Managing two blogs with a full time is no
easy task. For years, I struggled so much to be productive. I have too many
tasks to do from writing a post, editing photos, and publishing to keeping up
with social media. Not to mention I go to work from 9am to 6pm, five times a
week.
I always end the day feeling defeated
like I missed so much of what I want to accomplish.
But I am so committed to change things up
this 2019. I did my year-end review and set some goals too. Now, to help me
accomplish those big goals I found helpful productivity tips I want to share to
you.
Here are the 7 productivity tips I’m
implementing to make my 2019 the best year ever.
I cannot say I am already a master of
time management, but these tips definitely increased my productivity level
compared to the past.
Let’s begin!
1. Always plan the night before
A great day starts the night before. I
don’t know where I first heard/seen this line but this is so true.
Planning the night before allows you to
shape tomorrow. It gives you that power to “change” tomorrow’s outcome.
Planning your day is same as having a budget, only that you are allocating your
hours to your tasks and not your money to your expenses.
When I plan my day the night before,
everything seems to be working for me and not against me. I have a prepared
vision of the tasks I have to accomplish, meetings I need to attend and bills I
have to pay. I get to choose which task to prioritize, limiting me from doing
the “time wasters” – browsing phone, googling random things and watching
YouTube videos.
If you haven’t tried planning your day
the night before, I highly encourage you to so. It is helping me tremendously
this 2019.
2. Have a dedicated work space
If you are a blogger like me this is an
important tip that will increase your productivity 100%. Have a dedicated
workspace where you can feel creative and productive. Stop working in random
places of your room or house and instead choose a corner where you feel the
most comfortable to sit down and work.
Why I find this helpful? A workspace
allows you to do real “work”. It helps setting boundaries between relaxation
and doing productive tasks.
From my experience, as soon as I sit down
in front of my desk I knew I am now Izza, the blogger. I get to do a lot more
tasks for my blogs now that I have a separate desk for it. You don’t need to
spend a lot on this. The desk I use is from Handyman and I only paid Php 610
for it. I bought two desks, one as a workstation and the other as a bedside
table/war room. It worked perfectly for me.
3. Time each tasks
Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique?
It is a well-known technique in accomplishing any to-do list wherein you set an
amount of time, commonly 25 minutes, of continuous deep work. You cannot be
distracted or you cannot withdraw from the task you are doing in that time
frame. This really helped especially with the tasks I have as a blogger. You
can easily apply this with every task you have moving forward. To stay away
from procrastinating, time each tasks and do it.
4. Batch similar tasks
This works perfectly with the Pomodoro
Technique. Before I use to spend all day writing blog post and end up finishing
only one - not enough for the two blogs I own. Then I discovered batching
similar tasks and it made everything possible.
How batching works? Group similar tasks
together and do them all at the same time.
How to implement batching in your life?
- Brainstorm the things you have to do.
- Color code them into categories (example: email, blog, work, cleaning, errands, etc.)
- Block time. Split your day into segments where you will do the said tasks.
Instead of outline content every single
day, I spend an hour every Saturday to batch outline all posts. This saves me
time on workdays for other tasks. Instead of editing blog thumbnails/images per
post, I edit everything by batch too. I grab a timer and spend 25 minutes
editing photos and creating blog thumbnails. The result is I get ahead of the
photos I need for every post I publish.
I also implement batching in taking
photos. I used to take photos as they go but now I plan everything in advance
and shoot everything at once. I dedicate the second and last Saturday of the
month for shoot.
There are more ways you can increase your
productivity by batching. It applies in meal prepping food for a week and
deleting unread emails at once for inbox zero. All you need to do is get a
clear picture of what tasks you have, group them by category and schedule time
increments of when you will accomplish them.
5. Be more realistic with what you can and cannot do
Do not overcommit. There are days when we just want to do a lot of things at once only, 10 to 20 to do lists, only to miss almost everything.
How come?
Because you didn’t stay true to yourself. The reason why planning the night before
works so well is because you have the liberty to study what tomorrow is going
to be. You can adjust which tasks you will accomplish on what day and have
enough allowance to schedule them.
There are only so much we can accomplish in a day. Pick your three most
important tasks (MITs) of the day and leave the rest as a “if I have time”
list. As long as you did the MITs you are free to call the day productive.
Know which tasks you have to prioritize instead of wasting your time on the no
so important ones.
6. Keep your area as clean as possible
Disorganized desk can ruin your mood to do some tasks. Personally, if my desk is messy I tend to get easily distracted. I end up doing small things for procrastination like reading old notes, browsing my phone among others. A clean desk promotes an invitation to be productive. If I see my laptop ready, I feel ready to too do some content creation.
Try tidying up your work are before and after you are done so you can start the
work with a clean slate and end the work with a clean slate too.
7. Celebrate your progress
Lastly, do celebrate your progress every
now and then. This is a good way to encourage you for another day of hustling.
The best way I implement this is by writing down my victories.
I am currently
using the Bullet Journal system to plan and organize my life and it helps keep
a record of my small wins too. I sometimes reward myself with freedom to snack
some “ramen” after a busy day at work. Although, not always as I am saving
money. Whenever I finish a good amount of pages in the book I am currently reading, I allow myself 15 minutes of free time browsing YouTube. Again, there
a lot of ways you can implement this tip.
That’s it for this post.
Do you have any other
productivity tips to share?
No comments