3 Tips To Be More Productive With Your Time
We all want to get more things done and be able to use our time wisely. If you are prone to procrastination or find that you just can't do all the things you've set out to do on your to-do list, these tips may help you:
PRIORITIZE
I have a tendency to make a giant to-do list.
Everything from pick up more toothpaste to redo the living room to start a new morning routine for my toddlers.
While these are all great goals, they’re impossible to get done in one day so two things need to happen.
The first is to break down our goals into smaller goals. By breaking up the goals into smaller goals we can do a little each day and that will help us to achieve the larger goal.
The second thing is that we need to figure out what is a priority.
My kids need their lunch packed for the day but I don’t necessarily have to redo my whole living room today.
By prioritizing our goals we can figure out what is really valuable, what is really worth doing, and how are we going to spend our time. That way we’re getting the things we need to get done today finished and holding off on bigger goals for a time when we have more time to do them.
EAT THE FROG - OR DON'T!
I don’t know who came up with this and I don’t know why a frog but I’ve heard it said many times:
You should eat the frog first thing in the morning.
Basically what this odd phrase means is that the hardest task or the task you’re dreading the most should be the first thing you do in the morning.
The reasoning behind this is to set you up so that the rest of your day feels easy.
This might work for you and if it does that’s great. But for me personally facing the hardest task of the day first thing in the morning will send me procrastinating ALL DAY LONG.
What I have learned to do is a frog sandwich.
I like to do one or two easy tasks first to get the momentum going. This makes me feel accomplished and I almost always feel more motivated once I get a few things done off my to-do list.
However, I don’t want to do ALL the easy tasks leading up to the hard task.
If I do only the easy tasks for most of my day then by the end of the day I will drag my feet knowing I've left the hardest task for the end.
So instead with the frog sandwich, I do a couple easy things like I make breakfast, make my bed, etc. and then I do my hardest task of the day right after while the momentum is still going!
Whether that's the dishes, promoting a blog post, returning an email or making doctors appointments - whatever that looks like for you - get it done early in the day while you still have the motivation and then the rest of your day will be a breeze.
You won’t be dreading that task at the end of the day or putting it off until the next day but you also won’t procrastinate all day waiting to do the thing you hate the most.
Another handy little bonus trick is to reframe the way you’re thinking about your hardest task. Guaranteed if you think about it and how much you hate doing it, you are NOT going to enjoy doing it even more.
But if you reframe your mindset to think I get to do this thing and then move onto more fun things OR think about why you’re doing the task and how it will benefit you then you’re much more likely to feel better about the task and not drag your feet.
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
You may be a very visual person, just like me, which means sometimes if it’s out of sight it's out of mind.
How I combat this is to set myself up for success.
This means if I want to remember to take my vitamins every day, not only do I set an alarm on my phone to remind me as an auditory clue, but also I set the vitamins out on the counter at a spot that I will see them first thing in the morning.
For me that’s right beside the fridge because guaranteed I’m going to be hungry first thing in the morning want to grab breakfast and I’ll see the vitamins right there and I’ll remember to take them.
This might look like planning out your outfit the night before or packing lunches the night before or maybe it means setting out exercise clothes and equipment the night before so that you’re more motivated to do a workout when you see them.
Whatever the thing is that you constantly forget to make time for, remind yourself with a visual clue and set it out in advance to set yourself up for success.
What is your hardest task to get done daily?
Let me know in the comments below!
xoxo stay blesssed
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