Very often productivity is associated with hard work. The more you work, the more tasks you get done. The harder you work, the better quality you produce. Is that really true?

Work harder, get up earlier, stay up later—those have been considered to be prerequisites of better results and incredible productivity for a long time. In reality these advice very often appear to be completely misleading.

Embrace the truth: Work is never done. It consists of tons of tiny things that constantly pile up and never finish. Eventually, you barely notice how work burns your time. The more you feed that monster the hungrier it gets.

Productivity is not about working harder, it is about working smarter.

Thus, it is crucial to get it crystal clear which things matter for goals you want to accomplish and which don`t. Make sure you don`t mix them up. Distinguish those that do matter and concentrate on their proper execution.

Being busy and telling everybody about your lack of time have nothing to do with your productivity and overall performance. Very often you are involved in activities of the minor or no value for your success. These are the activities that make you busy. They don’t necessarily make you productive.

Every time you are engaged in some task, ask yourself whether its completion matters. If not, abandon it right away.

It makes no sense to work hard unless you know what you work for, why you work for and where you are going to go. Moreover, the abolition of such actions will only provide you with additional precious time and let you focus on the things that count.

Do less with full concentration and commitment.

Make sure you do the right things instead of doing some random things right.

Being effective matters more than being merely efficient. Being productive is what reflects how well you attain your goals. Being busy is what reflects your inability to filter out trivial tasks.

Know where you are going and why you are engaged in some particular activity.

Here are 5 easy steps that will help you boost your productivity:

1. Define your goals. Clarity matters. You need to have a vision of how and via what means you can achieve your ambitions. Get your path towards your goals clearly determined and write down when, why and how you are going to get there. Once you have defined your goals, you can get down to work.

2. Choose place and time. It should be a place where you are going to work day after day. This is where you will get inspired and tuned for fruitful work. The time solely depends on your personal regime and cycles. It should be time of a day when you feel yourself fresh and up to work. Get back to that place at the set time and get down to work. Make sure you won`t be interrupted. Go offline and put your phone on airplane mode. Attention is crucial. Don`t let anyone steal it.

3. Keep a journal. You need a place where you track your progress and write down everything that happens in your work. Describe your small daily accomplishments and don`t forget to specify failures and blocks you face. Keep it up to date. Do it on the daily basis.

4. Turn on music. Music has proved to have a positive influence on our brain. Make sure it is without any lyrics. Otherwise it will turn into source of distraction. Choose instrumental, or even better, classical music.

5. Focus on one task at a time. Before creating a list of tasks, break down huge tasks into manageable chunks. Set interim goals and have to-do lists consisted of small activities for every day. By breaking down your big goal into smaller, more doable tasks, you create more momentum. This will help you avoid distraction and unnecessary procrastination. Complete the tasks one by one and praise yourself for small accomplishments. It will keep you focused and motivated.

Very soon you will be able to analyze your workflow and eliminate frequent mistakes. You’ll see how close you get to your primary goals.

Organize your work in such a way that you always know what particular task means for your particular ambitions and move constantly towards the things you want to accomplish. Don`t let other trivial stuff invade your workflow and distract you from the things you really care about.

Do what matters!