What are you trying to accomplish? Are you wanting to start your own business? Do you want to get your degree while working full time? Do you want to manage your household more efficiently? Or do you just want to live a more productive lifestyle? No matter what your reason is – in order to live a more productive life you should definitely consider following this 7 day plan to increase productivity.
Also, I recent shared a video on 11 quick productive tasks to do when you are feeling lazy if you need some more productivity tips and inspiration. You can watch it here!
Before you read this productivity plan I do want to state that it isn’t necessary to do these in seven consecutive days. I know that sometimes things get busy or you may not be able to implement these new steps on the weekend or on the week days and that is totally fine!
Of course you will see quicker results if you start the steps on each day sooner but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you overwhelm yourself trying to improve your productivity it can actually have the reverse effect. You can get overwhelmed and burnt out! So know your limits and complete each day when you feel up to it and have the time.
But now let’s jump into the 7 day plan for how to increase productivity!
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7-Day Plan to Increase Productivity
{ How to become more productive in one week }
Day 1: Get things done early in the morning
The first day of this plan to increase productivity isn’t the most fun but is essential for becoming a more productive person. The first thing to do when you are trying to be more productive is to learn to get things done early in the morning.
Getting up in the morning and getting things done right away doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be moving at the crack of dawn. It does mean that instead of snoozing 4 times and sitting on Facebook for 30 minutes you need to get up and start your day.
Get into the routine of getting up early enough to accomplish your goals for the morning. Want to workout for 30 mins in the morning? Then set your alarm and DO IT.
Day 2: Start setting daily goals
Next up for learning to boost your productivity is starting to write daily goals! Goals are an incredibly helpful way to keep you focused, efficient, and motivated which all lead to you being more productive.
I am seriously write down every. single. goal. you want to accomplish that day. A big key to this helpful step is to not to forget about smaller goals. If you neglect to think about smaller goals then they are less likely to actually be accomplished which can diminish your daily productivity.
An example of daily goals include:
– Workout 30 minutes
– Sweep the downstairs floors
– Prep tomorrow’s lunch
Writing down what you want to accomplish helps you not forget anything and keeps you on track because you can plan your day and estimate how long you need to accomplish things. I also love the feeling of crossing things off your daily goals list!
Full guide on writing daily goals: How to Make an “Every Day Goals” List
Day 3: Figure out your plan to work smarter not harder
Putting in hard work will always help you in life BUT there are times and places where it is so important to work smarter not harder.
For me I sat down and thought about what sucks up my time and a lot of it was meals. I would spend a lot of time every day looking through the fridge and pantry trying to come up with dinner ideas and often would end up running to the grocery store multiple times a week.
Day 4: Find your time holes and how to avoid them
First off we have to address for this day what a time hole is!
A time in your day that you lose a lot of your day to something “unproductive”. This can be things that seem unavoidable like your commute to and from work. Using that time to make it productive will make a major difference on the overall productivity of your day.
For my commute example- I have over an hour of car time holes every day and I fill them by listening to podcasts and audio books. I have a whole article on just this time hole that if you found yourself wondering how you can make your commute time more productive then here it is: How To Have A Productive Commute.
Making that time even remotely productive will improve the quality of your day and can help you accomplish more each day. If you really want to increase productivity in your life then getting rid of time holes is so helpful and essential.
Day 5: Find your source of motivation
The next day of boosting your productivity is to think deep about your motivation. Think about why you’re taking these steps to improve your life.
Why do you want to better yourself? What are you trying to accomplish and why are you trying to accomplish it?
If you don’t immediately know the answers to this question then in might be time to sit down and figure that out. Knowing what your source of motivation is helps keep you motivated.
For a lot of people their motivation is obvious and clear – such as improving career prospects to better your families finances. For others it’s not as clear and that’s okay but it’s still so important to figure out what is motivating you.
Day 6: Make a plan to always keep moving
This day of your increasing productivity plan can be tiring but it is so helpful for becoming a more productive person. Figure out what slows you down during the day and then make a plan to account for that.
If cooking dinner slows you down and wears you out then finding quicker and easier dinner meal ideas could be the way to overcome that and keep your productivity up. It can be so tempting to sit down on the couch after dinner and watch Netflix for the rest of the night but you have to fight that urge.
And the best way to fight that urge is to have a plan.
Plan out what you are going to do after work (hey I came up with 10 productive things to do after work). Use your daily goals from above to map out a plan for the evening in order to keep yourself moving. Use Netflix or whatever it is you like to do to relax as a reward.
Tell yourself if you do all 4 of your goals for the day then you can watch an hour of TV before bed.
But you need to have a plan for achieving your daily goals and a plan to keep moving. It is so easy to watch your day fly away from you. Keep control of your time and make your actions intentional and seriously the difference on your daily productivity will be incredible.
Day 7: Learn to say no
The final day of this plan to increase productivity is completely essential- learn to say no.
Taking on too many things is the quickest way to get overwhelmed. And being overwhelmed leads to not accomplishing what you actually want to do that day. Learning to say no to things that you don’t really want or need in your life is incredibly important to leading a productive lifestyle.
It can be so hard to say no to friends and family but if you really don’t want to join your cousins softball league then tell them no.
Finding ways to politely decline things you don’t want to do will help give you back control of your life. Afraid of burning bridges? Then figure out how to make things work for everyone. Tell that cousin that you really don’t have time to join their softball league but you go to yoga every Saturday morning and you would love if they join you.
Finding way to show your love for your friends and family and still have control of your time is totally doable.
I also released a full guide on learning to say no so you can prioritize and be more productive. You can check it out here: Learn to Prioritize: Say No.
Taking the steps each day for a week to improve your productivity will make a huge difference in your daily and overall productivity. Take control of your own time by following this 7 day plan to increase productivity.
And of course let me know in the comments if you have any questions or need and encouragement!
Korra-Shay
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If you liked this post on how to increase productivity then you probably (hopefully!) will like these too:
- 5 Simple Daily Habits For Better Productivity
- Powerful Daily Tips For Improved Self Motivation
- 11 Quick Productive Tasks To Do When You Feel Lazy
- Ultimate Guide On How To Completely Reinvent Yourself
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