Lets’ be honest, it is hard to be productive. There are always distractions and unexpected items to tackle. Productivity doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need fancy planners or expensive and complicated tools to increase your productivity. I will show you how to be more productive at home in 3 simple steps.
So how do you tackle all your daily to-do’s on your list? I will share with you what has helped me, and countless others and to slowly chip away on the list of daily tasks.
Before children, my husband and I call it the age of B.C., there seemed to be time for everything, that is sadly not the case today.
After having my children I found myself falling behind on several urgent errands like paying bills, getting to appointments on time, and making time for every day household tasks.
As our family expanded, I found myself more overwhelmed and often frustrated for not getting basic things done.
It was during late evenings when I would finally have time to sit down and reflect on the day and realize all the important tasks that were not completed, making me panic and frustrate.
The reality was that it’s not that there was not enough time in the day to get to my to dos, it was a lack of organization in conjunction with distractions and fires that needed to be put out immediately.
How many of you start off the day, ready to tackle all of the things that need to be done. Then your get sidetracked with kids, a phone call or social media, ugh. Only to realize it is mid-afternoon and very little has been.
This is happened to me many times,where the day starts off great, then my kids to have a meltdown and me trying to handle it and need downtown to recover from it.
Or checking my emails and being sidetracked because I recieved something that needs to be handled immedialty, only to realize it took longer than expected. Or opening a bill in the morning to see a charge that I don’t recognize, then calling the credit card companies to clarify the charge.
It is these little things that just throw things off and it is difficult to get back on track. Often I just say “I will do that tomorrow” or “that can wait till later”.
I needed to come up with a plan where I can chip away at tasks small and big slowest, day-by-day and not have anxiety or fell guilty that nothing has been done and the list just grows daily.
I wanted to simple plan I can implement in minutes and stay on track. I thought of what would help me tackle daily tasks, stay on schedule, and even though it wouldn’t be perfect I would feel some type of accomplishment at the end of the day.
I found that I need both tools and a mindeset that will help me chip away at tasks day-to-day.
Below I will show you how I apply the tools, mindeset and implement both to tackle both small and larger projects.
Formula: Tools + Mindset + Implementation = Increased Productivity
Two tools to be more productive
- Weekly planner
You will need to invest a basic weekly planner. I use a weekly minimalist planner, it has both a to-do section and an appointment section for easy reference.
I usually take 20 minutes on Sunday evening and plan out my week. I carry my planner with me and add to the week of to-dos and updated my planner as the week goes along. This is my favorite planner from Amazon. You can also use an app to plan your week.
- Timer
This is an important tool to help you stay on track and not get distracted or go of course when tackling your projects. I recommend you set your timer in short bursts of time that you know you can handle.
For me, I can only stay focused for 30 minutes, so I set my timer in 30 minute increments and that is what I dedicate for the given tasks in that time.
If I have to larger projects that might required more hours and days to complete, I recommend devidied your project into sections. Give each section a given time you know you can give your completed and full attention too.
Mindset to be more productive
The tools are all great, but it will not be effective if you don’t have the mindset that goes along with it.
I know that is where I always failed multiple times. I bought so many planners and books on productivity and watched so many experts, but I was never able to fully complete tasks and became discouraged.
What was missing? Why couldn’t I complete projects that needed my attention?
The problem was, mindset. I would become distracted way too often with kids, emails, preparing meals, news and social media.
I would also not stick to the plan that I layed our for the day. If I opened a bill in the morning and saw a charge I didn’t recognize I would immedialty drop everything and try to get it resolved, or see an email that needed urgent attention it would divert me from my given daily plan.
Yikes, distractions, distractions.
This is how you get into the right mindset to be more productive.
- No distractions for ____ minutes.
This is where you set your timer to what you know you are comfortable with and can handle and not allow any distractions.
For me I can only do 20-30 minute increments on tasks, and that is what my kids can handle without requiring my constant attention. I dedicate that time only to the task at hand. I don’t get distracted, unless one of the kids is bleeding or the house is on fire : )
- Complete the full cycle of the task
Worth repeating that when you set that timer to a what you know and are compfortable to handle, you have to complete that cycle.
Don’t leave cycles incompelete, this is very important.
By not completing cycles, you will quickly become discouraged, frustrated and lose that drive to finish things. This is what we are trying to avoid.
How to implement the tools and mindset?
- Divide projects large and small into sections
You need to divide your projects, large and small smaller tasks. The tasks should be given the appropriate time that you are comfortable with and can handle. Use your timer to keep on track.
Some projects will have more tasks before they are completed, some will have less.
For example, if one of my projects for the day is to clean out the fridge, I will divided that project into two tasks. Task one, I will clean the shelves and set my timer for 20 minutes.
Next, I will clean the drawers and I will set my timer for 15 minutes. Now, if my kids cooperate I will dedicate all that time to finish that one project.
Now the above example is simple, but you might compe across some projects that require more than 30 minutes to completed. They might need hours or even days of your time.
- Use short burst of time
After you divided your project into smaller and more doable tasks, use your timer to keep yourself on track.
If you are someone that has the ability, time and patience to work for more than 1 hour increments, I strongly encourage it.
But if you are home and have uncontrollable disctrations, babies, toddlers, life, people then I suggest you do smaller burst.
Even if you don’t complete the entire project, just completing those little tasks at hand that make up the whole project will give you encouragement, drive and a will to finish it.
And remember the formula…
Tools + Mindset + Implementation = Increased Productivity
Make sure you use the tools correctly, have the right mindset, know how to implement it and you will tackle more than you have before.
Looking to increase your productivity in the kitchen, take a look at the Top 5 Kitchen Tools to Save You Time and Money