Triple Your Personal Productivity and Add More Hours to Your Day

If you’re thinking that there never seems to be enough time to get everything done, you are wrong. Actually, there is. Maybe you’re wasting too much time and spending your time on the wrong things. Some people run over 100 companies simultaneously and still have time for dinner with the family each night. They simply use their time more wisely than the rest of us.

Make the most of your time and increase your productivity:

• Learn how you waste time.
  Yes, you are the best worker at your company. I bet you still waste a lot of time. Determine how you waste time at work and home. Notice what you do when you’re bored, sick of work, tired, or stressed. Effective use of your time is a key component of becoming more productive. Just for your own use, keep a stopwatch at your desk. Keep track of how much valuable work you do each day. Time spent checking your email, looking out the window, chatting with a coworker, or drinking coffee, must be excluded.
• Eliminate distractions.
  Some people can concentrate with chaos all around them while most of us do best with as few distractions as possible. Control what you can in your environment. It is a fact that the fewer distractions you have, the more you can accomplish.
• Prioritize your priorities.
  If you have 10 priorities, set the most important ones first. Write down a list of your three top priorities for the next day. Do everything you can to accomplish those three things. Avoid wasting time each morning trying to determine how you’ll spend your day. You should already know when you wake up because you’ve done it the evenings before you go to sleep.
• Spend time on the most effective actions.
  There’s a difference between being busy and being effective. Imagine you’re having a dinner party and your house is a mess. You could be busy cleaning out your bedroom closet, but that’s not accomplishing much in this instance.
• A more effective action would be to wash the dishes, vacuum the floor, or straighten up the living room.
• Not all activities are equal. Spend your time doing the most important things first, even if they’re the least enjoyable.
• Take regular breaks.
  You might be able to work hard from 8 am to noon, but you’ll have nothing left in the afternoon. Studies have shown that taking a 10-minute break each hour greatly increases productivity over a full day.
• A longer break now and then.
  Give yourself an even longer break every few hours. You’ll stay fresh and find your ability to focus is less-compromised later in the day.
• Develop a morning routine.
  A known fact – the most successful people are the most productive. And the most successful people also have a morning routine. Get out of bed early and get your day started productively. Have a good breakfast, meditate, exercise, or do whatever else will get you primed for the day.
• Apply the same concept to work.
  Have a work routine that addresses those tasks you do each day. Plan them and get them done.
• Choose the best time for each activity in your life.
  Do you buy groceries at the most convenient time, or do you go when everyone else is at the store? You could save a lot of time by going after 7 pm in the middle of the week or early on Sunday morning.
• Consider how and when you do things.
  Could they be done in a better way or at a better time?

Get more done with the time you have available. Evaluate how you’re using your time, both productively and unproductively. Find your weak spots and develop a strategy to improve your behaviors and your approach. The key to productivity is using your time as wisely and efficiently as possible.