The four ways to increase your productivity are to: ditch distractions, strategize time, incentivize action, and control procrastination.
Contrary to popular belief, productivity isn’t some innate trait that only successful people are fortunate to have.
It’s simply a combination of small habits which, if mastered, can significantly improve a person’s efficiency.
And the best part is, anyone can learn how to do it. Yes, including you.
You already know how to increase your personal productivity. But if you want a little more information on each tactic then keep reading.
The rest of this post will briefly explain their importance and how you can apply them to increase your ability to complete virtually any task.
Let’s dive in.
4 Ways to Increase Your Productivity to Get More Done
If you’re constantly behind on work, missing deadlines, or wasting time, then try using the following tactics to make yourself better.
1. Ditch distractions
Distractions are one of the biggest enemies of productivity.
It quietly consumes most of your day without you even noticing. It’s a silent thief.
The good news is, eliminating distractions is a lot easier than you think.
In fact, it’s the one thing you can start doing in the next 5 minutes to win back hours of unproductive time. Guaranteed!
Although silent, distractions are very easy to spot. They fall into two categories:
- Physical distractions: this includes things like frequently chatting with coworkers, going for drinks during work hours, family interruptions while working from home, etc.
- Digital distractions: these are things like surfing the web, constantly checking emails, browsing social media, watching videos, playing games, sending messages, etc.
Some of those distractions might seem harmless to you.
But if you were to record how long you spend on those activities for just 1 day, you’ll be astonished at the amount of time they cost you.
And it just compounds from there.
So, if you want to quickly gain hours of productivity, then do like “cancel culture” and start cancelling your distractions.
2. Strategize time
Strategizing your time involves organizing your day to be more productive using fewer hours.
Everyone has different periods of the day when they’re most productive.
The problem is, they don’t have a system in place for utilizing those hours on a consistent basis.
This is where routines can help.
The first thing you need to do is… identify your own productive periods.
When do you feel in the zone? Is it in the morning or afternoon?
How long does it last? 20 mins, an hour, 2 hours?
Try to make notes about what’s happening as well. Like if you just ate, exercised, etc.
Track yourself for a week to collect the data. You want to know as much as you can about what sparks your productivity.
After compiling the data, here’s what you should do next:
- Use a calendar to block out all those periods of productivity
- Schedule your most important tasks for those periods
- Set reminders 10-15 minutes before each period to get yourself in the zone
- Continue to track yourself and refine your routine as you go
By following this simple routine, you’ll be able to work faster and get more done in less time while operating close to your peak performance.
3. Incentivize action
When you want something bad enough, you have a strong desire to get it no matter what.
The problem is you’re not always motivated to do the tasks necessary to achieve your goal.
When this happens it can feel a bit demoralizing, and you’ll find yourself struggling to get things done.
So how do you overcome that?
The answer: you incentivize yourself to take action.
Having an incentive (aka reward) is a powerful motivator.
It’s one of the tactics productive people use to complete those boring and less exciting tasks that are still very important.
A perfect example of this is using money as an incentive to lose weight.
Let’s say you’re trying to slim down in 1 month. You can give your friend a $50 check.
Then you’d tell them that if you don’t hit your weight loss goal by the end of the month, the money is theirs to keep.
NOTE: The incentive should be big enough to make you want to take action. Losing $50 might be ok. But add a few more zeroes and you’ll definitely take it seriously. Now you’re more likely to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.
Remember, you won’t always have the desire to focus on certain tasks.
But if you learn how to incentivize yourself, you’ll be able to boost your productivity to get stuff done.
4. Control procrastination
Everyone deals with procrastination, including highly productive people.
But what sets them apart from lazy people is… how they control those thoughts.
Most people think that procrastination is a bad thing, but that’s not entirely accurate.
Procrastination is just your mind’s way of telling you to take a break and do a mini reset.
That’s why when you’re up against a deadline or you’ve been working non-stop, you find yourself struggling to stay focused on your tasks.
You start thinking about more appealing things like surfing the web, watching tv, etc.
It’s all influenced by your mind.
In order to control procrastination, you must understand the reason for it.
For most unproductive people, that reason is inward negativity.
They beat themselves up by saying things like:
- “Man I suck! I’ll never finish the assignment in time.”
- “How the heck does Marcy get so much done? I wish I was as motivated as she is.”
When you say stuff like that, it increases your desire to procrastinate.
Now, you’re not just neglecting your responsibilities…
You’re looking for cheap thrills to overcome all the negative thoughts.
So if you want to stop procrastinating, start by controlling your mind.
Instead of harshly judging yourself, try a little positive self-talk.
And accept that if procrastination happens while you’ve been working hard, it may be a signal for you to take a break.
It’s also a healthy way to increase your personal productivity.
Final Take
Now that you’ve learned the four ways to increase productivity, it’s time to apply them to your daily work routine.
Remember, this isn’t going to be an overnight process.
It’s gonna take time and practice for you to master these strategies.
But if you stick with it, you’ll be able to complete tasks and achieve your goals with maximum efficiency.
Speaking of efficiency, click the buttons below to quickly share this post with all the folks looking for ways to be productive.
