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how to be productive, tips for productivity

Do you constantly feel overwhelmed by your to do list? Like you never seem to be able focus on one thing long enough to cross it off? Like you’re the least productive person on the plant?

I’ve been there too.

With all the distractions of our modern world, it’s really easy to get distracted, lose focus, and be less productive.

Over the past few years, I’ve discovered a few things I think could really help you be more productive with your day. Luckily, it won’t take you a few years to figure them out like it did for me.


How to be more productive during the day

1. Have a consistent sleep schedule

If you’re anything like me and the first thing you let slip is your sleep, you have to treat this like any other appointment on your daily calendar for it to work in your favor. Sleep is when the body does its stress processing and repair work. It’s also when the body makes some of its most important hormones, including the precursor molecule to all of them, cholesterol (no, fat is not a bad thing).

Research shows the brain functions at its best on 7-8 hours of sleep. 

To fit this in your schedule, decide what time you need or want to get up in the morning and backtrack 7-8 hours for your optimal bedtime. This time is when you will have completed your bedtime routine, have settled down for the night, and are in bed with the lights out, head on your pillow.

Be on the lookout for an upcoming post about what my bedtime routine looks like and how to develop a winning one for yourself.

2. Move your body first thing

I know it sounds like a drag to exercise first thing in the morning, but this is actually my secret to how I BECAME a morning person. 

I like to lift weights or do a bit of cardio or yoga. My workouts are usually 30-60 minutes long and I start them within 30 minutes of waking up. This helps my natural peak of cortisol occur when it’s supposed to (in the morning) and gives me an energy and endorphin boost for several hours afterwards. 

Coming soon: a sneak peak into my workout routine. 

But you don’t have to stick to traditional “exercises.” Just move! And try to make it to at least the 20 minute mark. Some ideas to try might be a morning walk, dancing to your favorite music, or pulling weeds in your garden.

3. Get organized

This is so important, I wrote a whole post about it and the top 4 things you should organize right away!

4. Plan your day

Spoiler alert! This is one of those top 4 things you need to organize now. AND I made it easy for you by giving you the exact daily planner I use.

I downloaded my copy onto my iPad using the Goodnotes app. There I mark it up each day to get ready and focused. Here’s an example:

And here’s how you can get it:

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5. Don’t multitask

Despite what everyone (including myself sometimes) thinks, our brains actually can’t multitask. When we try to do so, it doesn’t equally split our attention. It just decreases our focus and ability to optimally address each task and neither one gets done anywhere near as well as if we’d just focused on one.

Doing numbers 3 & 4 will help with this tremendously since you will be able to plan out time to focus on each task you need to complete.

6. Meal plan (frees up time)

This one may not be super obvious, but planning out what you will eat in a day or week takes out all the time and stress of deciding what to eat when you’re hungry and tired. 

You can even get all your groceries in one trip and save time and gas money in the process.

I take this one step further and meal prep on Sundays as well. This isn’t a MUST for everyone depending on your schedule, but it’s a must for me. I get home from work anywhere from 6:30-7:00 at night and just don’t have time to cook dinner when I’m aiming to be in bed by 9:00. 

If you’ve never meal planned before or don’t think you’re very good at it, I’d like to take the guesswork out for you. I’ve created a meal planner that will help you easily plan out a weeks worth of meals and snacks AND create a grocery list, all on the same page. You can get it here.

You can also check out my post where I talk all about meal planning. Click here to check it out.

7. Practice positivity

I’m gonna get nerdy for a second and tell you about Heb’s Law. It says that neurons that fire together, wire together. What this means is that if you think negative thoughts, your brain will wire itself to automatically react negatively to almost any situation, always finding something to complain about. On the flip side, if you practice thinking positive thoughts, your brain will do the opposite and you’ll automatically react positively to a situation.

You may be thinking, “great, I always think negative thoughts; I guess I’m doomed to think that way since my brain is now wired like that.” WRONG!

Heb’s Law also means that you can rewire your brain, or train it, to think the other way. 

This is why this section is called “practice positivity.” It doesn’t always come naturally and it’s something I have to actively do every day or my negative thoughts can take over. Not cool.

It may sound cliche, but every time some event happens (no matter how small), I try to think one positive thought about it. Just one.  For example, “that person almost hit me when they cut me off” becomes “I’m glad I’m okay; it could’ve ended badly but it didn’t.”

It’s hard and feels cheesy at first, but does become easier. I find that when I’m actively working this into my day, my mood is 10x better, which is why it’s on this list.

8. Stay hydrated

Ironically, this may be the simplest thing on this list, but I have the most trouble with it. 

As humans, we are about 60% water and most of the chemical reactions that occur within the body need water, hydrogen, or oxygen to run properly. Relating to productivity, the brain is about 70% water, so if you’re dehydrated you may experience tiredness, an inability to focus, or brain fog. 

Water is important! 

What I’ve been doing to help me get enough water is picking something to drink out of that I can measure (such as a specific size Yeti tumbler) and making green or herbal teas to make it taste amazing.

How much water should you drink? Roughly half to two-thirds of your weight (measured in pounds) in ounces of water. I weigh about 135 pounds, so I aim to drink 65 to 90 ounces a day. 

This may sound like a lot, but two fills of a 30 oz Yeti tumbler gets me most of the way. That’s it. You and I can both do this!


My Top 6 Helpful Productivity Tools

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Remember that building productive habits takes time, patience, and perseverance. 

What you’re doing is rewiring your brain to think positively and to be able to fully focus on a single task. It can absolutely be done (if I can do it of all people, so can you). You just have to take one step at a time.

You don’t have to do everything I’ve mentioned here all at once! Start with small steps. As you create small wins, it will build your momentum to do more. Soon you’ll be a lean, mean productivity machine! 


New Productivity Update!

I recently found this productivity hack that at least doubled my productivity above and beyond what I have been doing with all the great tools I’ve shared with you here. If you’re interested in learning more, check out my post about it here.

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