16 Productivity Tips for the Busy You

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see our full disclosure for further information. If not otherwise stated, all prices are intended in US$.

Who doesn’t want more time in a day? It doesn’t matter what you do in your life, there never seems enough time!

But actually, implementing some easy tips will save you so much time and you will finally be able to tackle all the tasks in your to-do list!

The following are the productivity hacks that work for me. Give them a try and then let me know what you think.

1 Set goals

Set your goals for the day. If you aren’t specific in what you want to accomplish you will waste your time doing nothing.

I’m not talking about to-do lists. Of course I use them, but in this case, I’m talking about goals.

What results do you want to obtain today? I don’t want you to write down the steps you need to take to reach your goals, I want you to have a clear idea of the end results.

My advice is to set your goals using the S.M.A.R.T. method. This will make them easier to achieve.

You can learn more about S.M.A.R.T. goals here.

2  Plan ahead

Knowing what you are going to do, at what time you are you going to do it, and how long it will take will save you lots of time.

So, plan your day ahead. For example, if you have to do more than one task outside the house plan them around the same time so that you need to leave the house just once.

3  Create a routine

Routines are the best time saver tools. Once you get used to your routine your brain will work in autopilot saving you a lot of time.

Routines are also good to accomplish tasks that you don’t enjoy.

4  Start the day before

A productive day starts on the evening of the day before.

Having a plan and being organised is what makes people productive.

So, set your goals, and create your to-do list for the next day in the evening.

Once you wake up you already know what to do and will easily beat procrastination.

However, I wouldn’t write a huge to do list otherwise you will feel overwhelmed and kill your productivity.

Write down only your 3 “must do” tasks and only once those are done you can think about other little stuff to do.

Completing the most important tasks first will boost your productivity, and you will go with the flow!

Once you have chosen the tasks that you must accomplish the day after, organise everything you need to perform those tasks.

For example, if you decided to meal prep for the week make sure that all the tools that you need are ready to be used.

5 Exercise in the morning

Exercising as the first thing when you wake up will leave you with a feeling of having accomplished something which will make you want to do more.

Starting the morning the right way sets your day up for success.

Plus, exercising helps produce endorphins which will make you happy and motivated.

 6 Simplify your life

Make your life easier by delegating as much as you can. You can ask for the help of your family members (even children can help with little tasks) or pay someone to do little chores for you.

Another way to simplify your day is to use the delivery service from your local shops, or even better automate your recurring purchases on Amazon.

Plan for some quick meals. You can have a quick breakfast with these easy smoothies’ recipes.

And if you really cannot do without a big meal let Hello Fresh help you.

You can even automate some cleaning, for example, using the Roomba.

7 Batch

Switching from one task to another all the time is the best way to waste your time.

Try to plan all similar tasks together.

For example, don’t iron your clothes one by one just before you need them. Plan a time of the week when you will iron everything that needs to be ironed. So you need to set the ironing board up just one time and your iron is already hot and so on.

8 Set a timer

This is more a tip to beat procrastination, but beating procrastination makes you productive, doesn’t it?

So, set a timer! Tell yourself I will do this task only for the next 5 minutes. Chances are that you will continue after the timer goes off.

Dedicating 5 minutes of your time to a task, even if it’s a tedious one, doesn’t sound so bad. Even if you stop when the time is up, at least for 5 minutes you were productive.

9 Plan your distraction

 If you know that between one task and the other you will scroll your Facebook feed calculate the time for that on your day’s plan!

10 Set a to-do list for places

Have a to-do list in your bag so that when you are out of the house you can double check if there is some of your errand that can be done close to where you happen to be.

I also use the Checkmark app. This app reminds you of your errand when you are near the location where you have to do the errand.

 11 5 minutes rule

If something takes less than 5 minutes to accomplish do it straightaway! 

For example, once you take your mail from your mailbox check if there is some junk mail and throw it away before going back inside.

12 Clean up after yourself

Clean or put away everything as soon as you finish using it.

If you’ve made a smoothie for breakfast wash your Nutribullet before drinking your smoothie. If you’ve used your hand cream put it back in its place, and so on.

13 Say no to things

Learn how to say no. Remember that every time you are saying yes to something you are actually stealing time for something else.

Do only what makes you happy or gets you closer to one of your goals.

Don’t let the FOMO (fear of missing out) win and don’t feel guilty if you have to decline some invitations.

14 Use Alexa

The amazon eco dot is your best friend when talking about productivity. You can set reminders, add events to your calendar, add tasks to your to-do list and much much more just by using your voice!

One of the best features is definitely the shopping list. You can add items to your shopping list as soon as they run out just by telling Alexa. This will also be really useful for the rest of your family since they tell Alexa and you will have the item directly added to your shopping list on your phone!

15 Go digital

 Having everything digitally in one place saves masses of time when looking for stuff.

I have a folder in my iCloud Drive with all the documents that I could need.

And I use Google keep to save notes, lists, recipes and any sort of thing!

16 Kill the time with some tasks

Do something while waiting for something else.

If you are waiting for the water to boil to make a tea, check if there are some quick tasks that you can accomplish during the waiting time.

Using these little tricks makes me able to complete my to-do list almost every day!

Try at least a couple of them and let me know if you see any change in your productivity.

If you, like me, have a business you don’t want to miss these productivity tips for your business.

If you want to become the most productive person that you know, check out this productivity bundle.

With 12 eBooks, 30 eCourses, 29 workbooks & printables and 2 membership sites it will make you a productivity pro!

Click here to learn more about the bundle!