It’s all too easy to fill your day with tasks and end up not getting anything done. This can lead to you feeling overwhelmed and defeated.
You don’t need to feel this way any longer. There are some simple things you can do to get more done in a day without it taking a herculean effort.
1. Set Goals
Setting goals is key to improving your productivity. Without goals, it can be difficult to know what you’re striving for, or what’s important to you. Take the time on Sunday or Monday to zoom out and lightly sketch your week, deciding what tasks you’ll focus on each day to get you closer to your goals. For example, you might decide that each week will have a client work day, an admin day, a chore/housework day, and a marketing day so you can batch your goal-related tasks on those days and stay on top of them.
Start with the 3-5 highest priority tasks on your list and make those your daily targets for that day. Then choose 2-3 smaller daily tasks that are also important and will bring you closer to your goals, but won’t be as high of a priority as your big 3 daily goals. This will allow you to work efficiently throughout the day, not wasting time context switching between multiple different goals and tasks.
Make sure you set your daily goals in line with your overall goal and that they are measurable and time-bound, as this will help boost your motivation to reach them. Creating a physical to-do list is a great way to do this, as people who write out their goals are 11% more likely to accomplish them than those who don’t. Using a time-blocking technique like the Pomodoro method is a good way to ensure you’re scheduling enough time for each of your goals. This will prevent you from over-promising to yourself and then falling short, which can be demotivating. For example, telling yourself you’ll only spend 45 minutes on a chore, will make you far more motivated to finish in that time frame.
2. Make a To-Do List
Sometimes while we’re at work, or even just before bed, a stray thought will pop into your head and you think, “That should go on my to-do list!” But instead of keeping those stray thoughts in your mind and hoping that you remember them in the morning (as many of us have done), jot down those ideas in a notebook. That way, each day you can review your notebook and transfer any new tasks to your regular to-do list system.
A common reason people struggle to get more done in a day is that their lists are too long and contain too many items. This is because work expands to fill the time you give it, so if something lives on your list for too long it becomes difficult to motivate yourself to tackle it.
By creating a daily to-do list of realistic, achievable tasks each day, you’ll be much more likely to succeed in getting more done. The key is to break down any large, complicated tasks into the smallest steps possible, even down to “google how to do this”. This allows you to estimate how long each task will take and when it will be completed so that you can set realistic goals for yourself.
You should also aim to complete the most difficult tasks first, as research shows that putting these tasks at the top of your list makes you more likely to succeed in them. This is because you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment when you check them off your list and will have the motivation to keep going. Similarly, you should aim to have as few unfinished tasks at the end of the day as possible.
3. Break Down Your Tasks
Whether you’re working on a project at work or attempting to get more done in your personal life, breaking down large tasks into smaller ones is a must. This process helps you make more manageable goals and increase productivity throughout the day.
To break down a task, start by envisioning the individual steps needed to complete it. Then write those steps down. For each step, estimate how long you think it will take to complete. This will help you create a timeline for the overall project and allow you to plan accordingly.
After you have a list of smaller tasks, decide the order in which to work on them. For example, you might want to work on easier tasks first and then move on to more difficult ones. This is called the “Don’t Break the Chain” technique, and it’s an easy way to keep you motivated and on track.
You can also try grouping similar tasks together. For example, if you have errands to run, you could group them into one trip so that you can save time by doing them all at once. Alternatively, you can use the 80/20 rule and focus on the 20% of tasks that will produce the most results.
It’s important to break down your tasks because it can be overwhelming and defeating to try and tackle a herculean task all at once. This is especially true if you’re not used to working this way and are overwhelmed by your workload. Breaking down your tasks allows you to accomplish more in a day by creating motivation-boosting milestones and helping you better estimate how long each task will actually take.
4. Prioritize
There are so many tasks to get done in a day that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work you have on your plate. It’s important to prioritize your work and know how to make the best use of your time to maximize productivity.
The process of prioritizing involves determining which tasks should be completed first based on their importance and urgency. This is a key step in the Get Things Done (GTD) methodology, created by productivity coach David Allen. The process of prioritization can be a bit more involved than simply creating a task list, and it can take some time to develop a system that works for you. The goal of this process is to make sure that you are completing the most valuable tasks first, and ensuring that your priorities align with your overall career goals.
You can use a variety of methods to prioritize tasks, and the most common method is to rank each task on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest priority. This can be done for both urgent and important tasks, and the tasks with the highest score should be completed first. Alternatively, you can also consider how long each task will take to complete, and rank it by that measure. This will help you focus on the most time-consuming tasks first, and allow you to check those off your list more quickly.
Using meeting productivity tools like Fellow can help you track how long each task takes, and you can then start to understand the true speed at which you complete each item on your list. It’s important to be realistic about how much you can accomplish in a day, and learning how to prioritize your tasks will give you more control over your workload and help you find that elusive work-life balance.
5. Plan Your Day
The more you plan your day, the more productive you will be. If you spend a few minutes, perhaps after getting up or during your commute, planning out your day before you get to work, you will feel more prepared and ready to start. This also helps you be more efficient throughout the day – especially when tasks take longer than expected. You can then use those extra minutes to check off other items on your list or even do another task. This method of productivity is called time crafting or mode categories and can help you be more self-sufficient without the need to rely on others for help.
You may be surprised at how much more you can accomplish with a well-planned day. By being realistic about how long certain tasks will take and adding in some cushion (for example, scheduling a task that takes 4 minutes for 5 minutes) you will be more likely to complete everything on your list. This is also why it’s important to always write things down, so that you can recall what you need to do better.
Another way to be more productive is to batch similar tasks together. This isn’t the same as multitasking, which research has shown our brains are not good at – but rather, it’s doing multiple small tasks at the same time. For example, instead of checking your email as it comes in throughout the day, you might set aside an hour or two a day to answer all of your emails at once.
Being productive isn’t about being busy, but it is about getting a lot done in a short amount of time. If you can put these five tips into practice, then you too will be able to get more done each day.