Would you like to be a productive person every minute of every hour of every day? Take note of these tricks for being productive and improving your efficiency.
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1. Get up early!
Getting up early has many advantages. The most obvious one is that it gives us more hours to complete our daily tasks. It’s also true that in the morning we feel fresher and have more energy for taking on our daily obligations. If you’re not an early riser, you can always adapt this idea to the schedule that works best for you and take advantage of your energy peaks.
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2. Make a list of your most important tasks
Begin your day by making a To-Day List and start by tackling the most important task on the list. Before you finish your day, you’ll be able to check off the things you’ve gotten done and, little by little, you’ll become a more efficient person.
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3. Take advantage of your commuting time
Don’t think of travel time as wasted time. Take advantage of it and make the most of every minute of the day.
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4. Do just one thing at a time
Multi-tasking is not a good idea. Don’t try to do several things at the same time; concentrate on just one task and when you finish, move on to the next. One thing after another. You’ll find that this is less wearing and that your productivity increases.
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5. Form habits
Keep regular hours and follow a defined daily routine that helps make your day-to-day life easier and prevents you from wasting time organizing your priorities every morning: you’ll know where to start because you will have structured your work day. The only way to form a habit is practice, practice…replace your bad habits with good ones.
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6. Stay clear of distractions
There are few things more obvious when we talk about efficiency than avoiding interruptions. The best way is to stay clear of unnecessary distractions, many of which originate in our own work habits. Deactivate the alerts on your e-mail program and social networks, and set your cell phone to silent when you’re working. Working in full screen mode is the most effective way of improving our concentration.
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7. Perseverance
Often we get enthusiastic about any new goal that comes along but then lose steam and leave things half finished. Learn to detect when you’re acting on impulse, and avoid taking on tasks in a burst of enthusiasm. Finish what you start and persevere until you complete it. You’ll reduce your stress significantly.
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8. Availability
“I don’t have time” is the most common excuse for not completing a task. Don’t confuse this excuse with the need to say “no”. The drive to do what we set out to do is essential for improving our productivity: if you truly commit to something, consider it a “voluntary obligation” that you won’t set aside as soon as something changes.
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9. Limit the number of times you look at your e-mail
As the time management course ‘Triskelion’ advises, looking at your e-mail frequently is a bad habit that we need to eliminate from our daily routine. Look at it two to three times a day to avoid becoming a slave to e-mail.
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10. Take care of your health
Get exercise to clear your mind, and drink water regularly. Staying hydrated will help improve your concentration and make you more productive. You can buy a bicycle-style aluminum bottle; it’s more economical than buying bottled water. Set a target for yourself: to drink 2 liters a day. In summary, the key to being more productive is to make what we do line up with what we want to achieve. What are your tricks?
Image: Ilya / Flickr