seeing the long list is not good for my mindset.
Learn To Say NO
This is so hard for me. If I say NO, I think you think I am saying NO forever and you will never ask me again. I also think if I say NO, you might not like me anymore. I am learning to say no to people. I have gotten better over time at saying no to people.
Plan The Day
Some people like to plan their day the day off and others the night before. I like to do it before I leave for the day. Whether I am at my full-time job or working my business, I try to step myself up for success for the day. I will write out the top 3 things that need to be done. So when I sit down for work, I already know what needs to be done.
Set A Goal for Each Day
Each day should have a different goal or theme to the day. I loosely implement this during the week. After my full-time job, I work on a different theme for the day. The weekends are a combination of things that need to get done.
For example, Monday is Marketing Monday. Tuesday is fitness where I reach out to clients, work on workouts, plan workout posts, etc. Wednesday has usually been Zyia, but since I am no longer with Zyia I haven’t filled the space yet. Most likely, it will become writing day. Thursday is social media focus. Friday is Financial Friday. I work on organizing last week’s expenses. I
Batch Like Items
This also works with setting a goal for each day. On Monday when I work on graphics, I work on graphics for everything. If I am already in that creative space, keep it going. It doesn’t make sense in my mind, to do something for an hour then switch to a completely different activity then back to activity #1.
Take Breaks
There are several options for this. The most popular in my opinion is the poldomoro where you work for 25 minutes and then rest for 5 minutes. Do this for 5 rounds. Then work for 45 minutes. I will use this method if I have a lot of little things that I need to do that I know I can get done in 25 minutes or less.
Most of the time I work in 75 minutes blocks with a 15-minute break. This was a trial and error thing for me to figure out how long I am productive on a single task. Most of the time I am writing in this time frame. The best advice that I can give it play around with different time frames and see how you do. Somedays the times might change. Don’t beat yourself up if you work less.
Find a Routine that Works for You
In the past, I think to be the most successful you had to get up early, but that is so false. It’s all about finding a schedule or routine that works for you and sticking with it. I do like getting up early so for me it’s easy to start my day early than work throughout the night. I know a lot of people who work better later in the day and through the night.
Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses
This goes with finding a routine but knowing what you are good at or like to do is important when organizing and planning out your day or being productive. We don’t like to talk about or think we have weaknesses but WE DO! Identify them and find someone whose strengths that is.
Over the past year, I have been doing a lot of work on myself. Unlearning and undoing things that I don’t like about myself. I have gotten to the root of why I do things and change that behavior instead of trying to change the issue. This has been helpful in so many different aspects of my life.
Set Goals
SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound.
When setting goals, I would challenge you to think about why you want this goal. I have set goals previously because I saw other people had them and thought they were interesting. When working through goals or even a vision board get to the core of why this is important to you. One tip that I use is to ask myself “why” 5x. It makes me think and get to the core of things. Sometimes it forced me to realize this wasn’t a true goal.
Do your least/favorite task first
I actually found that alternating between things I like to do and things I don’t work best for me. I know while I am working through my least I have something to look forward to. Mentally if I had to do a bunch of my least favorite items they would never get done. I know myself. (Again, know my strengths and weaknesses)
When I was going my research for this some people said least is better while others said favorite. Everything is a balancing act and finding what works for you. We are all different and should embrace that when it comes to planning our life.
Remove Unnecessary Items From To-Do List
Find someone who can help you take things off your to-do list. This goes back to knowing your strengths and weaknesses. I got super creative when removing things from my to-do list because I didn’t want to spend any money. For example, I love creating graphics but I could spend all day doing it because it’s fun. It’s also unproductive for me to do so. I reached out to someone to help with my graphics and offered personal training in exchange. The partnership works great because we both get to provide a service we enjoy in exchange for something we need to work on.
Eliminate Distractions
Finding out what your distractions are is important. Everyone is different and has their own things that block them from trying to get work done. My distraction is clutter. If I know the house is messy, I will stop and pick it up. Even if my office door is shut, my mind still knows and won’t let me move forward. I give myself 15 minutes to pick up as much as I can.
A proper distraction is multi-task or having multiple tabs open. I know that I can’t multi-task when I am on the computer. Having multiple tabs open on my computer doesn’t bother me with distractions, but it can be for others.
Give Yourself a Deadline
There’s a saying, if you give me all day to cut down a tree, I’m going to take all day. I plan out each task, so I know how long it takes me to do certain things. I give myself a time frame to do certain tasks.
Having a deadline helps keep you focused on the task at hand. In college, I was always working off a timeline because I hate procrastinating on projects. If I had a paper due, I wrote out how long for researching the topic, write the essay, and make PowerPoint if necessary. I never stressed out too much about papers because I would be doing a little bit at a time.
Good Night Sleep
Everywhere I read it states you should sleep 7-8 hours of sleep. For me, that is accurate because I need sleep. Some people don’t need that much sleep. I have a friend who can run off 5 hours of sleep. We are all different but getting a good night’s sleep is important nonetheless.
Review Your Work Each Week
I learned this tip from The 12 Week Year. Each week review how you spent your week in relation to reaching your goals. Grade yourself on a scale from 1-10. Then I do a SWOT analysis on what I could have done better.
Identify When You Are Most Productive
Everyone is different. I am most productive in the morning. I know that I am least productive after 6pm. During this time schedule the most important thing that you need to get done that day.
Start with 5 Minutes
I use this all the time when I’m training someone or working out. I don’t always feel like working out so I tell myself 5 minutes. We will work out in 5-minute blocks. Sometimes I forget about the 5 minutes and keep going on. I just needed to get started. Sometimes I am done after 15 minutes. Either way is ok but just start.
Set Boundaries
Communicating the boundaries on what you need if you live with other people or a group project. I have created a schedule based on when I am most productive and what I want to get done for the day. I communicate that so I am not distracted or my husband wants to do something he knows my schedule.
Setting boundaries can be hard at first for some people. If so, start small and work up to the boundary. I know it’s hard for me to set hard boundaries so this is something I have implemented.
Stay Hydrated
We should be drinking half our body weight in ounces of water. Drinking water and staying hydrated will help get you focused on your goals. A recent study revealed that dehydration could cause variation in cognitive performance, impacting individuals’ short-term memory and arithmetic ability.
Celebrate
This is the hardest one for me. I set goals, try to accomplish them, and move on. I rarely take the time to celebrate that I reached a goal. For the longest time, I thought it was so silly until my life coach made me focus on what it meant to achieve a goal. At the time, I had just become a certified personal trainer. I was like yay I’m a trainer now. Check! But she focused me to sit in a space to realize all the hard work, all the studying, all the things I gave up to study, etc. Then I was really excited and proud of myself for hitting that goal.
