Top Productivity Habits to Boost Your Efficiency and Success
They say one of the toughest adversaries you encounter in your life is yourself. Especially when it comes to productivity, it truly is a battle. Every day, you are bound to encounter situations where you choose between your pleasurable interest or the interest that is beneficial to humanity.
Situations like that occur as soon as you wake up in the morning. Do you get up right away for an early start of getting things done, or do you snooze and stay tucked-in with your cozy blanket until noon?
You are reading this right now, wondering, ‘How do I make myself productive when it is so hard to get moving?’. Say no more because we got answers for you.
Table of Contents
Effective Productivity Habits for Everyday Success
1. Start your day as soon as you wake up.
There is no greater way to jumpstart a productive day than starting it as soon as you wake up. This means getting up your bed and starting your daily routine immediately without wasting any second of your precious time.
With this practice, you would feel like you have more time in a day to finish your deliverables, instead of wasting time at the start of your day only to find out that you have tons of work to finish.
2. Stress may come from a mess
A wrinkle on a pillowcase may also wrinkle your mood for the day, go fix your bed. Although scientific experiments proving that a messy room boosts one’s creativity have been conducted, it is always preferable to start with a de-cluttered space. This space will let you brainstorm.
A regular de-cluttering session, either in your closet or on your desk, is also a good practice of getting rid of things you no longer attend to. Fewer things, less mess.
Do not just tackle your bedroom or study room, go further and dust off the windows, wash your dishes, and walk around the house with a vacuum at hand.
3. Stay hydrated.
Water, being the great universal solvent, is not limited to dissolving chemicals and other solid substances. Studies show that it also boosts productivity for an individual.
Staying hydrated can increase your productivity by 14% by helping you focus on tasks, thus makes you accomplish them faster than when you are dehydrated.
Hydration may also come off as hunger in the human mind that can result in overeating, when in fact all you needed was water in your body.
Now, grab that glass of water and keep your body hydrated.
4. Take notes
Another good practice is writing down notes. From having a checklist of tasks to your grocery checklist, or even ideas, any thought that you would want to remember, take notes of them.
Your list will push you to finish what is written and trust me, a list with boxes ticked at the end of the day is as rewarding as having ice cream with a cherry on top after a long hot summer day.
Also, noted thoughts are equivalent to recorded ideas and emotions. Take notes for memories.
5. Sleep, Recharge
Having a well-rested mind and body by completing your hours of sleep gives you an efficiency boost to finish your work the next day. On the other hand, sleeping less than seven hours may take a toll on your mood.
Not only that but in the long run, your body’s physical ability may decline because of your lack of sleep.
Practice the habit of putting away your cellular phone or any type of gadgets two hours before you go to bed. This will help you sleep better and easier.
How to be more productive at work:
Sometimes, we reach boredom even if there is a pile of files that needs to be done. From time to time, we start our day with so much energy and enthusiasm, and end with a draught mind, with nothing achieved, like a candle flame, slowly shushed by a weak wind.
Turn your career upside down with these habits.
1. Monotasking
One task at a time. You may presume that you are clever in doing two, three things all at once, but in reality, you are not. Give ideas and thoughts space in your brain.
Multi-tasking may get things done, but it will all come out in quantity and mediocrity. Quality work always requires commitment. Reminder, monotasking is still working, take breaks, and pauses.
If you intended to work on a laptop, close the book on the desk and keep your phone away, or at the least, in silence. Having too much at hand may also lead to distraction, or worse, procrastination.
2. Steer Away from Procrastination
It is hard to quit the habit of delving into non-work-related stuff instead of proceeding with work. You may defend this as ‘working better under pressure,’ but with lesser time for a task, how do you know if it was your best?
Instead of the pressure of time, work under the pressure of accountability. Always put in mind that what you are doing is on your shoulder, and no one else is there to blame if it flops. It is fair because when you have an awesome output, credit and praises are all yours as well.
Avoid procrastinating by making a list of your tasks for the day, for the week, and for the month. Make this list realistic and attainable; putting a task that is quite hard to attain for the day will give you uncalled-for stress.
Overworking is just as undesirable as procrastinating. I repeat, take breaks and pauses.
How to Stay Productive When Working From Home:
Working from home or remote work has been around for many decades. The history goes way back to medieval times, where the working class would set up craft and trade at their own home.
Fast-forward to the 2000s, when the rise of telecommunication started, the job was labeled as telework. This rise went on, and more companies opted to employ people who yearned to earn in the comfort of their own homes.
And since the outbreak of the pandemic this year, 2020, people were instructed to work from home for each individuals’ safety.
This was initially labeled as temporary, but months later, some companies are looking into permanently transitioning to remote work.
There are a lot of benefits to working from home. These are avoiding heavy pollution outside, avoiding the heavy traffic, avoiding the hassle of commuting, and avoiding the need to dress up or bathe.
It is all fun until it gets tougher to bring yourself out of your ‘sweetest hello and worst goodbye’– your bed.
If you are struggling on how to be productive working from home, we got tips for you:
1. Your bed is not your workspace.
If working on your bed has worked for you for the past weeks, quit it. Stop doing it now. Migrate your workspace in a different area of your house. Choose to work on your desk, if you don’t have one, utilize your dining table.
Find that one area where silence rings, and designate it as your working space. Face direction with less distracting aspects.
If you face the kitchen, you may be tempted by the snacks that are out and waving at you. If you face the television, you may fight the urge to just lounge and just go movie marathon and chill.
Never do work on the bed. It is essential to keep your bed as a space for resting, not stressing.
2. The list goes on
It has been mentioned several times, write your plan for the day. It could be daily, weekly, monthly plans. Keep a checklist for your progress, in this practice you may develop a schedule, just like when you go to an office.
It is crucial to plan not only the things to be done but the breaks you will need to avoid burnout
3.Stay-in-touch
Aside from your formal virtual meetings, human interaction is something that should not be overlooked—Stay-in-touch not just with your personal friends, but with workmates who became friends.
Keep the gossip going, and really, no one else may relate to you as much as them. Be the person who motivates another to be productive; surely, they will be that person for you too.
You are expected to stay-in-touch for business matters but step beyond. Ask people how they are, and let them know how you have been as well.
4. Ask for Help
It is understandable to feel like flopping during this hard time, so do not hesitate to ask for help.
The heavyweight of anxiety we get from the virus, and the frustrations that grow from all these rising societal and political issues could take a toll on your emotional, mental, and physical stability. Cut yourself some slack.
If you want to destress further, there are online companies that will take off a few pounds of load work from you. For businesses, they can provide customer service, transcribing, and other services.
If you are an individual in need of an extra hand, there are people out there offering virtual assistance. A virtual assistant sounds perfect, especially with the continuous rise in the number of virus cases.
You are human. You have limits. It is okay to need help and accept help.
5. Vitamin D for Creativity and Productivity
Get out and soak in that healthy morning sun. Step out of home, even if it is only five steps away from the door, go for it. Stand outside and observe your block or your garden.
This practice will boost your creativity, will relax the nerves, will clear the mind, and all of this will ripple to being productive.
Try to avoid the feeling of confinement; you are not a prisoner.
How to be more productive in life:
A productive life is a happy life. Here are things you should start practicing now:
1. Let’s Get Physical
Conditioning your body is one overlooked key to staying productive. Make sure to give those muscles the stretch it needs, and the core the tightening it deserves. Exercising also helps the body sleep better.
Remember the to-do list that we have mentioned? Include exercising for three different days, at the least, and make sure to tick it off at the end of the day.
2. Constant Nourishment of the Mind
It should be your goal to constantly acquire new and knowledgeable information. This will help you sharpen your mind. A sharp mind is an asset in keeping yourself productive.
It is healthy to keep yourself hungry, but just for knowledge.
3. Time Check
You live in advantage if you realize how valuable your time is at a young age. Life is short; it is not selfish to put yourself first. Helping others is a great use of time and a great act in itself, but do not let it consume you. Find the balance of taking the time for yourself and the time for others.
Live this short life in harmonious productivity.
4. Self-check and Self-criticize
You are probably an adult, and you know what is right and wrong if you find yourself spending too much time scrolling on social media, practice cutting back.
If you find yourself tuning in on Youtube excessively, or Netflix, find an alternative that could be as entertaining, but with no or less screen exposure, like reading a book.
If you are caught up with the chaotic news reports, and on a spree of reading article after article, try to limit yourself to stay sane.
Know your limitations and always strive to improve.
This has been a productive read, ain’t it? Time is precious; make productive practices a habit.
Most importantly, live to fulfill your dreams.
