Productivity Hacks To Get Your Life Back
The harder we work the less productive we are. That sounds counter-intuitive to how most of us were brought up, right?
But it isn’t. This statement couldn’t be more true.
You wake up each morning and dive into the sea of everything that is your day. You’re treading water, trying not to drown. You’re holding your breath for fear of going completely under.
Making time for yourself, the projects, the meetings, the business dinners, household chores, and your time with family and loved ones. How will you ever get it all done?
The answer is that you don’t get it all done. You can’t get it all done in a day.
What you CAN do is efficiently and effectively manage your time.
Here are 5 productivity hacks that will help you get your life back, while optimizing your productivity.
Learn how to say no.
Stop overcommitting. The only time you should say yes to anything is if you’ve confirmed you’re available and that you have time and resources to commit to whatever is being asked of you. This rule goes for work and home. There are only 24 hours in a day. Saying yes to things you can’t commit fully to from the start does nothing but set you and the other party up for disappointment.
Establish a Consistent Routine.
Set yourself up for success by defining the routine things you have to do each day and account for the time each item takes to complete. This includes sleep, cooking breakfast, your commute to work. All of these things take time. These daily to do’s are called your non-negotiables.
Prioritize.
Once you’ve defined your daily routine and accounted for that time in your day, you can fill the rest of your day with everything else you have to do. It’s likely you’ll have more to do than time to allocate, so prioritizing is the magic formula here. Whatever doesn’t fit, must be moved to a different day.
Get enough sleep.
Sleep deprivation is a productivity killer. I know, it’s tempting to go to bed later, or get up earlier in an effort to be more productive, but you’re not being more productive. When you’re tired, you’re less productive. You’re also more likely to be moody, impatient, and your decision making isn’t as clear due to the fatigue you experience from inadequate sleep.
Avoid multi-tasking.
Trying to do multiple things at once lowers your productivity because you’re not fully engaged in any one thing you’re doing, therefore each task actually takes longer to complete. Focus on one thing at a time and your productivity will increase because you’re doing it right the first time.
Follow these 5 tips and you’ll create more time in your day and achieve more balance in your life, all while increasing your productivity.
Originally published at medium.com