8 Daily Habits to Make You Way More Productive

Apr 10

Apr 10 8 Daily Habits to Make You Way More Productive

When you're productive you get sh*t done! Not only are tasks getting completed, the right tasks are getting completed. The key to avoiding procrastination, being consistent and staying focused is with habits you do every single day - here's 8 you can do right now.

1. Plan your day in advance.

Planning ahead keeps you organized and when you start your day, you already know what needs doing, what order you'll do it in and roughly how long it will take. If you don't have any structure you'll forget things and waste time doing things that doesn't matter. Then you spend your time getting distracted by things that are 'urgent', but not important. Don't let this happen!

I use Trello to plan out my days, and I always do it the night before. As I finish work, the final thing I do is plan the following day. Not only is this good for staying organised, it helps you switch off for the day. Pro Tip - Separate it into 'Important' and 'Unimportant' to make sure you prioritise what's important.

2. Do less stuff, better.

Being busy doesn't mean you're productive. You can work for 12 hours on the wrong thing! What matters most is focusing on what's important, not just what's urgent. When you choose urgency over importance, you are putting other people's priorities before your own. If you have 10 things on your to do list, which two are the most important? Which ones actually get you towards your goals? Focus on those first.

“Being busy doesn't mean you're productive.”

3. Track your time.

When it comes to saving money I always tell people to track their spending, because they are always spending more than they think. The same goes for your time - if you track how you actually spend your time, you'll be amazed at how much you waste.

I use Toggl which is a free app that helps you see where you are spending your time. I used to just track everything in random categories but that made it a bit messy - so I decided to split it into a few categories. You can create whatever groups you want e.g Working, Planning, Learning, Exercise, Admin etc. (I’d share mine, but mine are specific to my business and might not be useful for you)

Tracking your time this way allows you to see what areas need more attention and help you stay focused.

4. Remove distractions.

Distractions = productivity killers. These are the enemy of productivity. It takes your brain 18-20 minutes to get into the 'zone' where you stay focused, and every single time you get interrupted, it goes back to zero. Distractions are killing you. The best feature on my iPhone is the 'Do Not Disturb' option. It's crazy how much you get done when your phone isn't going off - you forget you've even turned on Do Not Disturb and you just stay focused.

Oh by the way - if you're one of those people who has notifications turn on for Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook along with 10 other apps, and every 15 minutes there's 20 unread notifications you're a madman and you need to turn that off immediately. Right this second. Stop reading this and do it!!!

If you work in a co-working space, it can be a good idea to put headphones in so people know not to bother you. Wherever you are, get rid of as many distractions and interruptions as you get, and you'll be able to get much more work done.

Distractions = productivity killers. Kill them with fire.

5. Focus on one thing at a time.

If you really want to get something done, do one thing at a time and don't stop until you're finished. Not only will this make sure that you'll do it, you'll do it well. Multi tasking is a myth - it is not productive. It's actually switch tasking. If you're writing an email and then the phone rings, you're not doing two things at once. You've stopped the email, spoken to someone, hung up, forgotten where you're at, may have forgotten the email completely to do a new task, and then hours later that email is still there unsent.

You're not killing two birds with one stone, you're getting distracted and doing two tasks poorly. So not only does the task likely not get done, it doesn't get done well. If you really want to be productive, do one at a time. For more, check out David Crenshaw's talk The Myth of Multitasking

5. Avoid unnecessary meetings.

I could almost write down avoid all meetings because they are just such a time suck, especially if you have to commute somewhere. Meetings drag on for far too long, they're often full of pointless chit chat and the majority of them can almost always be summarised into an email or a phone call. If you do need to have a meeting, have a clear agenda with what is going to be discussed so that it can be finished quickly. Unless it's a sales meeting or an opportunity to land a new client (bonus tip - focus on income-generating tasks) try to avoid these like the plague.

If you have to have a meeting, have a clear agenda so you can finish it quickly. 95% of meetings are a huge waste of time.

6. Delegate work.

You don't have to do everything yourself. Your time is valuable and should be spent on what you do best, so when it comes to smaller tasks you should palm these off to other people. One of the best quotes I've ever heard is "do stuff only you can do". Then just outsource the rest.

Yes, of course you can't outsource everything but for all that mundane work that can be done by anyone - absolutely outsource that. Your time is valuable - when you start editing a spreadsheet that 500,000 different people could do for you for $8 an hour, you're not valuing yourself at $8 an hour.

I also say that the most dangerous 6 words business owners say are "f*ck it I'll just do it". Don't fall into this trap! I did for WAY too long. The time you spend doing the task could be spent creating a step by step Google Doc that documents how someone else can do it.

Depending on your workload it may even be worth getting a part time virtual assistant. I did this recently and it was the best thing I have done all year, I wish I did it 12 months ago. You can use UpWork to find people (take a look at my article "How to Outsource Without Hiring a Dud" here).

7. Exercise.

Exercise is a critical part of your overall wellbeing. It's obviously great for your health, it gives you energy, it improves your mood, it helps you sleep better and realistically it's not that hard to do. Even if its a short jog, a home workout, a game of basketball (my personal fav), exercise should be a part of your routine (or at least 2-3 times a week). If you struggle to find time or you just find exercising as boring as I do (other than basketball of course!), check out the app Seven which has seven minute workouts that require no equipment and you can do from home any time.

8. Have a morning routine.

The most productive people have a routine every morning that prepares them for the day and you should too. Whether it's a workout, coffee, hot shower, meditation, anything that sets your mind and body for the day. These routines turn into habits and keep you productive, healthy and full of energy. Check out the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod to create yours. Mine goes like this: