1 – Become Aware
Are you even aware of your current productivity level?
In order to improve, it is important to first become aware that we can do more if we work differently and secondly we need an idea of where we currently are, and how different we would like things to be.
2 – Create Systems
Systems can make your life SO much easier! Implement one at a time. Decide what you need a system for and implement it consistently, tweaking where necessary so that it becomes slick, then, you can move on to the next system. Systems can help you feel organised as well as just getting things done when they need to be done. For example, in our house, we needed a food system. As a family of 5 with different food requirements, we needed something that would make our life easier as well as calmer!
My husband created us a system! He got the kids to write a list of all of the foods they like, we combined it with our food requirements and adapted slightly and created a weekly a meal plan from it, which suited everyone. Now we know what we are eating on a daily basis and the kids can’t moan as the foods are on their like list!
Apart from saving a lot of time thinking about meals, it also makes shopping much easier and also now the kids are able to expand their independence and help make the meals.
Systems like this make life much easier and make you feel organised.
3 – Focus
This is a good one! I’m sure at some point we have all been guilty of doing something whilst doing something else and then a notification pings on our phone so we stop and check it and before we know it we’ve just spent 10 minutes scrolling on social media!
It’s getting all the more challenging to focus with the number of distractions we have in our lives. We need to make things easier for ourselves but losing the distractions whilst focusing on a task. Turn off those whatsapp, facebook, twitter notifications, move your phone into a different room or a different floor or maybe schedule a specific time to check in on those emails. It’s a good idea to schedule focus sessions at a time when you know you will feel good and when you know you can complete a task. Whatever you decide to do, it needs to become a habit. That way you can truly give your all to the tasks you need to undertake.
4 – Enter Deep Work – be present
Very much linked to focus in terms of setting aside a designated time to conduct a task and eliminating distractions, however when you enter deep work you have to also train your mind to block out any distracting thoughts and fully focus on the task at hand. When a distracting thought pops into your head and you think it’s important, simply write it down and get back to it. Become completely present in the moment and in what you’re doing.
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5 – Make fewer decisions
Have you ever been in the position where you’ve agonised over a decision and it has been ages before you come to a conclusion? I know I have. This can be such a waste of time and energy. Some decisions are important, however, some aren’t so by eliminating some choices you reduce the number of decisions you need to make. Also, minor decision making can be sped up for example, if you are trying to choose one book over another, get both! There is no point in agonising over trivial decisions.
6 – Take Breaks and look at your energy levels
Breaks and energy refuel are key. We have to keep topped up with energy in order to have the physical motivation to be productive. Eating well and exercising is a key component in this and not only keeps us physically fit but can help us in our mental motivation and well being.
7 – Schedule
Implementing a schedule can help keep us on track with all the things that we need to do. If you’re anything like me, working at home with 3 young children, you’re going to need an element of flexibility. Maybe you can resonate?! but in our home, no day is the same! I chunk my time and not try to do much at one time. I chunk by tasks and will in my mind have a work task that needs to get done so I allocate a chunk of time to that task. The timing of when it gets done is flexible as it sometimes will need to change. For this task though, I will focus heavily set a time limit and get it done.
8 – Look at your own 80-20
So you’ve heard of the 80-20 rule right?! This is the Pareto principle
where 20% of our activities account for 80% of our results. The aim is to identify those tasks that make up that 20% and make those a priority. This can be applied to almost any situation. It’s easy to get bogged down in the 80% tasks and to procrastinate, however, with a little planning this can be flipped around. Awareness is key to understand first of all what tasks are in the 80% and what are in the 20%. The most valuable task are often the ones that take the most time and can be the most complicated and therefore give you the best results. These are the ones that must be done as a priority.
9 – Limit social media
Consider taking a social media detox or at least place social media limits on yourself whilst you are working. Have set times where you ‘catch up’ with the digital world and allow yourself a given amount of time to check-in. It’s so easy to let time run away with you but setting an alarm can be really handy to remind you to move on to what you should be doing.
10 – Set a time limit
If there is a specific task you need to get done, why not set a timer for this. I used to be so guilty of being a perfectionist that it used to be things didn’t get finished as they were never ‘done’. Now I set a time and that is my goal to get the job done. I’m not suggesting you compromise on quality, however, with an end time insight you are more likely to focus and get the task done more efficiently.
11 – Learn to say NO
This was a hard one for me! As a naturally calm person and people pleaser, I would love nothing more than doing favours for people and being relaxed as to when I would meet up with people. Now I have learned that I have to be much more protective of my time. Our time is limited so we have to be really sure that we are utilising in the best way we can. I’m not suggesting for one minute you don’t do favours for people, it’s more about becoming more conscious of how you are spending your time and making it up elsewhere if you need to. I had to learn to be more strict with myself and others on my time. Now if I have a deadline then I make myself work around it and then arrange to share my time after.
12 – Implement daily habits.
I consciously introduced consistent habits into my daily routine around 3 years ago and I can honestly say they have changed my life. I always had daily habits like anyone else, like washing and cleaning my teeth but I’m actually talking about new habits that would serve to grow me as a person and help me grow my business.
I am an advocate of personal development and a few years ago I adopted it as one of my new daily habits. I consistently do some element of personal development every single day. Whether it’s reading a book, listening to an audible or podcast, working with my coach or watching a video, I do at least one thing (usually several things). I can safely say that in doing this it has helped shaped me into becoming the person I am today and is helping me continue to expand into the better version of myself that I seek. Investigate what daily habits you need to implement in order to realise your own goals.
Catrin x
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