Productivity can be very challenging. It’s easy to procrastinate and avoid unpleasant tasks in life. Sometimes being productive on something you enjoy can be tough too. We can all easily get sucked into social media and other distractions and maintaining motivation is sometimes just plain difficult. While this is all true, there are steps you can take to help better maintain motivation and get the things done that you need to get done. The following are some simple ways to improve your productivity and answer the question, “How can I be more productive?”

Make List

Immediately Do 10-Minute Tasks

Create Routines

Take Breaks

Reward Yourself

Use Reminders

Create ToDo Lists

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Outlining what you want to get done is an excellent start to increasing productivity. Picking a time period in which you want to do something is critical. You won’t be able to get a degree in a week, but you can do the laundry and finish your homework in a day. Todo lists are also a good way to stay organized which is an essential part of maximizing productivity. Prioritizing tasks by most important or most difficult will help sort what needs to get done, but simply sitting down and creating a quick list might be all you need to get started with productivity!

Immediately Do All 10-Minute Tasks

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This might seem simple, but procrastinating the easy things will make everything harder. Small tasks like folding the laundry or washing the dishes are easy to finish and make the pile of chores smaller. It can seem daunting when you have too many tasks ahead which can sometimes paralyze you instead of motivating you. If you can take the time to start a small activity, you can often begin a productivity snowball which might let you finish more tasks than you originally thought you had energy for.

Make Routines

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Organizing your daily activities can be as helpful as organizing the things you want to get done in a day. Waking up at the same time, eating a balanced breakfast, and sitting at your desk at the same time each day can make the next tasks easier to start. The better you standardize your day into a routine, the more time you’ll find you have to get things done increasing your productivity. It will help you stay better focused and make getting things done much easier over the long run.

Take Breaks

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An important part of your routine can be taking breaks throughout the day. This is especially true for those who don’t want to burn out on projects. A great way to do this is by using a tool like a productivity timer which ensures you take breaks while also establishing the above-mentioned routine. This ensures you’ll take short 5-minute breaks after every 25-minutes, and a longer 15-minutes break after every 1.5 hours. Regulating your interruptions from work can ensure you stay on topic when you’re working while not overworking yourself.

Reward Yourself

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If you need motivation starting the next task or finishing your current chore, a reward can be a great way to convince yourself to keep working. Maybe you listen to your favorite band while doing dishes or after finishing a paper you get to eat a slice of cake. If employing this trick it can be easy to skip the work and just take the reward. Be careful not to do this! At the same time, remember that your self worth is not measured in productivity so it is okay if you don’t finish everything before desert or if you need to take a bubble bath before compiling those spreadsheets.

Use Reminders

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Reminders are a good trick to keep up the productive flow. Sometimes performing the same task for too long will wear you out from that task and others. Changing what you work on throughout the day can help maintain continuous enthusiasm and energy. Setting alarms on your phone to remember that it’s time to switch topics is one way to keep that energy up. Reminders can also be useful in making sure you finish everything that needs to be done. We all forget things and a little alert on your phone is a great way to get you off social media and back to the last thing on your list.

In the end, productivity doesn’t just happen. It’s a skill that requires you to spend time working on getting better at it like most other skills. The great news is that it can often become contagious. As you begin to become more productive, you often look for ways to increase productivity even more. The most important thing is to find the productivity tricks and tips that work best for you and begin adopting them into your daily routine.