For most people, feeling productive at the end of the day is essential. However, today there are so many distractions that make it impossible for us to be productive every day. Over time, I have learned a few simple steps that help me keep my mind focused on work and limit the amount of time procrastinating.
I think you need three things for a productive day.
Set realistic goals for what you want to achieve
Set time limits for responding to emails
Don't use your phone to often or you must turn of the phone notification
In setting your realistic goals. Before you start the day, it's important to set goals that you know you can achieve at the end of the day. I often set myself the goal of putting too much on my plate of the day, and it's overwhelming. At some point, I wouldn't be able to accomplish it more than if I stopped working on that task and decided to do only what I needed for the day. Recognizing what you can achieve realistically every day is an important factor in productivity. If you have tasks that you can do in the future, you don't have to do them all in one day.
To find out how much you can usually achieve in a day, start by tracking everything you do as you work. From there, you can expand your weekly task schedule so that not only does the task not overwhelm you, but you can accomplish everything you need by the weekend.
For setting time to check emails. We often fall into a cycle of replying to emails for hours. Email is one of the best tools for procrastination and reduced productivity. To keep out of the email response hall, I started setting myself a timer for the amount of time I could spend on email. I usually check emails in the morning and waste the entire first half of the day to reply to non-essential emails. When I started setting limits, I had to prioritize replies to the most important emails of the day because I couldn't reply later.
By setting the timer, I found out how much time I was answering every day, from 3 hours to 1 hour a day. You're also more productive because you can reply to all your important emails and focus on the goals you set for the day.
For avoiding to use your phone too often. My last tip is to set it so that it doesn't interfere with all computer and phone notifications. I'm always having trouble checking my phone every time I hear a sound. As a result, instead of working on what I was doing, I sometimes started seeing other things on my cell phone. By changing the notification to Silent, you can focus on what you need to do and see the missed text messages and calls when you take a break.
If you're a parent or worried about not receiving calls or text messages from loved ones in an emergency, always set these contacts as favorites, even if the phone is set to silent , Can be notified. With these simple steps, you can limit distractions and focus on your goals for the day.