We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend them determines where we’ll end up. The better you are at spending your time, the more likely you are to achieve the things you want. That’s why personal productivity is a crucial life skill.
Let’s have a look at what personal productivity is, how you can improve it, and what to avoid if you want to maximize it.
What is personal productivity?
Being productive might look different depending on who you are. Usually, it includes getting things done – checking things off your to-do list. This type of productivity reflects how efficient you are. But to be truly productive, you need to include parts of all 3 types of personal productivity.
Without quantity, you might do good, effortless work, but you won’t do enough of it. If you lack quality, you might do a lot of effortless work, but it won’t be useful. Without efficiency, you’ll do a lot of good work, but it won’t be sustainable. To be truly productive, you need all 3 types.
Why personal productivity is important
Personal productivity is about delivering quality output fast and wasting little energy. Knowing how to be productive is an essential skill, no matter what you want to achieve. You need it whether you’re a student, an athlete, or dream about becoming an entrepreneur.
Staying busy isn’t the same as staying productive
Sometimes, we confuse being busy with being productive. It’s important to remember that it isn’t the same. While it might look similar, there is a way to distinguish between the two.
Being busy means you are doing a lot of things but getting nowhere. Being productive means you get things done that bring you closer to your goal. Are the things you’re doing bringing you closer to a goal?
The productive work can bring you closer to your goal in 2 ways:
- You learn something
- You make small but noticeable progress towards your goal
Remember, if it in any way brings you closer to your goal, you’re being productive.
How to increase personal productivity
Now that we understand personal productivity and why it matters, we can look at strategies to improve it. Below are 12 tips that can help you improve personal productivity.
1. Use the right techniques to beat procrastination
Procrastination is a real productivity killer. It makes it difficult – almost impossible to start tasks. We often mistakenly blame laziness here, and we begin to feel bad. This makes us more likely to procrastinate, and we’re trapped in a vicious cycle.
It might seem that we need to pull ourselves together here, but that’s rarely the solution. Instead, we need to find reliable strategies that we can depend on. A few of these are:
The 5 minute rule
The 5-minute rule is a simple technique that can help you beat procrastination. All you have to do here is to commit 5 minutes of your time to the task you need to get done. You can read more about how to use the rule here.
The 2 minute rule
It’s paradoxical, but having a long to-do list makes you far more likely to procrastinate. The 2-minute rule offers a simple strategy to avoid the build-up of your to-do list. You can read more about it here.
The 20-second rule
It becomes increasingly difficult to get started on a task for every step you have to take between where you are now and until you actually begin. The 20-second rule can help you remove the steps and make procrastination less likely. You can read more about what it is and how to use it here.
The 5-second rule
Starting is the hardest part, and the longer we wait, the more time we have to convince ourselves to do something else instead. The 5-second rule is a technique that can stop your overthinking and help you start any task. You can read more about the 5-second rule and how to use it here.
2. Eliminate your distractions
We live in a world filled with distractions. You have endless possibilities of doing things more stimulating than the task you need to complete.
Our brains are designed to choose the simplest task that provides instant gratification. This is an issue when the distractions provide a quicker mental reward than the work itself.
The easiest way to combat this is to eliminate your distractions. Here are a few tips you can try for yourself.
- Turn the phone of or leave it in another room
- Find a distraction free work area (Might be outside of your home)
- If possible, turn the Wi-Fi off while working
- Use noise cancelling headphones
- Hide your remote/controller in a cupboard
You can try some of the tips mentioned above or find some your own, depending on your situation. Removing your distractions is an easy way to increase personal productivity.
Related: The complete guide to creating better habits
3. Schedule your time
Your productivity will most likely be low if you don’t know what to do and when. If you lack structure, you’ll constantly be forced to make choices. You have to choose between being productive or doing something more stimulating. This often results in tasks that don’t have an immediate deadline to be postponed or never completed.
A great way to avoid this is to create a schedule. When you know what to do and when to do it, you remove the immediate gratifying alternatives. Your productivity will improve.
How you do it is up to you. You can have a strict schedule where you have a specific time you should work. An alternative is to incorporate your tasks into your routines. No approach is superior to the other. You can try to test the different approaches and see what works for you.
4. Use a productivity journal
Journaling is maybe the best tool for self-improvement. It has numerous benefits and – depending on the type – can help you work on several areas of your life.
A productivity journal is a type of journaling that can help you improve personal productivity. It helps you reflect on your weaknesses and strengths, assess your performance, and plan ahead. You can read more about how to use one here.
Related: 39 journal prompts to boost productivity
5. Break your tasks into smaller tasks
The more steps a task requires, the more unmanageable it’ll seem. This can make it hard to get started and stay motivated throughout. A simple solution is to break the task into several small tasks. Let’s have a look at how this could look.
In this example, we’ll say you have to write an article. But to do so requires a lot of work. It might become overwhelming. To make it seem more achievable, we’ll break it down into smaller steps:
- Decide a topic
- Research
- Create an outline with headers
- Write 1st draft
- Proofread and edit text
- Create a title
- Create infographics/find pictures and insert them into the copy
- Create links in and to the article
- Publish and share the article
Instead of having 1 large task, you now have 9 smaller steps. This makes it seem easier, and you’ll be more motivated throughout the process.
6. Focus on the most important parts first
Your focus is like a muscle. The more you use it throughout a day, the less energy you’ll have left in the end. If you waste your energy on pointless tasks first, you won’t have enough to do meaningful work later.
7. Reward yourself
A study from 2022 discovered that we can boost motivation by rewarding ourselves. You can use this to improve personal productivity.
A simple way to use this is to reward yourself once you reach certain milestones or have completed a difficult task. And the reward doesn’t have to be something big. Anything from enjoying a small snack to celebrating a small win will do.
How you reward yourself is up to you. Just remember, it shouldn’t be something that might harm you in the long run.
8. Define your goals
It can be difficult to work on something if you don’t know what it is you’re working towards. It can make the work seem meaningless, and your productivity will suffer.
When you have clearly defined goals, you know exactly where you’re heading. It’ll be easier to stay on the right path. There are several ways to do this. One of them is with a goal journal.
9. Take breaks
You can’t stay focused forever. After a while, your concentration starts to fade. It’ll be harder to stay focused. It might be tempting to try and push through this, but often, it’ll only make things harder and the quality of your output worse.
A better alternative to pushing through it is to remember to take breaks. There are two ways to do this.
Work in intervals
A great way to take enough breaks is to work in a predetermined interval. There are several ways to do this.
A popular interval is the Pomodoro technique. In this interval, you’ll work for 25 minutes with short 5-minute breaks in between. After 4 intervals, you’ll take a longer break for 15-30 minutes. You can continue this for as long as you’d like.
Take a break when tired
Another way to get your breaks is to take one whenever you get tired. This method might be a bit harder at first and requires more self-discipline. However, this method can be extremely effective once you get to know yourself and your limits.
10. Organize your workspace
Our surroundings have an impact on how we function mentally. A clean desk and a designated workspace can improve our productivity significantly. It might take a moment to clean it, but you’ll quickly make up for it with more efficient work.
Related: Small habits that can improve your life
11. Work when you feel most productive
We all have different times of the day when we feel most productive. For some people, it’ll be in the morning. For others in the evening. You can use this to boost personal productivity. All you have to do is work when you feel most productive.
If you don’t know when you’re the most productive you can begin experimenting. Take a week where you do all your work in the evening and one where you do it in the morning. In the end, you can look at where you felt best, created the largest quantity, and the best quality of work.
12. Keep track of progress
Most people are motivated by progress. We like to see things move forward and watch ourselves get closer to a goal. It helps boost motivation and improves productivity in the long run. There are many tools that can help you do this. One of those is Trello.
Related: How to keep track of good habits
Things to avoid when trying to increase personal productive
There are many things you can do to improve your personal productivity. But there are also things that can destroy it. Here are 5 things you should avoid if you want to be productive.
1. Staying busy
There are no benefits to staying busy for the sake of being busy. It might be difficult to switch off after a productive period. But in the long run, it’ll seriously hurt your productivity.
Rest when you need it, and avoid constantly being busy if it doesn’t serve a purpose. Remember, there is a difference between being busy and productive.
2. Skipping sleep to have more time for work
Sometimes, it feels like we don’t have enough hours in a day. We feel that we need more time to do the things we’d like to do. Some people try to solve this by exchanging their sleep for more hours awake. This isn’t sustainable.
Getting enough sleep is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that you can stay productive. If you get 7-8 hours of sleep, you can work much faster with a better outcome.
Related: Habits for better sleep
3. Skipping exercise
You might see exercise as something that can improve your physical appearance. But it can do much more than that. It can relieve stress, make your sleep better, and improve concentration. All are things that can boost your personal productivity. It might also serve as a well-deserved break from your work.
Related: How to make exercising a habit
4. Neglecting a healthy diet
Food is fuel. The things you eat have a direct impact on how you feel and your ability to be productive. A healthy diet can change your life. And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Something as simple as including vegetables and fruit and drinking enough water can do wonders.
5. Multitasking
You multitask when you are focused on 2 or more things at once. This makes it seem like a great strategy for improving productivity, but in reality, it does more harm than good.
When you multitask, you aren’t focused on several things at once. Instead, your focus quickly switches from one task to another. It makes it difficult to stay focused for longer periods, and the outcome will most likely be worse.
Final thoughts
Personal productivity is a crucial skill if you want to achieve anything in life. You need to know how to utilize it whether you want to be an athlete, a top student, or an entrepreneur.
In this article, you’ll have learned what it is, how to improve it, and what to avoid. I hope this will help you become more productive and be a step on your journey toward reaching your full potential.
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