8 Ways To Become More Productive

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Most of us would like to have more than 24 hours in a day. At present, we live in a time of accelerated changes and with the boom in technology, our 9am-5pm jobs has been totally redefined. We just don’t have enough time to accomplish both work-related and personal goals. So, how exactly do we become more productive? Here are 8 ways.


1) To-Do-List

It is common to have so many things to do in a day. Hence, why use up precious memory space by keeping your To-Do-List in your head? Set up a system and write your to-do list. Be it from a mobile app, Google Docs or even your trusted pen and paper, it’s important to have one To-Do-List that includes everything you need to do on a daily basis.

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2) Sleep as a Top Priority

That’s right! Sleeping actually helps to become more productive. While many of us may sacrifice a couple of hours of sleep to do that extra task, the downside is that you may become less focus and hence, the quality at which you perform the task is low. Sleeping helps to boost your thinking capacity and hence, helps you to complete tasks at a faster pace.

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3) It’s all in the Food

To exert mental energy, it’s crucial to feed our brains and body with the right type of food. Our brain runs on glucose (I.e carbohydrates). However, not all carbohydrates are the same. It is best to supply our brain with a steady stream of glucose in the form of complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, fruits, and vegetables.

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4) Schedule a “Sprint”

To become productive, it’s good to schedule a “sprint” of work, whereby you focus on a single task for 60-90 minutes, without any interruptions. That’s right, 60-90 minutes whereby you buckle yourself to the seat, and accomplish what you set out to do, with no distractions, emails or chatting on the phone. Give it a try and you will be amazed by the result.

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5) Monitor your Mood

Stress does weird things to us. When work stress gets to us, we tend to react with emotions, rather than logic. More specifically, we tend to react with negative emotions such as anger, sadness, frustrations, or even depression. To be productive, watch out for your emotions, and learn to control them. It may even help to not think about work for a moment or two, and instead, let your mind wander off.

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6) Prioritize

As much as we would like too, we can’t do everything in one day. Hence, the need to prioritize our task. Prioritizing allows us to do the most important thing first! Before you head back home, or at the start of the day, prioritize what you want to accomplish, and focus on those tasks first. After all, productivity is about the value you created by accomplishing certain tasks.

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7) Thinking Time

How many of us intentionally block our calendars for “thinking” time? Many don’t as they view that as a waste of time. We should change this and schedule “thinking” time on a weekly basis as it allows us to assess how productive we are, if we are indeed focusing on the important tasks at work, and plan ahead to ensure we exert energy on the important task.

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8) Go on a Vacation

Many working professionals, especially the younger ones, tend not to take any break or go on a vacation as they are focused on their careers. While this is good, but taking a well-deserved vacation allows us to re-charge our batteries, take stock of what’s important in life, and to go full throttle once back from vacation!

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