Time management is the eternal struggle. It doesn’t help when you’re working at a client-facing job or dealing with little to no sunlight past 4pm (shoutout to winter and daylight savings..wtf?). Add in the need to overachieve and the inability to do nothing, and you have the perfect storm.

The books I’ve read have shown me endless strategies in discipline and I was fortunate enough to apply them in figuring out what works for me. It wasn’t that I lacked the ability to be productive, it was efficiency that I was struggling with. I had a bad tendency to take on too much and the mere thought of doing it all would crush me. I knew it was impossible, but I still had to try. 9 out of 10 times I’d crash and burn – which basically means I’d take a nap and get nothing done at all. Cue the hours of guilt and anxiety!

I’d like to believe things have changed! I’m now intrinsically motivated to do all the things on my plate and recognize the importance of prioritizing. I will no longer put productivity over my well-being.

To stay committed to this new goal, I created a Priority List that composed of three sections – Non-Negotiables, Responsibilities, and Goals. The graphic below breaks down each of the items in these sections. Note, how my responsibilities are super important but not part of my non-negotiables. This is a huge change from the past - I would sacrifice my well-being for other items that would bring me short-term joy and burn out in the process. By prioritizing myself and taking breaks, I’m able to be much more efficient and energetic. Ultimately, I’m able to cross things off my list in half the time that it would take, if I were to keep churning away with no rest.

Once you’re able to identify your priorities, the path to productive efficiency is underway!

Here are my top 5 tips on how to maximize your productivity -

1. Utilize a Daily Planner

I previously used the Erin Condren LifePlanner. It lasted for about 6 years but I was planning out my entire day on tiny Post-it notes, and the whole thing was stressing. me. out. So I made the much needed switch to the Daily LifePlanner Binder. Planning my day hour-by-hour (sometimes to the minute, the OCD is real) helps me get much more done than a vague to-do list.

2. Embrace Unproductively & Rest

This might seem counter-intuitive If you’re trying to get a lot of things done, but your brain needs rest! If you’ve experienced COVID/Zoom fatigue then you understand that despite ‘doing’ less, we’re all more exhausted overall. It’s so important to incorporate rest days (more so than normally) and try to digitally detox as frequently as possible. The challenge with this is that despite trying to schedule days in, sometimes the mind has a plan of its own. Try to be kind to yourself and just go with it. Resisting the unproductivity is only wearing you out further and depleting your energy/productivity long-term.

If you still don’t believe in rest days, try to visualize it as a rest day from your weekly workouts. Your muscles (in this case your brain) will quickly run out of fuel, leaving you depleted and burnt-out. Don’t do it! Give yourself the time and space to decompress. It might take a minute to feel the effects, but you’ll ultimately notice your ability to focus, stay alert, and ultimately be more productive

3. Become a Morning Person

Even if you aren’t a morning person, you’ll find it hard to deny that you’re more likely to be productive in the mornings. It’s hard to completely predict how your day will go, so no matter how efficient and organized you are, leaving something for later in the day increases the likelihood that you’ll “get too busy” or “just start tomorrow.” (Miracle Morning)

4. Worst First

Start by doing the things you dread the most. Starting your day with the hardest things first, let’s you knock the tasks that you don’t love as much, out of the way (Atomic Habits). Ta-da! No more dread throughout the day!

Also, there’s some science behind this *crazy* idea:

When you’re able to start your day by completing the tasks that you hate, you’re inducing a dopamine release that is triggered from the act of crossing things off to do list (Leaders Eat Last). This allows you to continue to complete the remainder of the day you planned with less dread and more energy! (P.S. I love you dopamine!)

5. Eliminate Distractions

This is crucial to being able to actually complete the tasks that have been planned. I utilize a Pomodoro App (Focus Keeper) to create 25-minute work sessions that prevents me from getting distracted, looking at my phone, etc. Prior to this, I would be completely unable to do one thing before realizing I needed to do something else. Additionally, I have my Fitbit and personal laptop on DND. And finally, turning off notifications for social media, eliminates the noise that technology brings into our lives.

Sources:

Clear, James. Atomic Habits: an Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. Random House Business, 2019.

Elrod, Hal. The Miracle Morning: the 6 Habits That Will Transform Your Life before 8am. John Murray Learning, 2018.

Sinek, Simon. Leaders Eat Last. Penguin Group, 2019.