Nobody ever became successful by being lazy. If you want to be productive and achieve your goals, you have to be willing to work hard.
But don’t worry, being productive doesn’t mean you have to work all the time.
There are plenty of ways to be more productive without becoming a workaholic.
Nine things to develop for a “getting things done” mindset include:
1. Getting Motivation
There are many ways of getting motivation, but first, you need to clear your clutter. Depending on the task, getting inspiration can be very difficult in some situations.
Therefore, when you find yourself having little to no motivation, the best thing you can do is stand up and do something active or start by finishing smaller chores first.
Then, you can clear your mind from all distractions by taking a walk or a shower.
You will feel more motivated when you set your day up for success. The feeling you get from finishing smaller, but needed tasks will motivate you to get the more important things done.
Here is a small list of things that you can do that will help you get a boost of motivation to keep working on your tasks and be more productive:
- Make your bed
- Taking a walk
- Taking a shower
- Meditate or pray
- Going over your goals
- Looking over everything you have accomplished
- Exercising
2. Getting Out Of Procrastination
One of the leading causes of procrastination is that you don’t want to start because you know so much must be done.
Therefore you must cut your tasks into smaller sizes and focus on the tasks one by one instead of looking at the entire picture.
You know the task is important, whether it’s important to someone else or to yourself, so take that first step and hold yourself accountable.
Because if you don’t hold yourself responsible, how will you ever become successful in life and reach your goals?
3. Making A To-Do List
Having a to-do list is an excellent way of keeping track of your progress and having a road map for completing your tasks.
A benefit of having a roadmap is that you can always find your way back and continue where you left off when you go off track.
It is essential that while scheduling your day that you give yourself enough breaks to be able to take a moment to clear your mind. Because having a clear mind is necessary for staying productive and not getting distracted.
4. Keeping Up Your Work Momentum
The key to sticking with a task is not only motivation alone, because motivation helps you to start. However, inspiration comes and goes, so base your work ethic on something other than motivation.
Instead, success comes from staying true to your goals, especially in the tough times when you don’t feel like going on.
Have a good sleep schedule where you can awake the same time every morning and build a routine around your sleep schedule.
But when creating a routine, remember to add some breaks to keep yourself fresh and ready to tackle any project that lies ahead.
During these breaks, ensure you don’t overstimulate your brain by scrolling through social media.
5. The 5-Minute Rule
It is where you say to yourself I am only going to spend 5 min on this task, and before you know it, you finish it without worrying about the 5 mins.
The idea of the 5-minute rule is that when you start working on the task, you will keep working on that task for longer than 5 minutes.
This is because, after the 5 minutes, you think, let me at least finish this section you are working on. So even if you don’t complete that task, you make some progress, and every little bit counts.
So the 5-minute rule is a last-ditch effort for when you’re in a rut and constantly putting off doing any given task.
But to make it more effective, don’t look at the time; instead, use your internal clock to calculate the 5 minutes.
Then, if the 5-minute rule doesn’t work and you tried everything to get out of the rut, take a deep breath and try again later.
But when taking your break, don’t do anything that will reward this rut behavior, like playing games, watching movies, scrolling through social media, etc.
Because all these activities will reinforce a lousy work ethic and prevent you from getting out of the rut.
6. How To Properly End A Work Session
After you finish a task, take a 5-minutes break to clear your mind and then go through all the sections, ensuring you got everything.
If you are studying something, still take the 5 minutes but then go through everything you learned in your head.
Make mental notes, not looking at any physical notes you may have taken throughout the session. This will help you remember the things you learned much more straightforwardly.
If it is a long and arduous task that you break down into smaller tasks, then take that 5 minutes to clear your mind and relax after every section. Take deep breaths and get ready to tackle your next selection.
It would help if you took only a short break between sections; instead, only take on extended breaks at the halfway point.
Because if you take too many long pauses, you may start procrastinating and finding ways to put off doing the task.
7. How Does Exercise Help With Energy
Exercising helps with blood flow to the brain, which allows the brain to create more brain cells that help with focus.
Furthermore, exercising makes your body produce more serotonin and adrenal, which gives you more energy and helps you stay focused for longer.
8. Setting Up Small Goal Deadlines
Breaking your tasks into sections and setting deadlines for each broken-down job will help you finish and bring a sense of urgency to complete each broken-down task.
Therefore working through the larger picture and eventually completing the main task.
Set deadlines that will push you to complete them. Setting a deadline sooner than you think you can achieve could force you to finish your tasks sooner.
But it would help if you were careful when setting them too early, don’t overwork yourself.
It needs to be that perfect balance where it pushes you just enough that you don’t slack while not pushing yourself so hard that you exhaust yourself.
9. Cutting Out All The Distractions
While working, a major distraction is our phones, so it is essential while working that you keep your phone within reach to answer phone calls.
But keep your phone out of sight to prevent you from thinking of everything you can be doing on it right now.
It is also essential that you turn off all notifications to eliminate those distractions as well.
A great way of helping focus on your work and being productive is by keeping your workplace organized and having a notebook and pen within reach.
Therefore when something comes to mind of a task that needs doing, instead of standing up and disrupting your workflow, jot down the thought and deal with it later. Clear your desk from anything that may distract you throughout the session.
Get some outdoor time by walking or finding a bench outside to relax.
This will help clear your mind and focus on nature for a while, which will help with staying focused on whatever task you start right after the walk.
However, staying off your phone during these breaks would be best unless it is responding to missed calls or essential messages.
Final Thoughts On Getting Things Done
Being productive takes a little bit of adjusting to new lifestyle changes and saying no to some things, but it is definitely manageable with these nine tips.
You can achieve so much more in your day-to-day life and feel accomplished at the end of each day by using these tips to be more productive. From getting out of that motivational slump to properly ending a work session, these steps will have you on the right track to increased productivity.
So what are you waiting for? Start putting these into action and watch as your levels of productivity soar.