Why am I constantly asked about how I stay productive? I don’t think it’s because I do anything particularly remarkable or that I’m blessed with superhuman organization skills. The truth is I’ve managed to right my own ship. I’ve managed to structure my workday to be the most productive possible. Now, I teach hundreds of students to do the same. It’s not impossible. You are not a sinking ship. You can start turning things around TODAY! Here are my top strategies to find ways to be more productive

Stop Multitasking

If you haven’t read my article about the evils of multitasking you can read all about it here. Multitasking is actually one of the biggest roadblocks to productivity. Spreading yourself too thin, rushing to complete things, having to redo things all prevents us from leading a truly productive life. So let’s stop treating multitasking as if it’s a great thing. It’s not

Tackle your biggest tasks first

By getting your biggest, most dreaded task out of the way, you open up your day to complete more tasks. Not only do you daydream, procrastinate and generally do less to avoid doing the thing, you get more done in less time. It also feels so damn good to get it done and you can ride that motivation the rest of your day.

Break down large goals into small actionable tasks

We all have those big picture goals, but without breaking them down into smaller, actionable steps, they’re just dreams. Dreams without a plan or strategy just don’t get done (unless you’re just really lucky, but who’s got time to wait for luck to happen). By working backwards and breaking big tasks and goals into smaller pieces, you develop a roadmap to productivity. Every year, month, week, and day, break down your big tasks to things you can easily accomplish then cross it off the list. We all know how good that feels

Use a Project Management System

If trying to achieve a goal without actionable steps is overwhelming, so too is trying to complete those steps without a due date, or worse, 20 simultaneous due dates. This is where a project management system (ie Notion, Asana, Clickup, Trello) becomes your best friend. Not only do you have one singular place to input your tasks and due dates, you can visually see which days are busy, which days are not, where you have wiggle room and where you do not. Best of all, by writing down your daily tasks, you know exactly what needs to get done each and every day before you even get started.

Set Boundaries

Let’s face it. There are so many roadblocks to productivity nowadays. Most of these roadblocks are entirely within our control to move. This is where setting clear boundaries comes in. From shutting down our phones and computers at 5pm sharp, to responding to emails only twice a day, to setting aside two hours a day that are open for meetings. These are boundaries that we respect for ourselves, but more importantly boundaries we set for ourselves for others to respect. Be firm with your boundaries and both you and those around you will have to get accustomed to them. The firmer your boundaries, the more you get done without distraction. 

While at a glance, these points may be hard to implement into your life today, trust me when I say they are not. They do take practice and a firm resolve, but they can be successfully implemented into your life right now. You likely won’t get it right on the first try, but it’s important to keep trying