This article originally was published on Jan. 1, 2015.
“How can I become more productive?” is a question that will continue to always come up.
Everyone wants to get more done and feel a sense of accomplishment as each day comes to an end. There are a million different productivity tips out there, but here a five ways to increase your productivity levels that have worked wonders in my own life.
1. Arrive early, stay later
Living in a congested city such as Chicago, I have found that if I start my workday before everyone else, I can save time by beating traffic and getting to my most important tasks right away. Sitting in traffic will do nothing but frustrate you and set a negative tone for the rest of your day. The same goes for when the end of the work day rolls around.
Your ability to save these extra hours can not only increase your productivity levels drastically, but help you become one of the highest paid and most productive people in your field. Arriving early and staying a little bit later could make all the difference in the world.
2. Plan each day the night before
This is a total game changer. If you spend just 15 minutes before you go to bed the night before creating your to-do list and prioritizing it, you will have a head start on your day when the morning rolls around. After I create my to-do list, I pick the most important tasks and put a little star next to them reminding me that these are the tasks that need to be done to push me forward with achieving big goals.
3. Leave the office for lunch
This is something so small that can have such a powerful effect on how you work for the remainder of your day. Getting out of your work environment for lunch can ease stress levels, refresh your creativity and help you to re-focus for when it’s time to go back to work. I often take a short walk to clear my head and think about how I want the rest of my day to go.
4. Minimize distractions
This seems self-explanatory, but in this day and age, distractions are everywhere. If you work from a computer, as most do, there is the temptation to check social media and surf the Internet, among many other things. When it’s time to work, work! If possible, close your door and have a "do not disturb" sign hanging on the door so your co-workers know not to bother you.
Every company has those employees that love to talk about what was on TV the night before instead of actually getting important things done. Don’t let these average achievers hold you back. Set boundaries and try your very best to abide by them daily. Your ability to minimize distractions as much as possible can single handedly increase productivity.
5. Keep your goals in sight at all times
After setting extremely big and exciting goals that you want to accomplish, keep them in sight at all times. I keep a list of my goals in my phone, a note card that I carry in my pocket and in a spiral notebook. The main objective is to keep your goals in a place where you will end up seeing them many times throughout your day. When I glance down at my goals, my motivation levels to get things done goes through the roof.
Start to picture yourself as the most productive person in your field. How does it feel? What tasks are you spending the majority of your time on? What is your philosophy on personal performance? Be in competition with yourself to see how much you can get done. Have fun with it. Make it a game.
Always try to beat the person you were the day before. Keep track of your results and work every single day to be a highly productive individual and watch the small daily victories begin to transform your life.
Matt Mayberry
As a former NFL linebacker for the Chicago Bears, Matt Mayberry is currently an acclaimed keynote speaker, peak performance strategist and writer. As the CEO of Matt Mayberry Enterprises, a training and consulting company, he specializ...
Read more
The tabloid is too 'unreliable' to be trusted for articles.
Travelling can be very tiresome for many people and there is nothing worse than getting stuck at the airport because of a delayed flight. As much as technology...
If statistics are anything to go by, at least 2.6 billion people in the world right now have access to smartphones. Truth be told, these smartphones have revolu...
The FTC says Vizio collected viewing histories without consent. It will cost the company $2.2 million.
Chromebooks are excellent low-cost, secure laptops that are great for the user who lives in the cloud. The thing is, they are designed with portability in mind, which generally means smaller displays. As display tech moves forward, laptops have more and more pixels per inch, which means one thing:
Relax 5 Daily Habits That Will Increase Your Productivity Levels stories
Decrease the amount of noise in your head.
One entrepreneur reveals how a moment of clarity led her to walk away from a life-changing offer.
Don't lose hope when challenging projects seem to drag on. Use these tips to stay on track.
Want to meet the promises you are making yourself? There are apps for that.
Advice from a young entrepreneur in the trenches
Detach from technology, and you'll be amazed what you can accomplish.
Get motivated with insights from these leaders.
A business plan is a written description of your business's future. That's all there is to it--a document that desribes what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ
Becoming rich has more to do with restraint and tenacity than it does brilliance or luck.
What it takes to succeed as a young founder in a manner that makes a difference and attracts people to your vision.
To succeed, you first have to set yourself up for success.
Few entrepreneurs build million dollar businesses but many more would if they shifted how they do business.
The upper class do these things to stay focused. You can too.
The only way to find out what will happen is to go ahead and try, says the creator of High West Whiskey.
Founders who don't get the basics right are rewarded with the opportunity to learn from failure.
Lee 'Q' O'Denat, who created the influential site, stood for what he believed in in the face of public criticism.
Imagining your work life in the months and years ahead? Pick immediate and intermediate checkpoints along the way to reach your final objective.
Check out these small bite-size titles to heighten your business awareness.
When your office is located where you reside, productivity can go out the window. Or things are just too quiet. Here's how to maximize the benefits.
Worthwhile technology gives you back your time and sanity.
We have to be very careful in choosing our pursuits, because our habits make us.
It really comes down to managing three segments in your life: time, space and mindset.
Focus more. Listen more.
Tips to get your professional and personal lives in order for a more productive and efficient 2017.
Focus on adding specific elements to your life that will not only bring you positive and lasting results, but are also enjoyable in and of themselves.
Don't just get busy, get busy doing what is basic to growth the next 12 months.
At the same time figure out how to cultivate the very best person you have.
A young real estate CEO made a plan to build up his net worth and check out in six years. Here's how he did it.
Here are tools which will make your life easier and help your business take off right away.
Make these habits your own and boost your efficiency fast.
The drivers are regularly updated, but that timestamp never changes. Why?
Twitter this week again tweaked the visibility of abuse. How about just getting rid of it?
Buying a home for the first time has always been a somewhat daunting task, but the advent of so many technical innovations in and around the home have made it...
Ookla's data doesn't back up its braggadocio, says ad regulator.
Photoshop isn’t just a photography app; it’s a powerful design tool. Opening a single image is easy, but what happens if you want to put together a poster with multiple different images?
Harold Thomas Martin allegedly stole 50 terabytes of classified data from the agency.
Harold Thomas Martin spent two decades amassing 50 terabytes of sensitive government data.
It's just a matter of creating the right conditions.
Most security cameras come with night vision, which allow them to still see things even if it’s pitch black outside. But how does it work?
Poppin Slime.
