Being productive is essential in today’s world, but it can feel like there is never enough time to get to everything. You must juggle work, life, friends, hobbies, gym, food, family, etc., and it can be a lot for one person to do, especially if they’re not usually the most productive. Read on for some simple ways you can make yourself more productive.
Don’t Think You Can Multitask
Many people struggle with productivity and feel multitasking is the best solution to their problem. Sadly, this solution only creates more issues. In general, people cannot multitask effectively or give appropriate attention to both tasks, leading to worse results for both. Instead of multitasking, you should give singular tasks all your focus. Doing this leads to you completing them with better quality and in less time. It can feel like a lot to give all your attention to a single task, but the reward for this behavior is having more time later to focus on the other things you like/need to do.
Take Care of Social Media
One of the ways people are becoming unproductive is by spending far too much time on social media. For many, it has become an addiction that gets in the way of other activities. Some people spend a long time looking over social media and obsessing over everything going on, which can bleed into other parts of their life as they constantly need to check their feeds.
Thankfully, taking healthy steps toward overcoming social media addiction can help increase your productivity throughout your life. Tackle it like a real problem and slowly wean yourself off the sites; realize that using social media doesn’t bring joy, only frustration and anxiety. Going cold turkey with social media is not a healthy way to give yourself the balance you need.
Do the Hard Things First
Another way people struggle with productivity is that they often procrastinate and leave more challenging tasks for later. In a typical workday, many people want to ease into their day and tackle the most significant thing last, but this strategy is prone to failure. Instead, get on top of that troubling task as early as possible, so everything else in the day is free from the anxiety associated with that huge task.
It doesn’t even have to be work—take care of that difficult phone call in the morning, go to the gym before work, start meal-prepping as soon as you get home, etc. It won’t be easy, but you will have much more time in the day to focus on what’s in front of you, not wasting it thinking about what’s waiting for you in the future.
You can make yourself more productive with these tips, and you’ll be able to juggle all the things life throws at you much easier. You’ll still have to make decisions and compromises every day, but you can at least better visualize how these things can coexist together.
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist who appears weekly in the Los Angeles Wave newspaper and can be reached at [email protected].