Welcome back!
Let’s continue with our discussion of how to boost your productivity. This time you’ll learn how to schedule your work at times when you’re sure to get the most done. Read on…
In an earlier lesson you learned that you should prioritize your tasks by ranking them in order from most important to least important. Your next step is to now schedule out blocks of time where you can accomplish these tasks.
What you need to do is schedule your most important tasks (perhaps those requiring the most mental activity) during your best and most productive times of the day. Here are some tips for doing exactly that:
- Do schedule important tasks when you feel alert and fresh. You know what your best times of the day are. For example, maybe you wake up refreshed, but right after lunch you hit a slump that you can’t seem to shake. In that case, schedule your most important tasks first thing in the morning. Or maybe you’re a night owl. In that case, you should schedule your tasks for late afternoon or evening, or whenever it is that you feel the most productive and alert.
- Do schedule tasks on your calendar just as you would schedule any other commitments or appointments. Do you have a calendar? If so, you probably write down important items like doctor’s appointments and mandatory meetings. You should do the same with your work time (i.e., the time you set aside to work on your goals). That way you won’t accidentally schedule something else over your work time. And it also ensures that you do work on your goals and other important tasks every week.
- Don’t schedule your tasks too tightly. If you’re like a lot of people, you’re pretty busy. And that means you may be tempted to overlap your tasks somewhat. The problem with this is that then you feel rushed to accomplish tasks. Since you’re rushing you won’t do your best work. But worse yet, if you feel stressed, then you’ll be thinking about everything else you have to do.
The solution? See if you can make extra time in your schedule. One way to do this is by multitasking (the right way, not the inefficient way). You may also need to delegate less-important tasks. Finally, look at your schedule to see if there are any tasks that you can eliminate. For example, maybe you’ll decide that you really don’t need to do the dishes every single night, in which case you could free up an hour or more every week.
- Do schedule uninterrupted blocks of time. If you know the kids are coming home from school right in the middle of your scheduled work time, then you know you’re bound to get interrupted. It’s better to choose work times where you’re less likely to get distracted. This may be when everyone else is away or sleeping. If that doesn’t work out, then explain to your household members that you can’t be disturbed during these blocks of time, unless it’s an emergency.
That’s it for this time. Next time you’ll discover a simple task you can perform every night that will skyrocket your productivity for the next day. Stay tuned!