5 Powerful Productivity Tips To Absolutely Implement Right Now

Awww, summer is officially here guys! It feels great because a lot of my commitments and obligations are on hiatus now. This means I have more time to devote to new projects and such. It also means big schedule changes for almost everyone in my family. I don’t know about you, but when schedules change in my life, it’s often hard to stay productive and get things done because my focus shifts. This is exactly why I was in dire need for some productivity tips recently.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been seeking out ideas and wisdom regarding how to be more productive. You know what? These tips have actually worked! So I thought I would share my 5 favorite productivity tips with you. As a disclaimer, this list is by no means exhaustive. However, these are the things that have been working for me lately and I hope you find them helpful!

Productivity Tip #1: Prioritize and Plan Your Work

So I’ve been reading the book “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results“, and one of the things the authors really emphasize is how much you need to focus on just one thing in your personal and work lives. When you divide your attention amongst too many things, you aren’t as productive and something always suffers. That concept was completely foreign to me. I’ve always thought of myself as great multitasker! But this book challenged me to rethink things such as multitasking during conference calls, etc. It also made me rethink my work priorities. Within the book, the authors also challenged the readers to ask themselves: “what’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

I used that question to re-prioritize my work, especially when it was time to establish my New Year’s resolutions and quarterly goals. Check out my video below because I talk about how I use my resolutions and quarterly goals to plan my weekly to do’s!

Productivity Tip #2: Block Your Time

I never realized how valuable this tip was until I was forced to use it. By “forced”, I mean I had no option but to use it because I had a lot of work to do, and limited time to do it.

Time blocking is the process of dividing your tasks into pockets of time on your calendar. So, once you know what your priority tasks are (Tip #1), you can plan your day based on the tasks that need to be accomplished that day. I like to work in hour-long segments and I use my calendar to plan out every hour of my working day (including lunch). In addition, I use my notifications on my watch to alert me when my hour is ending. This helps me transition between each hour segment by getting up and walking around. That’s my break (physically and mentally) and it enables me to be ready for the next hour of work.

Productivity Tip #3: Learn to Say No

I’m the type of person who LOVES to fill up her time. I don’t like to be idle, and I love to work on projects. Similarly, when new opportunities arise, I love to say yes! I never want to miss out on a cool or exciting opportunity, ever. However, I recently read this from Brendon Burchard: “Most opportunities in life that are really worthwhile and meaningful will still be here six months from now…so slow down; say no more often; be more strategic.” And with that little nugget of wisdom, I gained the confidence to say no to things that don’t fit into my priorities.

As I stated in Tip #1, I had to prioritize and decide what was essential. Once that was known, all other things became a “no” or “not now”. Can I tell you how much my heart broke to say no? It meant postponing trips, incentives, etc. so that I could achieve my goals. But as much as it hurt my heart, it freed my mind. I freed myself to focus my thoughts and energy into my passion projects. And, that has made me more and more productive each day!

Productivity Tip #4: Turn Off Your Notifications

A couple of months ago, I started having some major issues with my cell phone. Initially, we thought one of my apps was messing up the camera’s functionality, so I deleted a ton of apps from my phone. That didn’t solve the problem. I ended up getting a new phone, and then I added the apps to the new phone. But here’s what I didn’t do: I didn’t turn the notifications on. Why? Because I forgot to do it. But, I found that I was WAY more productive when I didn’t have Instagram or Facebook notifications constantly popping up on my lock screen.

Instead of relying on my notificaitons, I’ve developed a system of checking my social media accounts once or twice a day instead of constantly throughout the day. So far, that’s worked for me and it’s helped me stay on track with my workload.

Productivity Tip #5: An Ergonomic Workstation is a Must

Last week, I started noticing a sharp pain in my shoulder on the right side. I thought it had something to do with how I was sleeping. But then I sat down to do some work on my laptop and as soon as I reached for the mouse, the pain came back in a searing manner. It didn’t take long to figure out that the position of the mouse was a problem. And the height of my laptop was too low. Oh, and my keyboard was not positioned correctly for my wrists. And last, my feet weren’t touching the floor which means my lower back was a little achy too!

I can’t tell you how long I had operated with these ergonomic inefficiencies, but one day my body said, “enough is enough!” I quickly started doing some Google research and found a few (and not too expensive) ways to make my workstation ergonomically friendly. Not only did my body feel better, but my productivity has improved. I’m able to type faster and sit longer without discomfort.

My Favorite Ergonomic Tools

If you’re in need of some ergonmic workstation tools, check out the ones that I purchased and see if they work for you:

1. Laptop Stand – raises my laptop to eye level and reduces tension in my neck.
2. Ergonomic Keyboard – keeps my wrists in a neutral position
3. Under Desk Foot Rest – relieves tension in my lower back
4. Wireless Trackball Mouse – keeps my wrist in a neutral position and I don’t have to push the mouse around

I hope you can see how a few productivity tips can literally change your week. You can apply these productivity tips towards working at home, managing your home, planning your meals, etc. It doesn’t take much, but with a little effort, you can make your week much more productive!

There is one other productivity tip that’s not mentioned above, but it is SO important–getting good quality sleep! If you’re looking for ways to get better sleep each night, check out my post here.

Do you have some productivity tips that have worked well for you? I’d love to hear, so please share below!

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