Do you wish you had more than 24 hours in the day? Do you ever wonder how some people get so much done in the day even though they have the same 24 hours as you? High achieving individuals like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have the same 24 hours. You might be thinking that some people are super human, but that’s just not the case. People who get stuff done organize themselves. They are also very productive and make use of every minute.
There are also those types of people who are busy being busy. If you ask them what they are doing, they will just say they are ‘busy’. Don’t be one of these people. These people are actually counter-productive and instead of getting stuff done, they get nothing done. They end up trying to multi-task all their tasks and end up getting nothing done.
Follow the advice below and you will be able to double your productivity and make more time in your day without the need of exhausting yourself out. You will end up getting way more done in your day as well.
Time Management is a vital skill that you must learn to get more time. Everyone wishes they had more time in the day, in this article I’ll tell you how you can organize your time effectively and double your productivity. Having better time management will not only increase your productivity but will help you earn more money financially.
Make a to-do list and set goals
Set goals for what you want to achieve in your business and life. Whether this is ‘write a novel’ or ‘create a multi-million pound business’. If you think your goal sounds too big, too far or ‘too unrealistic’, write it down. The more unrealistic it sounds the better.
Think about it was it unrealistic of Bill Gates to think that he would own one of the world’s most valuable companies and become a billionaire. Was it too big of a goal for Arnold Schwarzenegger to think that he would become one of the world’s highest paid actors. It wasn’t and you shouldn’t settle for small goals either.
Setting goals and making a to-do list will make you focus more on the things you have to achieve. Writing down your goals also clears your head for other ideas and helps your brain flow better. Make sure you write deadlines to help you stay on task.
For example if you have a credit card bill to pay off, your goal could be ‘I will pay off my £3,000 credit card bill in full by July 21 2022.
Not only will setting goals and making a to-do list help you achieve personal goals but it will also help you achieve financial goals you have for yourself. An app that can help you to do this is Evernote.
Evernote is a note taking and productivity app that helps you get stuff done. You can write notes down on this app so it frees your mind app to focus on other things. You can also create to-do lists with this app to help you focus on things. I highly recommend this app and is available to download on desktops, smartphones and tablets.
Deadlines create a sense of urgency for your goals. Without deadlines you will be thinking to yourself that you have all the time in the world. Set a realistic deadline and you will be surprised to how much you can get done and accomplish.
Studies show that if you write down your goals you are 33% more likely to complete them.
Avoid Distractions
This includes turning off your mobile phone, switching off your email and closing. If you can’t switch your email off try setting specific times to check your email. For example, check your email once in the morning and once in the evening or night. This way you will not get distracted by having to check and reply to emails.
Many people have the habit of checking their email every 2 minutes even though they have no new emails apart from some spam emails from some Nigerian prince asking for money. Turn the internet off when you don’t need to use it.
The internet is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century but it can be seen as one of the biggest distractions if not used properly. Some people get the urge of going on Facebook or Twitter. Or you might even start going on YouTube to watch funny cat videos instead of doing work. By the time you realize that you’ve spent 2 hours on Facebook or watching videos of people falling over.
If you still think you can’t turn the internet off then I suggest using a software like Freedom. Freedom cuts off access to the internet for a certain period. You cannot use the internet at all until that period has gone. This is an incredible software if the internet is stopping you from being productive. It is only $10 for unlimited use of the software. The best thing about Freedom is that once it’s activated it can’t be turned off.
Anti-Social is another software that helps you from distracting websites. You can choose which websites to block off. So if you are a Facebook-aholic then you can block access to Facebook. If you can’t help but tweet about everything then you can block off access to Twitter for a certain period of time. Like Freedom once this is activated it can’t be turned off. Anti-Social is only $15 for lifetime use of the software.
If you want to know how much time you are wasting on unnecessary websites then I suggest you check out Rescue Time. Rescue Time runs quietly in the background on your computer while tracking how much time you are spending on websites and other applications. It then generates a weekly report on what you have gone on and how much time you have spent.
Its a free tool to download and you’ll actually be surprised to how much time you are spending being unproductive.
Make a Schedule
Create a schedule and make sure you stick to it. Set specific times to tasks and make sure you do it on that time. Making a schedule helps you stay much more focused and productive.
You know what to do next and you stay more organised. When you do this you start to build a routine up and it starts to get much easier once you have that routine in place. It starts to get easier to when you know you have to do something at a specific time.
This is how many successful and productive people get stuff done. A lot of them stick to a schedule religiously and never mess their schedule up.
Once you make a schedule of the things you have to complete, it becomes a habit and then becomes a lot easier to complete tasks. When it is a habit it becomes hard-wired it your brain that you must do the specific task at a certain time.
Use ZenDay to organize your time and create a schedule. ZenDay is an app available to download for free on Android and Apple devices which allows you to plan your goals and manage your time. Using this app you can become proactive and take control of your life.
If you have a busy and stressful life and you want to take control of your life again then I suggest you download this app. It’s very easy to use and will help you become much more productive.
A lot successful people have schedule and they make sure they stick to them. A schedule does make you stay on top of things allows you to become proactive.
Reward yourself
When you accomplish something or achieve a task make sure you reward yourself. This could include having your favourite food or drink, playing a video game, or whatever it is you enjoy. For example when you have written a chapter of your book you could reward yourself by playing Gran Turismo 6 for half an hour or watch The Big Bang Theory. Whatever it is you like doing do it but make sure you don’t over do it.
However it is best to do something healthy so try to keep stuff bad for you away. Try doing stuff like going for a run or eating some healthy food.
Rewarding yourself motivates you to work better and harder and it can produce better results for you. Rewarding yourself is a way of thanking yourself and appreciating yourself. Many successful people use this technique to get more done and accomplish more things in life.
Rewarding yourself for each task makes you work harder and more efficiently because your brain knows you are going to get something nice when you complete it. Just make sure you do It in consideration and don’t do it in excess.
Take Mini Breaks
You are not a machine and you should not work like one. It is very unproductive to work non-stop. Take mini-breaks to avoid burnout. A good guide is to take a 5 minute break for 25 minutes or so that you work.
This is called the Pomodoro technique and was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980’s. Having frequent breaks can improve mental agility and help you stay on top of things.
You can use e.ggtimer to keep track of time as it is a countdown timer that you can use to measure how much time you have spent. This a great tool that helps you to stay productive and helps you keep on top of things while focusing on the task in hand.
If you keep working without taking any breaks, you will be less productive as you will be less focused on the task in hand and instead your mind will be wondering else where. Many authors use this method to complete large novels and other big writing projects.
This method is a great way to stay much more productive. I highly suggest you implement this technique as it will improve your productivity and increase your time management skills
Prioritize
Make sure you do the tasks that are urgent and important first instead of completing the easy tasks first. Effective people complete important tasks first, that’s how they get more done.
When you complete the more harder tasks and more important tasks it gets more easier to complete the less harder tasks. Using this technique you can complete your work and get much more done.
Look at your to-do list and schedule. Put the tasks that are more important as a priority to complete. Put them first on your to-list and schedule.
Once you learn how to prioritize properly, you will start to find you are getting much more done through the day and you will notice your time management skills improving and that you are getting more productive.
Time Up
These tips should help you get much more done throughout the day and improve your time management skills. It is very important to develop time management skills as it will help you get more productive and help you complete more tasks.
The time management tips contained in this article are some of the methods and techniques that highly successful people use to get stuff done and complete large projects.
Make sure you implement these tips into your life and business because there is no point in reading an article if you are not going to act up on. Give these tips a try and you will be surprised at the amount of work you’ll get done and how much more productive you have become with the help of these tips.
If you have friends that are lacking in productivity or anyone else that you think needs help with improving their time management skills then share this article with them. They’ll appreciate you helping them.
Do you have any of your own time management tips? Write them in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!