One of the key ways to be more effective is to become more productive. Here are some of the ways you can be more productive:
1. Start the day with a morning routine. Develop a routine that you have in the morning to get productive right from the start. Here is an example of my 7 Step Routine:
I start by getting up at 5:30 am and make the bed. That way I get one task done right away.
- Start with gratitude – Sometimes after I wake up I will lay in bed and think of the things I am grateful for. Other times I will review my gratitude list that I keep. I coach people to also use a gratitude journal. This is helpful for many people to do.
- I pour myself and my wife a cup of coffee and spend time in prayer. I do my morning prayer and do a meditation on the gospels or from a religious book.
- I think of the charitable acts that I can do that day
- I attend Mass at 6:30 am almost everyday and a little later on weekends
- When I get home I review my affirmations and goals
- I plan my day
- I workout and listen to a podcast while I workout
2. Plan your day. Plan your day with whatever calendar system works best for you. Go through the list of things that you want to get accomplished that day. Number the top three up to five things in order that you want to get them accomplished. These are the things that are most important for you to get done and you will have 3-5 wins if you get them done.
I am not a big fan of eating the biggest frog first. I have found that many times the most important things I need to get done that day are not the biggest frogs. Sometimes it is can be helpful to start with an easy task and then move into your top 3 – 5. After you accomplish the 3 -5 top things ask yourself what is the most important thing I can do right now and do it.
3. Turn off reminders for email, put your cell phone in airplane mode and put your land line on do not disturb.
4. Answer email, phone calls and texts as specified times. You can use an out of office message on your email and put messages on your voice mail as to the times you will be returning calls. Block times in your calendar to return calls, texts and emails.
5. Take a break every 90 minutes. Go walk around the office, get something to drink or take time to think.
6. Take time every day to exercise for at least 30 minutes.
7. Limit Social Media Time. Limit yourself to a certain number of minutes each day that you spend on social media. I know some of you have to spend more time on it than others due to your job responsibilities. Set a time frame that you are going to use it each day.
8. Do your meeting standing up. This will get you out of the chair and it also limits the length of meetings. Most meetings take too long.
9. Say no to good to say yes to great. Learn to say no. This is one of the hardest words to learn. Once you learn how to professionally say no, you will free up time to work on the great things.
10. Have an end of the day routine. Review your day, check your emails, texts and voice mail. Set an alarm for the time you want to leave work and plan your day for the next work day.
Bonus. Record your wins for the day in your wins journal. Review the journal weekly to see all the great things you accomplished.
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” – St. Francis of Assisi
