Learn how to Increase your productivity to free up hours in your work day.
It's easier than you think to increase your productivity with these 3 key productivity steps.
- First, understand how you work. Analyze the types of tasks and projects you do. Understand how you plan your day, prioritize projects, and do the work.
- Next, learn new techniques to eliminate unnecessary tasks, reduce distractions and save time.
- Finally, start implementing. At first, the changes might feel challenging. With practice, you’ll create new habits that increase your effectiveness.
Start with these easy tips. Try them out and watch your productivity soar!
16 Productivity Tips To Increase Your Productivity
and Free Up Hours Every Day
Productivity Tip #1: Plan your day the night before.
A plan doesn’t need to take a lot of time. And, it’s certainly not difficult to do. Make some notes about what you need to get done. Prioritize your projects and then slot them into your calendar with your best time estimates.
A plan will empower you because you’ll know what to do. The next day you’ll be clear and confident about what you need to do and you can jump immediately into your work!
Productivity Tip #2: Schedule all telephone calls for a set duration.
By placing time boundaries around phone calls, you’ll add back hours of time to your schedule. You’ll be more efficient when you’re working within a limited time frame. Email an agenda to your colleague prior to the call or set one at the start to keep the conversation focused and moving along. And, consider investing in an online appointment app so others can schedule calls at times that are best for you.
Productivity Tip #3: Check email only twice per day.
Limit yourself to checking email twice per day — three times, if you must. You’ll reduce your stress and anxiety by checking your email messages less frequently. More importantly, you’ll be training others that you’re not going to return their emails immediately. Setting strong boundaries is a win-win. You’ll be more efficient and others will understand your work patterns.
Productivity Tip #4: Schedule everything in your planners!
Are you struggling to get things done? Look no further, planners are the answer!
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Take a peek at these planners and start planning your marketing more efficiently today!
Productivity Tip #5: Stop multitasking. It reduces your productivity.
Contrary to popular belief, tasks take longer to complete when multi-tasking. It’s unhealthy for the brain and it diminishes your IQ. Researchers are studying multi-tasking to determine if it actually causes permanent adverse changes to the brain. Your brain is designed to focus on one thing at a time so you’ll optimize your results when you do that. The added benefit is that you’ll get your task done faster!
Productivity Tip #6: Schedule blocks of focused work time during your day.
Scheduling periods of uninterrupted work time is critical to your overall productivity. It’s impossible to accomplish anything when you try to grab a few minutes here and there to do your work.
Using your calendar or planner, schedule sessions of one to two hours throughout your day. Next, schedule projects that can be fully completed during those time frames. Don’t allow anyone or anything to interrupt your time.
Productivity Tip #7: Avoid texting when you can handle it better through email or a call.
Texting is not only time-consuming, but it’s also mentally and physically taxing. Unless your texting interchange is short, consider moving your conversation to email or phone. Email provides a convenient and easily accessible written record, while a phone call is a quick way to communicate more completely. Texting is great, but only when used in moderation and for simple, quick things.
Productivity Tip #8: Increase your productivity and efficiency by batching work tasks
Batch related tasks together to do them faster and easier. Rather than just going back and forth between tasks, focus a set amount of time on one activity.
- Group writing tasks together.
- Do the same with any reading or studying you need to complete.
- Batch phone calls and meetings by scheduling them at certain times of the day or on particular days of the week.
Productivity Tip #9: Set aside a limited amount of time each day for reading and responding to email messages.
You may be checking email only two or three times per day, but if you’re spending half your day doing that, then you need to tighten up your process. Set a limit on how long you’ll spend reading and writing emails and work within those time bounds. Reduce the length of your responses. Consider creating video and/or audio responses with tools like Loom, or schedule a call if necessary. Less is more!
Productivity Tip #10: Ruthlessly unsubscribe from emails you never read or really don’t need.
You likely receive more email messages than you can possibly read in a day. Unsubscribe from everything except the essentials you need to do your work. Don’t save unnecessary emails thinking that you’ll need them or read them in the future. You never will. You can easily find what you need by doing a quick search online or connecting with colleagues. Also, make it a regular practice to clean out your email box.
Productivity Tip #11: Turn off all gadgets to focus on your work.
If you really want to focus, turn off your gadgets. Turn off your phone, shut down the second computer screen, and shut off any tablets or other types of gear. Quiet down your environment. Visual and auditory stimuli engage your brain and reduce your focus dramatically.
Focus on one task without interruption Your productivity will increase and you’ll get your work done faster by focusing on one task without interruption.
Productivity Tip #12: Set a limited amount of time for social media.
Social media is a leading time waster and deterrent to your overall productivity. What you think will be mere minutes on Facebook or YouTube can easily turn into hours of watching videos, commenting, and chatting. The magnetic pull of social media can derail even the best plans. Save social media for the end of the day when all your work is completed.
Productivity Tip #13: Save time, money, and energy. Host your meetings online — virtually — and not in person.
Meetings, especially in-person meetings, consume a lot of resources. With today’s technology like Zoom, it’s simple and efficient to schedule and meet virtually — even with fairly large groups. While it’s not quite as personable as face-to-face, the ease and efficiency is well worth it. And, even better is the fact that you can easily end your meeting and jump to your next task with ease.
Productivity Tip #14: Double your productivity — do, delegate, delay, or discard!
It’s easy to mindlessly create To Do Lists. Challenge yourself to consciously evaluate every task you think you need to do.
Discard or delete anything that’s truly unnecessary.
Next, determine tasks only you can complete and schedule them. Delay those that don’t need to be completed right away so you can focus on priorities. Delegate the rest to someone else. Enjoy your newfound freedom and your increased productivity!
Productivity Tip #15: Do your most important work when you’re at your highest energy level.
There are certain times of the day when you’re more productive than others. You may be a morning person or a night person. Schedule your most important work for your peak performance times — when you’re mentally sharp, well-rested, and ready to move forward. Schedule other less important tasks when your energy ebbs. Align your work with your energy levels to reap the best return on your time.
Productivity Tip #16: Increase your productivity and efficiency by utilizing templates.
Do you find yourself spending too much time creating the same types of documents over and over again? Use templates to improve your productivity!
Templates are pre-made documents that you can use over and over again with minimal editing, saving you time and effort. You typically change or add just a few details each time you use them.
Ready-made templates make it easy to create professional documents without starting from scratch every time you need to create a document. Using templates can save you a lot of time in creating documents while keeping them consistent.
Templates are available for various documents such as reports, social media images, email marketing, spreadsheets, and more. Start using templates for any type of document that you need to create on a regular basis.
Template Resources
- Read my blog post: 7 Ways To Save Time With Templates.
- My Minimalist 68 Canva Lead Magnet Templates.
- Save time with my ready-to-use email samples.
Increase your productivity now. Start using some of these productivity tips and tools and see how much time you can save.
BLOGGING RESOURCES
- Checklists, Worksheets & Planners to Set up a Money-Making Blog.
- Hosting: Bluehost & SiteGround.
- WordPress themes: ElegantThemes/Divi, GeneratePress, Genesis theme from StudioPress & DIYThemes.
- Popular email marketing providers: Aweber, GetResponse, ConvertKit, and MailChimp.
- The best online spelling and grammar checker: Grammarly.