Be More Productive & Procrastinate Less…
Productivity and Procrastination. Two words that go hand in hand. It is a continual struggle to get things done it seems. We have big goals, big dreams in life and yet we don’t seem to get to do what we want.
And this is not just about our big dreams either. It is about the little things like…washing your car, running errands, fixing that broken door you walk past a thousand times a day ( or so it seems).
So this blog post is all about how you can banish that procrastination bug and start to get more things done in your life.
You Are Here To Achieve More and Be Productive
Like it or not, we are a physical manifestation of the universe. We are not separate and we are part of this universe. This universe is ever expanding and wants to keep growing. It is a creative force.
The intelligence of the universe expresses itself through us. Therefore when we aren’t growing, at our creative best and contributing fully to our own lives and those of others, we feel “off”.
When we’re “off”…we have that gut feeling of guilt, of frustration, of self loathing at times…
That is what happens when we keep putting things off and procrastinate. It starts eating away at us every single day and we don’t feel great. That is not healthy and it is not fulfilling.
So that is what we need to realize and acknowledge when thinking about why we need to be more productive. It is our duty and obligation here on this earth…not simply to “achieve” more but to express ourselves and our life fully.
Realize that when we are in that state of fully expressing ourselves and being productive, that is when we enter our own little genius zone.
We then become more…
12 Steps To Being More Productive
#1…Have a Reason
Whenever we have a strong reason to do the work that we do, then we naturally become more productive and procrastinate less. This is because we have a positive reason to do it.
What is your WHY? Work on your why and align yourself fully with your why. When you do that you will feel pulled to do the work, instead of having to constantly push yourself.
#2…Have Clarity
When our mind is filled with too much and we’re not quite sure why we’re doing this “thing” we put it off. Create a vision for what you want in life and stick it up on your walls, where you can see it all day and every single day.
Every day we have so many different things and stimulants competing for our attention. When we don’t have clarity in our mind, we become overwhelmed, confused, distracted and unproductive.
Clarity in your mind means clarity in your life.
Get the crystal clear vision in your mind of what you want and what you need to work on each day.
#3…Plan Your Day
This follows on from having clarity. Don’t just wake up and go through the same old, same old routine and allow life to just happen to you.
Know exactly what you aim to achieve each day before you get started. So many people get freaked out when you ask them to plan their day or have goals. They think they will turn into some routine orientated, psycho that works like a robot.
That is not what it is all about at all. When we have clarity in our mind, we have clarity in our life. That clarity is helped by knowing what your plan and goals are for the day.
So before you go to sleep at night, sit down and write down what you aim to achieve the next day, so when you wake up in the morning you have purpose and desire.
#4…Turn Off All Distractions
Be honest with this and ask yourself what are your distractions? Is it the TV, your friends, your pets (begging for your attention 🙂 ), is it social media, the internet, work colleagues, children, friends what?
Now we can’t just turn off children right, but all the other items, turn them off. You don’t need to…
- check your email every 5 minutes.
- have social media notifications on your phone. check every single text message on your phone.
All of these little things, like having the TV on in the background or YouTube, just doesn’t work, if we want to be productive and not be procrastinating.
If you want to be more productive you have to get serious. For me…I cancelled our TV subscription and won’t check the internet between Monday and Friday!
You also have to make sure you don’t get distracted by others, such as your friends, who tell “you to just do it later…come for a drink with us now!”
#5…Work in 90 Minute Time Blocks
This is my all time favorite productivity exercise. This is where you work uninterrupted for 90 minute blocks. You’ll be amazed at how much you can achieve in these time blocks.
Block out the 90 minutes. Close all your internet tabs, turn off your phone, go to the toilet, feed the pets, take them out so they can do their business.
Get your drinks and snacks you need and close yourself in a room. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted for the total 90 minutes.
Make a commitment to sit in that chair and not move until you have completed the 90 minutes.
Remember be more productive & procrastinate less
#6…Be Proactive Rather Than Reactive
This includes everything that we’re talking about here. The idea is that we need to stop just waking up and allow things like our email messages, social media and text messages determine how our day flows.
This is about owning your day and your time and doing everything you can to control your actions…
When we do this we will feel better within, which will directly affect our actions and therefore our results in life.
#7…Get Off Social Media
How often do we hear people saying they don’t have the time anymore.
Well guess what?
We spend an average of over 2 hours on social media every single day. We all have the same amount of time in the day…
…it’s just a matter of how we decide to use that time.
That 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there on social media, all adds up. We tend to underestimate the amount of time we spend on our devices and social media.
My phone now has a pretty cool new feature. It tells me exactly how much time I have spent on my phone and which apps.
When you add up those minutes it turns into hours and MANY hours.
That helps me see the “truth” and that is why I now ignore it from Monday to Friday!
#8…Get Off The Internet
I love the internet…I really do. One of my favorite things to do is consume information. I love learning new things and following sports events.
The problem for me was this. I got into a habit of waking up each day and logging onto 3-5 websites that I would check in the morning and multiple times per day.
If I added up the 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there, it all amounted to hours over the course of the week.
But I wasn’t writing the book I wanted to do. I wasn’t working on my other business like I wanted. I was tired, didn’t have the “time” to do the things that would really benefit me.
This time that I spent just surfing the internet and being on social media was eating away at me achieving my goals. That left me frustrated.
It’s all these little habits that we have, that steal minutes and which add up to hours, days, weeks and months of our life.
Make the change and be more productive & procrastinate less!
#9…Just Say No
If we want to be productive and get more of the things we want done, then we have to learn to say no.
We cannot say yes to everyone and everything and then expect to be productive. When we do that we are giving our energy and focus to other people’s needs, instead of our own.
Learn to say no more often and yes to you focusing on getting the items on your list done.
#10…Take Frequent Breaks
We’re all guilty of this one…trying to work through the day and get us much stuff done as possible.
Taking a short break every 40-90 minutes can actually improve your creativity, energy and productivity.
It helps to stretch out your body, give your brain a break and help you step back and refocus.
#11…Don’t Multitask
This is one of the biggest myths flying around at the moment…multitasking.
Somehow we were convinced that checking social media while having a conversation with someone or having multiple tabs open on your web browser and doing 3 or 4 tasks at once is making us more efficient.
In fact research is telling us that is just untrue and that our brain functions so much better when it is focused on just one task.
So skip trying to do too much and being the king or queen of multitasking.
Rather place all your energy and focus on doing one thing at a time and doing it well.
So with this list of 11 items you can see it is the small and obvious things that can really make a positive shift in your life.
This will help you be more productive & procrastinate less
Enjoy and here’s to you living an abundant life!
Kenneth