You consider yourself to be a relatively busy person. You have a lot to get done in a short amount of time, leaving little room for distractions or breaks. Lately, though, you’ve noticed a sharp decline in the amount of tasks you’ve been able to get done on a daily basis. Your workload hasn’t increased. You’re not taking that many breaks. So what’s the problem?
Learning the science behind productivity, and what you can do to increase the amount of tasks you can complete every day, is your key to success. Here are five ways science says you can boost your productivity, starting today.
1. Make a list of mindless activities
Have you ever been in the middle of something and distracted yourself by thinking about another thing you need to do when you get home? Not only is that distracting, it can also be stressful. When that happens, make a list of all the mindless chores you need to get done later, but plan other activities along with them, like listening to an audio book or watching a TV show.
In the right context, according to science, multitasking works. Mindless activities like laundry, washing dishes, and cleaning take time. If you pair them with listening to recorded lectures or podcasts or watching the news though, you can get your chores done and learn something new at the same time.
2. Complete a string of smaller tasks first thing in the morning
Distractions do a really good job of stopping our productivity train in its tracks, and one way to eliminate this hindrance from the equation is to push yourself into a flow state, which happens when we immerse ourselves so deeply into a set of tasks that everything else around us almost ceases to exist.
To launch yourself into a flow state, list out a few smaller things you want to get done and get going right away. Not only will you feel more productive while successfully completing multiple tasks in one sitting, but you’ll also free up more time later in the day for larger projects and breaks, too.
3. Write down daily S.M.AR.T. goals
Yesterday you planned on clearing all the emails in your inbox. Not too difficult of a task, right? What you didn’t take into account before you started, though, was how many emails you had waiting or how long it would take. There were just too many, and instead of breaking it up, you just never got started.
Setting goals for yourself on a daily basis will help you fight through distractions and roadblocks to productivity. Making them specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time-based will help you define exactly what you need to do and what you can expect to have achieved once you’ve done it.
4. Sit down and just start
One of the biggest roadblocks to productivity is procrastination, and procrastination often happens unintentionally. We’ll start reading that article in five minutes, and five minutes quickly turns into ten. We’ll answer that email after lunch, but after lunch, something else always gets in the way.
To beat this productivity blocker, just start. Don’t even give yourself enough time to change your mind. Click over to that tab and start reading. Hit the reply button and start typing. Once you begin, you might be surprised at how quickly and effectively you can complete that task, and you might even be more motivated to jump right into the next one.
5. Schedule out time to relax
Look at your schedule for the upcoming week. Have you blocked out any time to relax? While this might seem counterproductive, working relaxation into your schedule will, in the long run, leave you more room to get things done.
Trying to push through all your work at once will leave you feeling burned out and unmotivated, so break up your work load with 10 to 15-minute rest periods in-between. During those periods, complete a few of those mindless tasks we mentioned earlier. The key is to let your mind wander and recharge.
By doing multiple things at once (within reason), settling yourself into the occasional flow state, setting goals and just getting to it—with the occasional break in-between—will boost your productivity and keep you on task even when you have to step back and let your brain breathe for a few minutes.
Featured photo credit: Hillary via flickr.com