Successful people are productive people, and they get things done. When we talk about being productive, it does not mean doing as much as possible; it means doing what matters most and getting the most result-yielding work done.
There is no point in going through the day being busy doing things that don’t matter. You have to do what matters most and do the tasks that will give you the most results.
Once you have identified the most important work and prioritized it, use the following 5 techniques to manage your day.
How to Be Productive and Get Things Done
Here are productive techniques worth trying:
1. Practice the Big 5 Technique
If you want to be successful, you must take action. People who have accomplished extraordinary results in life are those who are proactive and get things done.
What you need to do is simply list down 5 of your most important tasks and then get them done each day.
The tasks can be as small as making a phone call or sending an email to a client. No matter what they are, you just need to commit to doing five things that will move you forward to your goals.
Did you know that if you can do just five small things a day, you will have accomplished 1825 small victories within a year?
Can you imagine how these small victories can impact your life? Success starts with taking the first small steps, just like the quote, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Hence, commit to practicing the big 5 technique and get at least 5 things done a day.
2. Power Nap
Do you know that extraordinary people like Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Thomas Edison took short naps during the day?
We just cannot go through the whole long day without taking a rest or break. This is why most people feel tired and sleepy after their lunch, especially if they eat a heavy meal.
Your mind needs to rest and recharge, and taking a short power nap is what you need. Power nap should be short, between 10 to 20 minutes. If you oversleep and go into deep sleep mode, you may feel groggy when you wake up.
In fact, research has proven that taking short naps during the day helps to boost your productivity and refresh your willpower.
You have to understand that time management and productivity are all about managing your energy, not your time. Everyone has 24 hours a day, and no matter what we do, we cannot create more time.
All we can do is manage ourselves better and learn to make good use of our energy.
Therefore, try to take a short power nap the next time you feel tired in the afternoon.
3. Create Your Morning Ritual
Morning is the most important time of your day. If you have a bad morning, your whole day will be bad, and you will not be productive. This is why we need to create a productive morning ritual.
You do not want to go through your morning in a reactive mode. You want to plan your morning and create your first win.
A lot of successful people arise as early as 5am. In fact, Robin Sharma, the great coach and the author who wrote The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari created a 5am club and asked his audience to get up at 5am each day.
So what are the morning rituals you can do? Here are some suggestions:
- Meditation
- Practice daily goal setting
- Write down what you are grateful for
- Exercise and get sweat
- Do yoga
- Practice creative visualization
- Get your most important work done
When you start your morning right, your whole day will be on the right track. This is why a productive morning ritual is important.
4. Focus
Have you ever tried to do two things at the same time but can’t seem to do them simultaneously?
Multitasking is not going to work. Yes, you read that right, multitasking will only make you slower and bring down your productivity.
If you do not believe this, try to talk to someone while reading. While you can do two things at the same time, but you cannot concentrate on two tasks at the same time.
Our brains are not wired for multitasking. We can only focus and concentrate on one task at hand at a time. When you multitask, your brain will switch its focuses from one task to another.
This is why you need to focus on doing only one thing at a time. When you write, just write and do nothing else. When you work, work at the task at a time until you get the work done.
5. Use Time Block
This is one of the most powerful techniques you can leverage on to get things done. Time blocking is simply a method where you block off your time to do certain tasks. And when you time block, you will commit to doing the work until it is done or the time is up.
For example, if you are in sales, calling your prospects is one of your most important tasks; you want to time-block it.
What you can do is to time block from 9am to 11am to do the calling. And within these 2 hours block, you will commit to calling your prospects and do nothing else. You want to lock yourself in your room and ignore all other distractions.
Do you know how successful writers and authors manage to publish remarkable books? They time block.
Haruki Murakami said that when he started writing, he would wake up as early as 4am. And then he would go into writing for 5 to 6 hours. And in the afternoon, he would jog or swim and at night, he would read and listen to some music.
He repeats this strict routine every day until he gets the book completed. This simply shows how powerful time blocking can be.
Being Productive and Getting Things Done
The 5 techniques you learned above are what successful people practice every day. While you don’t have to follow the same strategy, you can adopt what works for you and customize the techniques.
Remember, practice the 5 techniques you learned about being productive and getting things done, take power naps when necessary, build a productive morning ritual, focus on doing only one work at a time and time block your most important tasks.
About the Author:
Shawn Lim is the founder of Stunning Motivation. He has experience in the personal development industry for more than 7 years and has helped countless success seekers to achieve outstanding success in life. Learn more about him on StunningMotivation.com or follow him on Facebook.
