6 Of The Simplest Ways To Skyrocket Productivity

In the spirit of getting more sh*t done, I'm going to make this intro short and sweet.

If you're getting sucked into your daily routine and finding no time leftover for your personal projects and to-dos, you don't need a magic Genie to grant you more hours in a day.

Instead, just implement the following 6 tips into your week, and get your best pen ready to start checking things off.

Wake up earlier.

Here’s the thing, I realized that although sometimes I feel more creative late at night, I actually get far less done in the long term. Because after a long hard day, I feel like it’s time to relax. I feel like all my commitment to productivity is gone for the day and I can finally sit back and relax, and binge Netflix or curl up with a book.

All my sense of responsibility is just gone after the sun sets. 

So between 7pm and 12am, that’s usually 5 hours of me doing pretty much nothing. 5 hours. But if I end up going to bed at 10 and waking up at 6 or 7, I tend to use the next 5 hours way more productively, and I’m feeling pretty damn good about myself by noon o’clock. 

So try it.

Look, I get it - I never considered myself a morning person either. But maybe consider that fact that you don’t like mornings because you’re staying up to ungodly hours of the night.

Even if it’s just 30 minutes earlier every day. That’s 30 minutes extra you have to work on whatever it is you’ve been putting off.

Follow a routine

Once you get into the swing of going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier, stick to it as best as you can.

I know how great it feels when you don’t have work tomorrow and you feel the freedom to play Xbox until 2am, but try to resist the urge.

If you’re messing up your internal clock all the time by changing your sleep schedule every weekend, your internal clock is going to break you.

Mondays already suck enough; don’t make it worse for yourself by staying up late and sleeping in all weekend then trying to wake up at 6am when Monday rolls around.

Besides, nothing feels more refreshing and just good than waking up with the birds on your day off, making a cup of tea or coffee, and knowing you’ve got a whole day ahead of you and it’s all yours.

Delete your most distracting apps

I know. This is a hard one. But if you really want to get serious and stop throwing time away, you gotta stop scrolling for a bit. Even if you just delete them off your phone for a week, you're giving yourself time to break the habit of using them mindlessly.

And you'll probably get way more done in that one week then you have in awhile.

The first thing I deleted off of my phone was FaceBook. I don’t even like FaceBook all that much, but I found myself wasting a lot of time scrolling through my feed when my Instagram ran dry.

I’d literally be sitting there scrolling, then stop to think “What am I doing? This isn’t even fun.”

So I deleted it off of my phone and decided I would just check up on it on my desktop occasionally because there are a few facebook groups I’m in that I really enjoy.

Eventually, I added it back on my phone because I tend to use the Marketplace a lot, but I turned off notifications and put the app on the last page so I rarely use it on my phone.

Use timers

I know I say this a lot, but the hardest part of anything is just starting. Whether it’s writing a book or bungee jumping, the hardest part is taking that first leap.

I’ve found a way to make it a little less daunting is to make things a bit more bite sized. And one way to do that is to just commit a small chunk of time to your task, set a timer, and jump in.

You might just start by saying “I’m going to write for 15 minutes every morning,” and slowly increase the time.

But the best part of this is that once you get over the initial hump, you might find yourself in the flow and end up working even longer than you intended.

And if you only do the 15 minutes, that’s fine too! At least you’ve done something, and you can be proud of that.

Don’t do your dishes (yet)

This is a huge one for me.

There’s always going to be more housework to do. There’s always going to be more errands to run. My to-do list is probably always going to be endless.

But if I’m every going to get any creative work done, I need to put my blinders on, keep my head down, and get the work done first.

I’m not saying neglect all the things, I’m just saying take fifteen minutes, an hour, or a couple hours of work first. Whatever you can do, do it first.

Think about it - first it's the dishes, and then you're doing the laundry, and the next thing you know you're on a collection spree for the thrift store and its 5pm. We both know you're not gonna have the energy to do much else after all that.

And besides, it's dinner time. At that point, you'll probably just put it off until tomorrow, right?

Um yeah, just have a power hour of productivity and do the dishes after.

Schedule self care time

I know this one seems counterproductive but it’s actually one of the most important points, if not the most important.

Because if you aren’t leaving time for yourself to recharge and relax, you’re going to burn out. And if you’re feeling exhausted all the time with no me-time to look forward to, you’re never going to have the energy to work on your projects.

But if you know you have a pocket of time to look forward too, or you’ve already have it, then working on those projects isn’t going to seem so daunting. There will be an end in sight and you’ll know you have a moment of refuge dedicated to yourself.

So every day, give yourself something, anything, for a quick recharge and self love. No matter how small! A cup of tea and a piece of chocolate before bed while you read for 30 min. One episode of your favorite show and a bowl of popcorn. Meditating for 15 minutes every morning.

And then every week, carve out a bigger slice of time to do whatever you want. For me, it’s Sunday mornings. I like to light my favorite candle, brew a cup of tea, and work on the Artist’s Way or read a book or a magazine. Those few hours in the morning are just me, being with myself, and I look forward to that time every week.

Knowing that you are going to have time to recharge later can help motivate you to work a little harder today.

Action Steps

In the next 15 minutes ... delete your most distracting apps from your phone. Don't freak out - you can add them back after a week. But see how much you can get done this week without them.

In the next week ... Set aside a block of time, at least an hour, this week for your project. Schedule it ahead of house chores or other distractions, and set a timer if you need to.

Work on consistently ... get your sleeping routine as consistent as possible, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.