The more productive you are throughout the day the more you accomplish. Makes sense, right? So, wouldn’t you want to optimize your productivity in order to get the most done and make the most out of every single day?
The most successful people don’t have more time. They just make the most out of the same 24 hours in a day that we all have. There are simple little hacks and tips you can pull from and create your own fully optimized productivity plan.
Here are six tips that are sure to help improve your own productivity. When combined you should be able to see a noticeable improvement in the amount of work you are able to accomplish.
- Always have a to-do list.
You will struggle to know what to do next if you don’t have it planned out in advance and at least written down in front of you. Think about it for a minute. If you do from task to task without a plan you have to break in-between and think about everything you need to get done and then pick something.
“If you spend 10 minutes between tasks and have a dozen things to do every day that is two hours of wasted time that could have been used getting things done,” advises Tad Thomas of Thomas Law Offices. “Time is your most valuable asset, so the more you save, the more you can leverage to better your overall success.”
Make a to-do list every day and attack it, from top to bottom without even stopping to think. When you are able to look at the list and just move from item to item you will push through it much faster.
- Understand you cannot do it all.
The sooner you realize that you cannot do everything, the better off you will be. For example, if you aren’t the best at web design why waste hours trying to figure it out. Not only will the results be less than perfect, but you will spend so much time doing that when it could have been better used doing something you were excellent at.
“Hire and pay experts to do the things that you are not a master at,” suggests Oliver James of Perth Web Design. “The most successful entrepreneurs know they can’t do everything themselves and they should always hire the best available talent, whether it’s to fill a job position or for a one-off need. Companies hire us if they aren’t experienced at web design because they want an expert to handle the job.” You can click here to learn more about Perth Web Design and the services they provide.
- Learn to delegate properly.
Delegation will be your biggest asset once you learn how to master it. If you have employees, outsourced talent or just vendor partners — the goal is the same. Put the best people in charge of the things that they are the best at.
“A business owner that tries to do too much becomes overwhelmed and they fail. It doesn’t matter how much you know — you cannot take on too much,” says Andrew Tran of therapyblanket.com.au. If you try to do it all you will become consumed and the most important tasks that do require the bulk of your time will not receive the attention they need.
Learn who does what the best and delegate accordingly. Hold everyone accountable for their own responsibilities and watch how more productive your day becomes.
- Learn how to leverage 7am – 9am.
The early morning hours before the day officially starts can be the most productive hours. Many people that learn to leverage this time period correctly are able to get more done in two hours than they get done the entire rest of the day.
Why is that?
Well, you are working at a time that most people are getting ready or commuting to the office. “The email volume is low. Phone calls are non-existent. This allows you to work distraction-free for two straight hours,” offers Sandra Kindem of Owakihi, a company that helps people with disabilities. Get caught up on emails, push through as much of your to-do list as you can, etc. These will be the most productive hours of your day.
- Have an ‘emergency hour’ available daily.
“There are always going to be things that pop up out of the blue. If you keep one hour on your daily schedule ‘open’ this allows you to adjust for last minute meetings or even emergencies,” suggests Karen Anderson of Queensland probate law service The Probate Law House.
If someone needs to meet, schedule them in your extra hour. If an emergency pops up and throws your schedule off, you can use that free hour of time to adjust.
Don’t worry about ‘wasting’ it every day. You will soon find that there is always something that sucks up that time. If you have a perfect day and there are no emergencies or surprises, then you get an extra hour to get things accomplished, or take that as an opportunity to get an extra cardio session in to reduce fat and feel healthier; not to mention contribute to increased energy levels. It’s a win/win situation.
- End the day by preparing for the next.
“Preparation is key, and one of the easiest ways to always be prepared is to plan out your next day before you end the current day,” says April Gillmore of ClickFirst Marketing, an agency that offers this blog writing service. “Writing your to-do list and visualizing your next day mentally prepares you.”
This is such an easy way to stay mentally sharp as well as ensure that you wake up each day ready for battle, knowing every single line-item that needs to get accomplished.
This also ensure that you always end the day on a positive note. If you are dealing with something stressful and you end on that it can carry over. Never end the day stressed.