Staying productive is the key to being successful in work, school and life, and there are many productivity strategies to help you maintain your success. While there are tons of techniques you can try to increase your productivity, sometimes it’s important to narrow down your list to a few that you can apply right away. Here are five productivity hacks to try today:
1. Keep a Notebook of Your Old Ideas
If you find yourself stuck at pushing through your projects, pivot away by taking a mental break. Journaling is a great way to take a mental break and offers several benefits, including reducing the negative effects of stress, improving cognitive function and productivity. That’s because journaling makes space for your mind to expand on your thoughts, ideas and feelings to give you clarity. Journaling is also a great productivity exercise to identify good ideas and filter them from the ones that won’t work.
Consider creating a unique journal that gets you motivated to write and catalog your old ideas. For example, you can create a custom notebook and personalize it to write about the different ideas you have. Base your ideas on themes, such as cooking, art blog ideas or new finance business ideas you may have. You can refer back to this notebook of ideas when you’re short on inspiration for a new project.
2. Hack Your Health With a Productive Lunch
If you want to know how to be more productive in life, look no further than getting your exercise and eating habits right. But being consistent with physical activity and maintaining a healthy diet requires careful planning and taking measurable steps that holds you accountable to your goals. Focus on eating the “healthy” parts of a meal for lunch, such as forgoing processed salad dressing or bread and switching it out for the meat, beans and greens in your sandwich or salad.
Pencil in some physical activity by walking or biking to your favorite restaurant around the corner from your job instead of driving there during your lunch break. You can also get creative with your activity and meal planning by creating a personalized poster. For instance, you can upload and create a poster that has images of different breakfast smoothies for a week that you can make for lunch with simple ingredients, such as spinach, almond milk, cacao and chia seeds. It can also include different images of quick exercises you can do on your lunch break or various ways you can do exercises in the most unlikely places, such as in the bathroom or at your desk.
3. Block Off “You” Time
Whether you’re working on a project for school or blog content for work, you know that you have to meet your deadlines by staying organized. But if you want to make sure you’re meeting deadlines and staying productive, then you need to set time aside for yourself to re-energize. Get this done by scheduling some “you” time. Block off time for self-reflection, a creative activity that makes you happy or even time to run outdoors. Make this time mandatory so you don’t brush it off for other work that can lead to burnout.
You can use custom calendars to fit your needs by creating unique pages that remind you of a special event or project you have to complete for the month. For instance, we have tons of customizable calendars you can choose to hack your productivity and use as motivation to hit your deadlines. Each picture serves as a visual reminder to prepare for the event before the deadline that month so you can stay motivated and productive all month long.
4. Set a Reminder to Catch Those ZZZs
Getting good quality sleep is important for being your best the next day. But if you’re having trouble falling asleep or sticking to your bedtime, consider hacking your rest by using an alarm clock to remind you about your bedtime. Alarm clocks are common for waking you up. So, why not put it to use as your bedtime reminder and set it up to alert you for your bedtime? You can schedule it an hour before your bedtime, so you know that is your “wind down” hour where you stop all work and start your bedtime ritual, such as taking a shower, putting on a face mask or reading your favorite book. Get seven to eight hours of sleep routinely and you’ll notice how your productivity improves.
5. “Storify” Your To-Do List
Being productive calls for knowing what you need to accomplish throughout the day. That’s where a to-do list comes in handy. With a to-do list, you can easily identify and take care of your top tasks for your projects or personal goals you need to achieve. But if you want to stay on track for completing items on your to-do list, limit it to just a few tasks and turn it into a story by visualizing the narrative of your day.
For example, you can create a custom to-do list that outlines different tasks to complete the day before your wedding. Take your to-do list up a notch by making a mug-to-do-list to stay motivated to get work done. For instance, you can design your own mug and list common tasks you do every day, such as a run-down list of your cleaning routine.
Final Thoughts
Make productivity a possibility by hacking your way to success. Some of the best productivity hacks involve customizing everyday items you use, such as calendars, notebooks and even your alarm clock. By using these tips, you can hack your way to happiness and take your productivity to the next level.
Zazzle’s Lifestyle Expert is here to help create life’s best & most important moments. Discover unique ideas and endless inspiration to create meaningful memories with family, friends and your community.
