10 Steps to Stop Being Busy and Becoming More Productive

Most often you think at the end of the day that you were busy whole day, but what did you accomplish in that busy day. It doesn’t really matter that where you work or what you do, but everyone wants to be more productive on their job. But intake of excessive amount of caffeine or making exhaustive list of your daily goals will not help you to reach your peak productivity levels.

 

Why we are all so much concerned about the productivity?

 

Because, in this digital age it is much harder to concentrate on task and avoid distractions than completing your actual tasks. No doubt, it will be euphoric for you if you got to know that your day was a productive day.

 

Most often trying to become more productive sometimes lead you to the misconception about what actually productivity is – it is much more than frequently checking your tasks and your to-do list. Productive people are not the one who are focused on doing more things, if you really want to be more productive make your to-do list small and focus on to do fewer things.

 

These are the very simple steps which you must put into your habit to increase your productivity.

 

1. Cut your to-do list, make it half – Being productive doesn’t mean you complete all the tasks in a day which comes under your ownership. Determine if you really need to do all these tasks which are not really important for you. You can follow the approach “less-is-more”, and focus on the tasks which are on priority.

 

2. Frequent Breaks – Take more breaks than usual you take. After several long working hours your brain get tired and you lose your efficiency. Whenever you feel ache in your brain it is a signal for you to take a break, your brain is tired, it has used up its glucose. Give yourself a break to refresh, go for a walk, grab snack, little chit chat with your colleagues or just do meditation. You will come back recharged and feel more efficiency in yourself.

 

3. Follow Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule – The Pareto principle, which is also known as the 80-20 rule suggests that most of the time 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent causes. Get rid of those things which don’t matter to you during your work day these things will have lesser effect on your productivity.

 

For example, break your project in small steps and systematically removes those tasks which are lesser important for your project, keep removing such tasks from the list until you reach last 20 percent which will get the 80 percent of results.

 

4. Don’t start your morning by checking emails – If you start your morning by checking your emails and your calendar, it is one of the most productivity killer tasks you are doing. By doing this you allow others to order you what you have to accomplish in your day.

 

Start your morning with focus on yourself; take good breakfast, read news, exercise or meditation, by doing this you will get necessary fuel to make your day more productive.

 

5. Accomplish challenging tasks before lunch – Accomplish your most challenging tasks when your mind is fresh. If you have any busy work or meetings schedule them for post lunch. This way you will be able to make your day more productive.

 

6. Make a system – You have developed few habits over years which are productivity killing. To increase your productivity make a system to accomplish your task. For example – instead of frequently checking your emails focus on tasks which are more important for you. Habit of frequently checking emails create distractions and decrease your productivity. Schedule this email checking task and give it a morning, afternoon and evening slots.

 

7. Stop confusing productivity with laziness – No one likes to admit this but laziness is the biggest reason behind losing productivity. You might have number of so called time saving methods to increase productivity like frequent meetings, emails, etc but actually it is a way which takes you out of doing real work. Focus on doing those tasks which matters most to you and do these tasks as effectively and efficiently as possible.

 

8. Stop Being Multitasking – Stop trying to accomplish ten tasks at a time. Changing tasks frequently in a day drops your focus and IQ. Try to get the things done accurately, effectively and more efficiently by focusing on one task at a time. Follow the approach “less-is-more”.

 

9. Play some inspiring music – You need to play some inspiring music which will boost your productivity. Make sure that music must not be distracting. For me it means instrumental-only selections. I’ve created a playlist in my iTunes called “My Favorites”.

 

10. Turn off social sites – Turnoff your Facebook, Twitter, or your Hootsuite and emails before starting your work. These sites just create distractions and decrease your productivity. If you can’t control yourself then use a program like Anit-Social (I love to use this program). This program will allow you to keep your social accounts open but it will cut-off your connection for some specific time period.

 

These are the very simple steps which can easily fit into your routine. Just try these for 3-4 days you will feel yourself more productive.