5 Ways You Can Get More Done in a Day
If you are a CEO or have a demanding career, you know how important staying productive and getting things done can be. You may think to yourself, “Pulling an overnighter with large amounts of caffeine will help you finish it.” However, it would be best to remember that feeling overwhelmed and working too much doesn’t equate to a productive day. So, let’s look at five ways to get more done in a day.
1. Wake Up Earlier
If you have ever gotten into the habit of waking up early and getting your day started sooner, then you have probably seen the results in your productivity levels. Getting up early in the day allows you to start earlier, giving you more time to be productive.
But there is more to it when it comes to sleep. You need to get a good night’s rest too. For example, your focus and productivity will only be on point if you sleep enough at night.
Not getting proper sleep can lead to focus issues and clouded thinking. Your productivity levels will also suffer when your focus and thought processes suffer.
2. Set Daily Goals/To-Do Lists
Set daily goals. Make to-do lists. You will be surprised how much more productive you can be if everything is already planned out for you when you start your day.
What are the essential items that you need to work on each day? First, prioritize a couple and put a big star beside them, as these are the things you must accomplish. After that, you can add some smaller tasks to complete after you finish the top-priority tasks.
You can make plans for the following day. The idea here is to create only a few tasks to complete. Then, make a list of things to get done the next day that will be manageable.
With a to-do list in place the night before, all you must do is wake up early and get to work on the list so you can check them all off one by one.
3. Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
Don’t over-commit. Often, you can take on too many projects and convince yourself that you need to be more productive. But you have overcommitted to more things than you have time to do.
You can create a time budget. For example, write how much time you will spend eating, sleeping, commuting, or driving the kids to and from school.
After you list how many hours you will not be able to do any work, you can take the remaining hours and divide them up between projects. For example, if you have three assignments due but only have time allotted to do two of them. Then you may have to cut back on commitments because you don’t have enough time in a day.
4. Schedule Blocks of Uninterrupted Work Time
Schedule blocks of time during your day to dedicate to work only. Sometimes that means you must cut out social media, close e-mails, and set up the environment for work projects only. If you work from home and have kids or pets, there may be unavoidable interruptions, but you can turn off the other distractions during this time. Ideally, if you can stay focused on one thing for a certain amount of time a day and without distractions, then you should be able to accomplish more.
5. Take Breaks Throughout the Day
Take breaks throughout your day. It sounds counterintuitive at first but hear me out. Instead of running low on energy and pouring coffee or energy drinks into your body to get through your day, try taking small fifteen-minute breaks.
You can take a walk, meditate, exercise, or drink plenty of water during that time. When you return after your mini break, you will be charged back up and can use more energy naturally.
In addition, these “microbreaks” give you enough time to pause and regroup so that you may not make mistakes and can meet deadlines better than just barreling through nine hours without stopping.
