We all have the same 24 hours in a day but for some of us, the 24 hours feel like 24 minutes. As a full-time employee who is also passionate about playing video games, studying, and trying to break Into tech I found myself on many occasions feeling overwhelmed and having my plate full all the time like it's thanksgiving. Well, in the past year, I have decided to be more productive by not doing more but by focusing on less. Below are some tips I utilize to maximize my productivity.

The 80/20 Rule:

Also called the Pareto Principle, this principle is to help you focus on high-value tasks first instead of low-value tasks. It is one of the most helpful things for life and time management. This theory suggests that 80% of results/outcomes will result from 20% of the actions/inputs. You should use this rule to identify the most important tasks and the least. This way you spend your time and energy on the right tasks and not on the minor insignificant ones. For example, you have five tasks; coding, cleaning your room, preparing for an interview, getting a haircut, and watering your plants. Now before you give in to temptations and say to yourself let me do the easy tasks first, sit down and think of the tasks in the 80/20 way and ask yourself if this task is in the high-value top 20 percent or in the low-value bottom 80 percent?

Eat the Frog:

We all procrastinate at times and sometimes more than we should. That is why it is important to start your day by doing the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. In the book Eat that Frog by Brian Tracey he states to identify your frog as the one thing you procrastinate on the most and eat that frog and once you do now nothing else in your day could be worse. When conquering this frog think of what happens if you don't eat it that day. What are the short-term and long-term consequences? The first few times you eat that frog will not be easy but like anything in life practice makes perfect. Doing this continuously will put you in a mental state of taking action immediately on the biggest hardest tasks and you will develop a positive addiction to it.

“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.” -Brian Tracy

Biological Prime Time:

Biological prime time means the time of day you feel your best and have the most energy. Typically people fall into four chronotypes, these are the bear, the wolf, the lion, and the dolphin. Depending on which type you are this can help you figure out what time of the day you are the most energized, motivated, focused and productive. If you don’t know when your biological prime time is then you can start by tracking your energy throughout the day and keep track of your highs and lows on a sheet, do this for a few days or up to a week and when you find your biological prime time start using it to your benefit so you get the most out of your day.

The SMART goals method:

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based). This productivity tool is one I believe to be most helpful for all. Whether you want to finish a project, apply to a new job, study for your exams, and more. This is the tool for you. Because with the SMART goal method, you are single focusing on one thing that is very specific and that the progress can be tracked and has a deadline.

Pomodoro:

I know many of us already use this method and it works magic. The Pomodoro method is for those of us who aren’t big fans of the deep work method. In this method typically you work for 20-30 minutes, rest for 5-10 minutes then repeat until you finish the task you are working on.

The Weekly Reflection:

With all the above tips for staying productive, they work best if you do a weekly reflection. Do the reflection on the weekend and give yourself 2-3 hours to complete it without rushing it and with no disturbance. It is very important before you begin your new week to reflect on what went right and what went wrong the previous week. To see tasks you might need to invest more time in or ones that are time-wasting for you. Before you do this reflection make sure you are in a calm state of mind, take a bath or go for a walk, make sure you already ate and have a glass of water with you, and sit in a distraction-free place where you can reflect. Reflect on your energy levels of the week as well as your productivity, adjust them accordingly for your coming week, and repeat the same process the following weekend.

In this article, I only shared six of my favorite productivity methods but there are over 30+ productivity methods and I hope to share more with you all in the near future. For now, I wanted to start off with some of the most important ones. I hope some of these methods will be useful to you all. Until next time sending you all peace love and light! 🙂