Improve Your Productivity – The Ultimate Guide
50+ Great Resources to Improve Your Productivity
You would most likely agree with me when I say:
It can be quite difficult to improve productivity at work or at home when there are only 24 hours in a day.
Or is it?
Well, with a little bit of work you can dramatically increase your daily productivity. The best way to increase your productivity is to develop a few strong habits in your daily life… and the results might surprise you.
So we took the Top 10 most important issues that many people are struggle with when trying to improve productivity, all summarized with great resources to use. This way you can easily increase your productivity.
Chapters:
Introduction
Chapter 1 – The To-Do List
Chapter 2 – The 2-Minute Rule
Chapter 3 – Getting Enough Sleep
Chapter 4 – Daily Morning Routine
Chapter 5 – Goal-Setting & Deadlines
Chapter 6 – A Productive Workspace
Chapter 7 – Have More Productive Meetings
Chapter 8 – Time Management
Chapter 9 – Multi-tasking
Chapter 10 – The Pen-to-Paper Method
(Click on link to jump to chapter)
Introduction
Many people ask themselves this question: How can I improve productivity in my work and personal life so that I can have more time for myself?
Are you one of those people? Do you feel like there isn’t enough hours in one day to get all the things done you need or want to do?
Well you are definitely not the only one struggling to improve productivity within your life, almost everyone at some point have this problem.
Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, working from home, or at a big office in the city, it can all get a little overwhelming and frustrating sometimes.
Luckily there are many productivity improvement ideas and methods to improve your productivity and information on this topic is not that hard to find, but most blogs or articles only explain one aspect at a time.
Companies can also play a big role in Skills Development and productivity improvement with the right Industrial Relations.
So we took the time to compile the best articles and blog posts and separated them into the Top 10 most popular productivity improvement categories for you to easily access all of them in one place.
“Change Your Habits, Change Your Life” and the same is true for productivity!
With all these resources in this go-to guide you will be able to change that bad habits into good habits and build your self-discipline to the level where you can do twice as much work in half the amount of time.
In this guide you will find relevant resources to the most popular issues many people experience when they try to improve productivity, whether at work or at home.
1. Scrap The To-Do List and Start an Outcome or Action List Instead
Many people make use of a simple to-do list which lists all the tasks they want or need to do for a specific time, but guess what it actually can make you far less productive.
The standard to-do list usually makes us postpone tasks, leave out some of the important duties and even make us fight ourselves to try and keep up and in the end giving up all together.
Rather try using an action or outcome list to keep you on track and even try the Ta-dah list to keep you positive.
The results may surprise you. Detailed checklists are also a good way to track your processes, especially if you are involved by a number of projects, here is an example of a detailed checklist (The Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist)
- Why Creating A To-Do List Is Derailing Your Success – by Stephanie Vozza, Fast Company
- Scrap Your To-Do List & Try This Instead – by Lynn Shattuck, Elephant Journal
- To-Do Lists Don’t Work – by Daniel Markovitz, Harvard Business Review
- To-do to Ta-Dah – Why Having a To-Do List Could Be Damaging Your Mindset – by Nicola Arnold, The Huffington Post
- 2 Simple Steps to “Next Action” Maps that Beat To-Do Lists Any day – by Mohammed Ali Vakil, Calm Achiever
2. Follow the 2-minute rule and kill procrastination
Do you have two minutes for a small task, then do it!
Kill procrastination by doing the small things as soon as you know you should do it.
This will not only help to keep your new action list clean, but will also make you feel better for getting things done before thinking too much about the particular problem.
The 2- Minute Rule is one of the most popular productivity improvement techniques.
Remember, you only need 2 minutes to start!
- How to Stop Procrastinating by Using The ‘2-Minute Rule’ – by James Clear, The Huffington Post
- Practicing and The Two-Minute Rule – by Bret Pimentel
- The 2 Minute Rule and Why You Should Upgrade to a 2 Minute List – by Sabine Staggl, Noisli
- The 2 Minute Rule: Banish Procrastination & Get Results – by SJ, Ignore Limits
- Tip 16: Use the 2-Minute Rule – by Annie, Pajama Productivity
3. Getting enough sleep is a crucial factor when trying to improve productivity
Recharging our batteries is one way of being more productive in everything we do.
So make sure you get enough sleep every night in order to perform at your peak, but also do not overdo it. It is best to try and get between 6-8 hours of sleep every night.
This will not only ensure that you have enough energy, but will also have a good impact on your everyday productivity, emotions and will also make sure you don’t burn yourself out.
Get more sleep and get more done!
- Sleep Deprivation Is Killing You and Your Career – by Travis Bradberry, Entrepreneur
- Can You Stay Productive On Little Or No Sleep? – by Robert J Hudson, Sleep Junkies
- 7 Reasons Productive People Go to Bed Early – by Amy Morin, Inc.com
4. How to begin your day positively and productively
What is your morning routine and how do you think it is impacting your daily productivity?
There are literally thousands of successful people out there that would tell you their daily routine is one of the most important success factors.
This walks parallel with productivity and getting the most out of ourselves and focusing our energy on the right stuff.
So start experimenting with your morning routine and see what fits you best in order to improve your daily productivity.
- 5 Ways to Begin a Productive Day Before You Get Out of Bed – by Jacqueline Whitmore, Entrepreneur
- 7 Ways to Kick Start Your Day – by Jen Smith, Work Awesome
- 6 Ways to Be More Productive in the Morning and Have a Better Day – by Rachael Yahne, The Huffington Post
- A 23-Minute Morning Ritual That Will Transform Your Whole Day – by Marcel Schwantes, Inc.com
5. Develop clear goals and self-imposed deadlines for your projects and daily tasks
A Life without goals is basically meaningless and will not get you moving forward.
It is very important to set yourself goals for the short, medium and long term if you want to reach your objectives in work and in life.
Also try to include deadlines, because then it gives you that urgency and drive to get things done before a certain time.
Goals are the first step to every journey and also the last, so it’s important to see the significance of proper goal setting and apply it to your life.
- Why Your Goals Aren’t Making You More Productive – by Sasha Rezvina, I Done This Blog
- The Correlation Between Setting Goals And Becoming Productive – by Vishal Kataria, LinkedIn
- SMART Goals To Become More Productive Person – by Dragan Sutevski, Entrepreneurship In A Box
- How To Set Goals To Become More Productive – by Debbie Rodrigues
- Goal Setting Theory – by Brian Francis Redmond, Wiki Spaces
6. A work space designed for productivity can help you get more organized
Here is a great way on how to increase productivity in the workplace.
It doesn’t really matter if you are working from home, in an office environment or on the move, it’s very important to keep your workspace optimized for productivity and performance.
There will always be distractions trying to drain your energy and your workspace might be a little tight, but a comfortable and well organized workspace can improve your working productivity considerably.
Following these rules will boost your moral, get you motivated and multiply your productivity in the workplace.
Here are a few resources you can use to start transforming your workspace immediately.
- A Workplace That Works: Designing an Inspiring Office – by Shannon Gausepohl, Business News Daily
- How to Set Up Your Workspace for Maximum Productivity (Infographic) – by Emily Bonnie, Wrike.com
- How to Turn Your Workspace Into a Den of Productivity – by Erik Devaney, HubSpot
- Five Ways to Optimize Your Workspace for Productivity – by Jory MacKay, Lifehacker
- The Best Way to Productively Organize Your Desk – by Melanie Pinola, Zapier
7. Cut your meeting times with 25% and see a drastic improvement in your daily productivity
How many times have you’ve been in a meeting that drags on too long and have little to no value when you really think about it?
Meeting take up a big part of our time and can be a real drain on your productivity and efficiency in the workplace.
Meetings should be focused, interactive and to the point in order to save time so everyone can be more productive.
Take a bold step and change your organization’s culture around meetings and you might be surprised at how must can get done in the same amount of time.
- The 7 Must-Know Rules of Productive Meetings – by Kevin Meany, Entrepreneur
- Have More Productive and Efficient Meetings – by RegainYourTime.com
- 13 Ways to Make Team Meetings More Productive – by Tom Hickey, Teamwork.com
- The Science Of Productive Team Meetings: Quality Over Quantity – by Ade, Jell.com
- A Former McKinsey Partner Shares 7 Steps to Having Productive Meetings You Won’t Dread – by Richard Feloni, Business Insider
8. The proper Time Management will let you see where you are wasting time
We all only have 24 hours every day to spend. Some people just use their time better than others.
Getting your time management skills up to date can surely make you far more productive.
Working harder doesn’t always make us more productive or efficient, you should start working smarter to get more done in less time.
The proper time management will also make you feel more motivation, will lead to less stress and ultimately make sure you don’t burn yourself out.
These articles will help you understand the importance of time management and will also give you a great starting point to become more productive in everything you do.
- 65 Top Tips to Sharpen Your Time-Management Skills – by Lolly Daskal, Inc.com
- 3 Ways To Make Your Hours Count – by Tamara Myles
- Time Management Tips & Strategies (Epic How-to Methods) – by Rob Cruz, Growth Cheatsheet
- 34 Time Management Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs (by Experts) – Casandra Campbell, Shopify
- Time Management: It’s NOT About Time – by Jamie Cornell, The Huffington Post
- 8 Time Management Tips to Help You Hit Your Long-Term Deadlines – by Sophia Bernazzani , Hubspot.com
- 9 Rules for Successful Time Management – by Craig Simpson, Entrepreneur
9. Stop Multi-Tasking and focus your energy on one task at a time
For most people multi-tasking sounds like the best skill to have, I mean doing more than one thing at a time!
Think again, multi-tasking can actually hurt your productivity in the workplace or wherever you try to do it.
Multi-tasking basically makes us shift back and forth between current tasks and effectively reduce our efficiency for the one or more tasks that we are busy with.
It is way better to concentrate on task at a time and perform it with maximum efficiency.
This can dramatically improve productivity and quality of work you do.
- Millennials, Stop Multitasking to Become More Productive – by Joel Goldstein, Lifehacker.org
- Smart Ways to Improve Concentration and Focus – by Deane Alban, Be Brain Fit
- Want to be more productive? Stop multitasking – by Lisa Quast, Seattle Times
- Multitasking: You’re Less Productive Than You Think – by Dawn Motsiff, Insperity.com
- Why You Need to Stop Multitasking – by Jana Cohen Barbe, Fortune.com
- Stop Multitasking If You Only Do One Thing to Increase Your Productivity – by Kayla Matthews, Productivity Theory
10. Put your pen to paper and do some productive planning
In today’s day and age technology is taking over almost everything we do, keeping us plugged in 24 hours of the day.
Disconnecting from our digital world get increasingly more difficult, because we can work from anywhere at any time, making our work-life balance even harder.
This is supposed to make us more efficient and productive, right?
In some cases it absolutely does, but nothing comes close to the productivity you can reach when going back to the old-fashioned pen and paper.
Not only would you be more productive, but you will unlock creativity, innovation and slows down the thinking process to also be more focused.
- Want To Be More Productive? Don’t Go Paperless – by Chad Hall, Todoist.com
- 4 Ways Pen and Paper Can Boost Your Work-Life Balance – by Lasse Loeber, Earn Spend Live
- Three Ways I’ve Simplified My Life Using Pen and Paper Instead of Technology – by Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker.com
- The Ancient Tool That Will Boost Your Brain Power – by Saki Knafo, Inc.com
- How Writing a Journal Helps Increase Personal Productivity – Wrike.com
