2019 isn’t your most productive years.
You set your goals but you don’t reach all of them. Some fell short, some probably just forgotten as time goes by.
For those of you that managed to reach all your 2019 goals, no matter how small it is. You should feel proud. It’s not easy to reach a goal. Your goals could be as simple as getting fit, read more books, but we still tend to miss those goals.
So how could we not repeat the same thing from happening? Let’s go through these simple methods that would make you stay productive in 2020.
1. Use a journal
Listing down your task in a journal helps you to remain focus on your goal for the day. It helps you to understand what’s your primary tasks and secondary tasks. And at the end of the day, you could evaluate your own productivity level by what you achieved.
Tips: Starts your day with what you’re grateful for and end your day with how you can improve your day. Panda Planner is the perfect journal that will help you improve your productivity and happiness.
2. Track your time
Nobody likes filing their timesheets. At work, it’s one of the most unpopular daily tasks that people tend to avoid. Like it or not, tracking your time helps you to plan your time. And nowadays, more and more apps are making tracking your timeless painful.
Tips: Installing a time tracking app on your computers such as TimeCamp and HubStaff make it easy to track your time. Start the timer or let the app monitor your activity in the background without disturbing your work.
For further reading, we highly recommend:
- 23 Best Time Tracking Apps to Increase Your Productivity
- Time Tracker: How It Increases Productivity? (via TimeCamp)
- Do time management apps really make people more productive? (via The Guardian)
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Start tracking your time to know where those hours are spent on. #timetracking #hubstaff” quote=”Start tracking your time to know where those hours are spent on.”]
3. Have an organized working space
If you have a messy working space, it’s time to get organized. An unorganized working space could hugely affect your productivity level. My mind tends to wander around and I can’t seem to focus on tasks at hand because I got so distracted by things on my desk.
How many times have you tried to find something on your desk and you just couldn’t find it? Maybe it’s an eraser, or a pen or paper. If this happened to you before, it’s time to change and organize your working space.
Tips: If you’ve been working from the comfort of your bed or couch, it’s time to consider a proper working desk. Having an organized working space can improve your productivity.
For further reading, we highly recommend:
- How to Organize Your Workspace with 20 Easy Steps
- Why Your Work Space Matters to Your Productivity (via RegainYourTime)
4. Turn on some music
Stress could affect your health and your productivity in the long run. One activity that could help you reduce your stress level is listening to music. It helps your mind to relax and focus at the same time. According to this research, those who listened to music completed their tasks more quickly and had better ideas than those who didn’t overall.
Tips: If you’re working in an environment where there are tons of distractions such as cafes, or co-working space, grab yourself a noise canceling headphone. These headphones will stop you from getting distracted by the noise around you. Or if you’re working from home, a white noise generator might help to reduce the distracting effect of outside noise for a more relaxing environment.
For further reading, we highly recommend:
- 5 Types of Music That Increase Your Productivity (via Medium)
- How Music Affects Your Productivity (via HelpScout)
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Music helps to lower your stress level and increase your productivity. #productivity #stress” quote=”Music helps to lower your stress level and increase your productivity.”]
5. Learn from the expert
One of the best ways to learn how to stay productive is by learning from the expert. You could start by following up some of the most popular productivity blogs and listening to their podcasts.
If you have so many things to do every day and have no time to read on the blog posts, it’s a good idea to subscribe to the free audio podcasts and listen to it when you commute to work or when you travel. What’s great about these podcasts are you can feel the emotion and the energy from the presenters a.k.a bloggers as they share their story with you and relate to it.
Tips: Some of my favorite productivity podcasts are Extreme Productivity with Kevin Kruse and The Tim Ferriss Show.
6. Take a break
Working longer hours doesn’t always mean that you’re productive.
In fact, continuously working on certain tasks would put a strain on one’s mind and body such as stress, fatigue, negative moods. Recent studies show that those that give in to some form of distraction once an hour performs better than those that keep getting at it without taking any break.
Tips: Take an hour break when you’ve worked for long hours. Get a freshly brewed coffee. Take a walk and keep track of your calorie. Grab a book and get maximum comfort with Big Joe.
For further reading, we highly recommend:
- 5 Science-Backed Ways Taking a Break Boosts Our Productivity (via Huffington Post)
- The Secret to Increased Productivity: Taking Time Off (via Entrepreneur)
7. Trim down your to-do list
Stop listing everything down on your to-do list.
Listing down every single task will make you lose focus on the bigger picture. It’s time to switch over from your to-do list to your success list. As discussed by Gary Keller in his book, The ONE Thing, figure out what’s your most important thing to do and that should be your primary focus. Multitasking is a myth, it’s a surefire way to screw up more things at once.
Tips: One key takeaway from David Allen’s Getting Things Done: if you remember to do something and it takes you less than two minutes to do it, go ahead and do it.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Find out the ONE thing you must do so everything else will be easier. #onething” quote=”Find out the ONE thing you must do so everything else will be easier.”]
8. Keep yourself fit
If you always think that you don’t have the time to exercise, you’ll want to think again. Exercise can increase your productivity and efficiency. It’s important to make it part of your daily routine.
There’re tons of famous entrepreneurs, CEOs, founders who exercise despite their busy schedules. If they can do it, there’s no reason you can’t do it.
Tips: Track your all-day activities with Fitbit Charge 2 and find your moment of calm with personalized guided breathing sessions based on your heart rate. You could get a better understanding of your fitness level and see how you can improve over time with a personalized
For further reading, we highly recommend:
- 6 reasons why exercise can supercharge your productivity (via TheNextWeb)
- How Does Exercise Improve Work Productivity? (via LiveStrong)
9. Read a book
Reading books have tons of benefits to your mind. When’s the last time you’ve read a book?
Do you know that reading a book for 6 minutes will reduce your stress level by 68%? Or that, reading a book for 20 minutes a day will train your brain to stay focused for a longer period of time?
While reading books help your mind to relax and focus better, it is the easiest way to learn actionable methods or strategy from the best productivity gurus to improve your productivity.
Tips: The best way to improve your productivity is by learning the proven methods that work for you from the productivity guru.
For further reading, we highly recommend:
10. Get off the internet
In this modern digital age, our daily lives revolve around the internet and it’s easy to get distracted. How many times have you stopped what you’re doing because of your email notification? Or taking a quick 5-minute break to scroll through your Facebook feed? Sometimes 5 minutes become 10 minutes and longer. The moment you stopped what you are doing, you’re killing your momentum.
Tips: If you’re using the Google Chrome browser, you could install a Chrome extension called StayFocusd. StayFocusd is a productivity extension for Google Chrome that helps you stay focused on work by restricting the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites.
Final Thoughts
I am sharing these 10 steps that have worked well for me to keep myself productive towards my goals. What are your tips to be more productive in 2018? What do you find yourselves useful? Share with us in the comment below.
Yuyu
I am a front-end developer and I teaches entrepreneurs who want to grow their audience, start an online business, and pursue their dream life. When I spend time away from the computer, I enjoy reading books and having a cup of green tea.
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I really needed this even though it’s already 2019. I need to be more productive! I’m getting older each day and I’m barely achieving my goals in life.
I just read this from my workspace which is not at all organized, so thanks for the push I needed! Haha.
Haha, my workspace gets unorganized easily. I need to remind myself of this as well.
I love a good journal to keep me on track, but I think I’ll will definitely have to add the stay off the internet rule this year. I do easily get distracted!
You’re not alone in this. We need to be committed to stay focus this year!
I love this! such great tips. I try and do most of these and will be looking at implementing the others in my routine.
Thanks, Nafisah! Let me know which one works best for you!
Timecamp and StayFocusd are getting downloaded right now. Great post! Thanks for sharing!
That’s a good start! 😀
Hi Yuyu, thx for reminding me what should be changed in 2018 😉
BR Simone
Have a fabulous start of the year, Simone! 🙂
I am guilty for the internet thing. I end up spending most of my time going through Instagram and facebook and get nothing done. I personally feel that I need to get a journal. Thank you so much for sharing.
That sounds just like me. I used to browse Facebook as a break from work and I ended up taking too many breaks. It’s so addicting.
Stellar tips! Thank you.
You’re welcome!
I Think this isn’t EXACTLY what I needed to hear! Especially about taking breaks. I think that’s where I messed up. I push myself so heavily that I forget that my brain needs a break! Great post!
I know right. I don’t really want to put it in the list but it’s one of the things that keeps me going harder 🙂