5 Easy Ways to be More Productive

Sure, it’s important to get a full night’s sleep. Getting the proper amount of rest will give you more energy and make you a more productive person. But what are some other ways to boost your creative energy and get more done throughout the day? Let’s talk about five simple things you can do to enhance your productivity.

5 Easy Ways to be More Productive1. Jot Down Those Bothersome Thoughts

Sometimes we can get stuck on one single idea. It rolls around and around in our head until it drives us crazy. Most of these things are out of our control for the moment, but we nevertheless think of it the all the time. Think about these things too much, and you can really burn yourself out. Eventually you’ll feel mentally tired and your mood will turn negative.

One way you can solve this problem is to jot these pesky ideas down. Any scrap of paper will work. If you have a smartphone, you can use that, too. Sometimes writing the thing down can spur your brain, and you might even come up with the solution to your problem! Otherwise, you can rest easy, knowing you’ve got it recorded, and you can figure out what to do about it later.

2. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Let’s say your professor has assigned you a twelve-page essay. You might worry about it and grind your teeth over it until you drive yourself crazy. And that’s because it seems like a big task. What you should do instead it simply focus on the beginning. Think about that topic sentence. Write a great one, then focus on the first paragraph. Once you finish one thing, you can always take a break and come back to it. Do this with all your projects, break them down into tiny chunks until they become manageable.

3. Take a Breath and Slow Down

5 Easy Ways to be More ProductiveWe’re constantly being told to hurry and get things done quickly. It seems like our own brains are telling us to go faster so we can relax sooner. So why would we want to slow down? But you must remember that when we strive to get things done more quickly than is possible, the quality of our work begins to deteriorate. If we do bad work, we have to redo it, and that takes more time in the long run. Take a breath and be deliberate.

4. Less Is More

Do you get distracted easily? Do you find yourself skipping around the internet, looking at social media or video clips? Sometimes you might even get distracted by your physical surroundings. You might have a picture on your desk that captures your attention, or a book on your shelf that you keep meaning to read, but instead you just flip through the pages idly. Remedy this problem by decluttering your work space. The less visual clutter you have around you, the easier it will be to keep from getting distracted.

5. Exercise is Your Friend

Getting regular exercise, even if it is just going for a walk, will lower your stress levels and make you less anxious. Clinical studies have shown that people who get one and a half hours of low to moderate exercise a day have much better brain function than those that do not. This also lowers your chance of being depressed, which would otherwise stop your work in its tracks.