How To Be More Productive: 10 Ways To Supercharge Productivity

Being productive means being able to accomplish a lot or have a high output in terms of the work you do. The definition of productivity really depends on context. For example, someone who works in manufacturing is productive if they meet certain criteria whereas someone who works in music creation might be more productive if they meet others. It is about quality as much as it is about quantity.

Measurement of productivity also depends on the situation, however it can also be completely up to you. At work, an employer might determine what a good amount of productivity is. However, you might also experience situations where you’re the one who determines whether or not you can classify yourself as having been productive.

Being productive is beneficial for business owners, people in many lines of work and even just in day-to-day life. It is important to maintain a fair level of productivity that helps you achieve a good output. Productivity is the prelude to accomplishment many times. If you struggle with productivity, or if you simply wish to improve or supercharge your productivity, you have come to the right place.

Ways to be more productive

Here are some strategies for improving productivity and making yourself a more productive individual.

1. Sleep enough & take breaks

The first thing you should do is make sure you build your ability to work efficiently on a good foundation. This foundation is a well-rested you. Being tired can compromise productivity in ways that are difficult to fight through. There are few techniques by which people can combat tiredness except by sleeping and resting. Sure, caffeine might help sometimes, but too much of it can be unhealthy and relying on caffeine too heavily could cause more problems than it solves.

The first step to maximizing your productivity is making sure you have the required energy. This should go without saying, but you should sleep a sufficient amount of time (at least 8 hours).

The other thing is taking breaks. Without overdoing it, assure that you’re not skipping scheduled break times. A 15 minute break every 2 hours of work or a 5-7 minute break at the end of every hour of work should do. It’s not just about taking breaks within your day, but also within your week, month and year. Make efforts to schedule enough rest days in the week, an extra rest day or two in the month and a few rest weeks throughout the year. Just like shorter time periods should have rest included, so too should larger units of time.

Overworking and trying to be too productive could simply take you in the opposite direction and make your situation bad or worse. There is a such thing as toxic productivity. This means having an excessively high level of desire to be productive at all times. This can be unrealistic and cause stress. It’s important to understand that productivity is best in a perfect moderation.

2. Build your efficiency slowly

If you find yourself struggling in the area of productivity then it might be a good idea for you to slowly work your way up in output. Say a writer struggles to write three articles in one day. It would be hard for many people to push themselves to start writing 10 right away. A better strategy would be to add one article to their workload and do that for a few days before adding yet another one.

The point here is not to suddenly raise the bar thereby increasing the chance of failure and disappointment. Becoming more productive gradually allows time for you to acclimate and slowly become a more efficient version of yourself at a reasonable pace.

3. Have a to-do list

A to-do list helps you determine what needs to be done. Once you write out all of your responsibilities arrange them (or rearrange them) in order of importance to decide what you should do first.

The goal of this is to help you avoid forgetting or overlooking important tasks. It also allows you to visually see all of the important endeavors you need to undertake and decide what should vs. shouldn’t make it to your schedule and when they need to be completed by.

Use this to-do list to guide a schedule. Which brings us to our next point…

4. Time management (have a schedule)

The way you divide your time can play a massive role in how productive you are. For starters, the hours of the day when you feel that you’re most efficient are important considerations. If you have a set schedule this might not be something you have much choice over. However, if you have freedom over your work times you can select which parts of the day you are most efficient and work at those times. Maybe you are a morning person or maybe you function better in the evening. Plan your day accordingly. Just make sure you’re asleep when it’s dark out (avoid staying up too late because sleeping at night is better for health).

The next key step in time management is scheduling. Having set times and dates when you plan to do things and assuring you adhere to those can help elevate your productivity to great heights. Put your schedule on your phone or on paper. Try color coding it and plan your breaks in there as well. Make sure you keep your plan reasonable; i.e. if something should take 4 hours don’t assume you’ll be able to power through it in half an hour. Even if you could, the risk of failure might mess up the rest of your schedule.

Your schedule is an excellent means to help guide the direction of your productivity so it is important to stick to it. Things can come up and that’s fine, but procrastination must be avoided. Use alarms to keep yourself on the right track if you need to.

5. Prioritize more important tasks

Chances are you have some responsibilities that need more urgent attention than others. Productivity isn’t only about quantity but also quality. Always prioritize your most important tasks first when scheduling your time. Make sure you address them first and then move on to less important tasks you may have.

More important responsibilities also tend to be larger and more difficult to complete. For this reason, getting them out of your way can make you feel accomplished and help you transition into other, less important tasks with greater confidence.

6. Manage stress

Stress can hold back productivity whether its source is the work you have to do or an unrelated source. If you’re stressed because you feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities, it’s important to start finding ways to manage work related stress and ways to decrease workloads to something more manageable.

Read: How To Deal With Feeling Overwhelmed: 7 Great Tips

If your stress comes from something unrelated to your work you might want to address that before trying to supercharge your productivity. Stress can make you less energetic, less efficient and compromise your ability to focus. These things are major determiners of productivity levels. It might not be as easy as saying “just get rid of stress.” You might need to find coping strategies, address your emotions and make significant life changes. Just know it is possible to deal with stress but it’s important for you to pinpoint what the best ways for you to do that are.

Read: Ways To Calm Yourself Down During Stress

7. Stay focused

Again, focus is an important subcategory in productivity. Concentrating on a task can help you do it quickly without compromising quality. High levels of focus assure that you’re performing your best when you need to.

Make sure to give your full attention to what you’re trying to accomplish. Avoid getting distracted at all costs. Keep a distraction free environment. Put your phone on do not disturb (if you can) so as to allow only the most important calls and texts. Avoid the temptation of checking your phone unless there is a serious emergency.

If you have difficulty keeping focused for long periods of time, address this first. Something that might help you is dividing up your task into smaller time periods, if possible. Dedicate, for example, 15 minutes straight and remind yourself not to get distracted at all for that time. Smaller time increments can make workloads more manageable.

Another strategy you can employ if you struggle with staying focused for prolonged periods of time is building up your attention span. Try to incrementally increase the duration of time you stay focused. Maybe one week you do 15 minutes and the next week you try 20. Use your willpower to remain focused and avoid distraction when working (but remember to take breaks).

8. Don’t multitask

Multitasking tends to divide focus amongst several tasks, thereby compromising the amount of attention each one gets. This, in turn, could cause the quality and quantity of your output to dip. Don’t multitask to minimize the risk of those issues arising. It is better to simply give everything its deserved time and work on it.

This also applies to distractions. Working and using your phone simultaneously is multitasking. It’s fine to have fun but don’t do so while you are trying to accomplish something. Work time is work time and it is for working on one thing only. Keep that in mind when you’re getting things done.

9. Use technology

Technology is great for setting alarms, creating a schedule, writing to-do lists, etc.

It’s also great for delegating tasks you don’t want to do. There are all sorts of apps and websites that do things for people. See if you can benefit from them. Search for technologies that make your work and life easier and put them to use as best you can.