Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar – “your day has started, you’re busy all through, morning till evening, doing one thing or the other , it’s late at night, you’re preparing to go to bed, thinking on your day went and how tired you are but alas you can’t point out more than one or two productive things you actually got done” I’ve definitely found myself in this shoes a couple of times before and I’m sure you have too. It’s normal to feel insulted if someone walked up to you at the end of your day and told you plainly, you were busy doing nothing but truth is, that has been exactly right for us sometimes.
How do you have better days then? I’m nowhere near a pro at this, I still find myself wasting a good deal of time in a pretense of being super busy sometimes so here’s a list I came up with that can help us both have more productive days-
1. Stop multitasking
As badass as it may sound carrying on multiple tasks at once, it’s no news that multitasking reduces productivity. Dr Marin Kutcher author of Digital Kids: How to Balance Screen Time, and Why it Matters says,“…You can’t type a text into your smartphone and read a school book at the same time! Every time we get interrupted, we not only lose time while we attend to the interruption (answering the text or posting on Facebook), but research shows that it actually takes anywhere from one to twenty additional minutes just to get back to where you were when interrupt”. Simply breaking up your tasks, one at a time would help you be more productive.
2. Make every minute count
Even though we sometimes feel like we need more than 24 hours in a day, truth is we have exactly 24 hours simply because it’s what we need. Time management is one of the most important skill everyone should master. You want to study for the next two hours? do exactly just that, you want to hang out with friends for the next one hour? make each minute count.
3. Avoid distractions
This is related to time management, focus on what you want to do and get rid of any distraction whatsoever could be devices, people, whatever it is. You need to do some work or study? keep your phone away (that little device can be one heck of a distraction, yes, I know), you need to go somewhere but also want to hang out with friends that probably make you late? do what you have to do first, set your priorities straight.
4. Right friends
You might be wondering what having right friends have to do with you having a productive day but it does matter. Don’t hang out with people you know would only be a distraction. Don’t have lazy friends and most importantly, don’t be a lazy friend as well.
5. Set ‘goals’ for the day
The faintest pen is better than the sharpest brain they say. Having a to-do lists can be pretty helpful as studies show that people perform better when they write down what they need to do. It doesn’t need to be a list of 101 things to do in the day, the most important ones is what’s necessary so after all is done, more time is left to do other things.
6. Self control!!!
Last but equally important, all of the above tips would be useless if one does not exert self control. Do what you need to do before what you want to do. One thing I do to get better at this is ‘punish’ myself if I used my time poorly, if I wasted time doing insignificant things rather than study or do something more productive, that means I’ll be staying up much later and not go to bed till I get a substantial amount of it done, now I love my sleep so this ‘punishment’ of staying up later does help keep me in check.
P. S Even while trying to make the most of your day, remember it’s perfectly okay to take breaks admits set tasks and just chill
I hope all this helps you as much as it helps me, if you liked it, don’t hesitate to drop your comments and also tell me tips you use to have more productive days. Do share with your friends too if you would. Thank you!
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