How to be Your Most Productive

Productivity isn't easy. There are quite a few things that can cause us to falter or stop doing what keeps us going. Also, please note that being busy doesn't equate to being productive. As an entrepreneur, you want to always ensure you are getting the right things done. This article will discuss the four essentials of productivity.

Number 2: The Early Bird Gets Everything Done

The most successful entrepreneurs tend to be early risers. While night owls are prone to negative thought patterns, early risers tend to achieve more, get better grades in school, and have more opportunities throughout their lives. The early risers are more productive.

To become an early riser, you will have to adopt certain habits.

• Start going to bed earlier. While the late evening hours may feel like a good time to be productive, your energy is limited because it's depleted throughout the day. If you have trouble going to be earlier, start small. Go to bed an hour earlier and then rise an hour earlier.

• Turn off screens several hours before bedtime. Having screen time in the hours leading up to bed has been shown to disrupt sleep patterns.

• Create a healthy sleep routine. This enables you to go to sleep and rise at the same hour every day. Eventually, you may find that you don’t need an alarm clock.

• Get some exercise. Exercise has been scientifically proven to increase time spent in deep sleep, as well as improve the quality of your sleep.

• Move your alarm clock away from your bed. This forces you to get up out of bed in the morning and prevents you from hitting the snooze button.

• Splash cold water on your face in the mornings. This can help wake you up when you’re groggy.

• Give yourself a motivating reason to get up. The more motivation you have to get out of bed, the more likely you’ll want to wake up early.

Number 1: Systems Over Goals

Goals can be really helpful when planning out your career path. However, they aren’t always ideal. The biggest problem is that goals tend to have a termination point. Just think, if you've set a goal but haven't been able to complete it, you often feel like you've failed. Or you don't consider having success until you've crossed a particular goal off of your list. Having systems are more effective than goals. With systems, you are continuously making progress each day and this guarantees your success.

What is a system? A system is a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. You create a system that leads to your end goal. If you follow the system, you eventually reach the goal. While goals can be good, they can also be very rigid and unmoving. Being overly focused on a goal can give you tunnel vision. You miss all the progress you made even if you didn’t totally complete your goal.

Also, goals can limit your happiness. Once you’ve hit a goal, your feeling of happiness can fade. Then you have to set another, bigger goal. A system, on the other hand, let’s you always feel like you’re making progress toward something. This is why systems work better for entrepreneurs. They’re more flexible. If something isn’t working, you can change it. Additionally, systems have day-to-day improvements built into them. This gives you a sense of progress and forward movement.

Take a moment (or two) to evaluate yourself and the systems you have in place. Are your systems moving you toward your big goals? If not, then what systems do you need to start implementing or improving?

Number 3: Kill Your Distractions

Distractions kill productivity. Emails, Slack messages, text messages, and phone calls - the distractions are endless. To create a more productive day, make your plans the night before. This can include both small plans, like what to wear and what you’ll eat for lunch, as well as bigger plans, like planning on working on a project from 8:00 - 10:00 AM. By planning in advance, you eliminate the need to think about it and can focus simply on getting things done.

You also want to cut out social media. Few things are more distracting than social media. Only allow yourself to be on social media during specific times to ensure that you’re focused on doing the work that matters the most to you. Use your most productive hours for real work, not social media. If you need to be on social media for work, make sure to schedule that in your plan for the day.

Create boundaries for interruptions. There will be times when you need to check email, make phone calls, or respond to text messages. But you should only do this during specified times each day. This enables you to focus on meaningful work. Again, building time into your schedule to check messages and make calls.

Make sure you have a productive workspace. Whether it's home office or office space, designate an area where you only do productive work. This trains your brain to know that when you’re in that space, you’re going to be 100% focused on getting things done. Have a separate space for doing fun things. Ensure that you keep the two apart.

Make time for rest and play. Your brain needs time to unwind, relax, and take a break. You can’t be 100% focused all day long. By taking time to rest and play, you allow your brain to recharge and refocus. I also encourage the Pomodoro Technique to manage your time throughout the day. After 3-4 rounds of focused work, I take a longer break to rest, recharge, or play.

Number 4: Slay Your Dragons

Identify your most challenging tasks. Your “dragons” are your most challenging, important tasks. Slay your dragons during the most effective part of your day.

It’s more productive to do your hard tasks during the most effective part of your day. Attacking your most difficult tasks first, when you are the most focused and have the most energy will allow you to be more productive. If you want to reach your fullest potential, make a plan to tackle your hardest, most important tasks first thing each day. Set yourself up for success. If you choose your hardest tasks first, it sets you up for success for the rest of the day and the next day as well.

Again, be sure to be productive and not just busy. Keeping in mind these essentials can help you be your most productive yet.