These tips for productivity are for those who feel overwhelmed by everything that has to get done!

I have been feeling this way a lot lately, and it does nothing but harm and create additional stress that doesn't need to be there! 

I am definitely no couch potato, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement, and for a stress-driven person like me I have to find ways to increase my productivity otherwise my work, relationships, social life, etc. will suffer. 

In order to be productive , you have to be proactive. Productivity isn't a trait that magically falls on some and not others by happenstance. Rather, it's a learned trait. People who are very driven tend to be very productive.

Start by implementing small changes into your day to overhaul your productive nature.

These tips for productivity at every part of our day will help you manage your time better, stress less, and be more efficient overall!

➡️ READ:

Start by setting your alarm to go off 15 minutes earlier every day. If you have trouble with this, move your alarm out of reach so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off. While that might sound extreme, but you HAVE TO  make it a habit.

Even just 15 minutes can make a huge difference in your day. 

If you live the same way you did in college, you WILL constantly feel like you're crunched for time. 

Find a routine that YOU can follow and that is right for YOU. This will look different during your different stages of life. For example, my routine without kids looks different than my morning routine with kids.

The routine of a night owl vs a morning person will be different.

If you're not a morning person, that's okay! Work these habits into your bedtime routine. Instead of staying up late watching TV, try planning the next day, paying your bills, or other things that take up time for morning people. 

If you have never really had a routine, tomorrow morning is the time to start! 

Gone are the college days of waking up 30 minutes before class and making a mad rush to make it to class on time with your hair brushed and barely enough time to scarf down a granola bar. 

When  you enter the real world, you can't survive if you don't have a routine.

For detailed guidance on creating a morning routine, view my  Why You Need a Morning Routine & How to Create One  post.

Additionally, to help you start and stick to new habits like waking up earlier, download my habit tracking sheet ! It's free :) Click here or the image below to get it.

My biggest meal of the day used to be dinner. Once I researched and became more informed about health/diet/exercise, I realized that I had it completely backwards, and it MADE SENSE. 

Why wouldn't you eat your most calories/carbs in the morning? Then you have all day to burn them off. 

Having an adequate and healthy breakfast is an important step to kick-starting your mental focus and energy for the day. 

Set both personal and professional goals for you day right away in the morning. 

I've found that when I do this (instead of just "going with it" and seeing what I get done), I accomplish more things. 

Writing down one or two specific and measurable goals for the day is something that can take less than thirty seconds and increase your productivity! 

Plan your most daunting/heavy tasks before noon.

I save my smaller tasks for the afternoons and evenings. This way, when I get home from a long day at work, the tasks I have left to do seem DOABLE.

If I leave the most daunting tasks for last, I will do a poor job or they won't get done at all. 

MANAGE YOUR ENERGY, and you will naturally manage your time better. 

The afternoon is the time that I really struggle, so putting my phone on silent would be a great habit to get into. 

I tend to lose focus and energy in the afternoon, so it's harder for me to work in intervals.

This is especially hard when you are constantly being interrupted by texts, calls, etc. 

Try increasing your focus by putting your phone on silent- people can wait for an hour or two! 

Most of us suffer from an afternoon slump, and nothing makes it worse than a large, heavy lunch. 

When I eat a high-carb, low nutritional value lunch, I can hardly stay awake the rest of the afternoon. 

Stick to a lighter, nutrient dense lunch and save yourself from the afternoon slump! 

Research has shown that working in intervals is the best way to increase productivity on any task you are trying to accomplish. 

You work better if you use short bursts of energy to work through different projects/tasks. 

You can do more in less time if you are focused and energized.  

Keep a notepad nearby so that you can write down your thoughts/ideas/to-do's, and then keep working.

I spend a lot of time trying to remember what I had thought of earlier but didn't stop what I was doing to write down. 

Solution- just write it down! Then make sure that you keep going on whatever you were doing/working on. 

I understand the urge to check social media first thing when you get home, sit down, and take a few minutes to relax. 

If that is how you wind down, that's fine! I enjoy scrolling through social media since I live far away from my family and I enjoy seeing what they're up to! 

My only warning is to make sure that you have a set amount of time that you allot yourself to be on it. 

If you don't give yourself a certain amount of time, before you know it hours can pass! 

Save the small tasks that require less thinking for later in the day. This way, you won't feel overwhelmed when you have the least amount of energy!

I do things like reconcile my checking account, reply to personal emails, and pay bills in the evenings. These things don't require a lot of thinking and they are mindless.

When you feel overwhelmed and have an extremely busy schedule, it can be tough to make it to bed on time. 

My rule of thumb is that unless something is URGENT, I go to bed and deal with it in the morning if it's past my bedtime. 

When I get enough sleep, I have more energy , can wake up earlier, and get better quality sleep! 

This is something that I have actually already implemented into my life and it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY.

Before, I would make a large on-going list of things that need to get done as they came up. Pretty soon I would have a two page list of things that take less than two minutes to accomplish and suddenly a list of small tasks seemed like a large, daunting list that always got put off. 

If you get an an email, call, text, etc. of something that needs to be done, and it will take less than five minutes to accomplish, DO IT. 

Don't wait and add it to your list, just do it so you don't have to remember to later. 

I'm sure you've heard this many times before and this is nothing new, but there are SO MANY benefits to regular  (key word) exercise.

Exercise increases mental focus, gives you energy, reduces your risk of sickness/disease, and helps you sleep better to name a few.  

I understand if you are reading this and think to yourself that is the last thing I have time for. 

I've felt like this too. However, if exercise is one of the number one ways to increase productivity and overall feel better, then I'm going to make time for it. 

You will make time for the things that are important to you. 

Guilty.  My husband will call me out if I'm whining about something and ask, well what are you going to do about it?

There's plenty of people out there who are busier than I am who are getting done things that I supposedly can't. 

If you REALLY feel like you absolutely don't have time for ANYTHING and you're always stressed, check out my post on how to simplify your life.

Don't admire the problem, fix it! 

Take and implement a few of these tips for productivity this week. See if you notice a difference in how much you get done!