15 Ways To Improve Productivity

Do you know what Bill Gates & Jeff Bezos, have in common the same 24 hours of a day that you have that you can either waste or use to invest in your dreams? What really makes the difference is what you do with that time and how you choose to spend it. 

1. Write it Down: To-do lists are mandatory for increasing productivity. They get you organized, they allow you to see where your focus should go every day and they give you a sense of accomplishment when you take an item off the list and create a job-to-do. List each night for the upcoming day in order to have a clear image of what needs to be done. This way you won’t spend time in the morning trying to decide what task needs to be done first.
2. Cut down your To-Do List: When writing a to-do list you’ll be tempted to add a lot of items that are not necessarily important and that’s why you should take another look at it a very long to-do list will make you either anxious in the morning or frustrated in the evening when very few things are checked off here’s what you can do she was one to a maximum of three time-consuming tasks to get done by the next day and then three to five less time-consuming ones you can save an hour a day to deal with small tasks such as reading your email or returning a phone call. 
3. Stop multitasking: Sometimes it feels like being able to multitask is a must-have skill everyone should accomplish in order to become successful but the truth is multitasking is a Productivity killer multitasking is actually your brain switching very fast from one task to another and resulting in a decrease of up to 40% of your productivity and studies show it also lowers your IQ so stop it now focus on one task at a time and give it 100%. 
4. Minimize Distractions: In order to be able to focus on one task at a time you have to minimize distractions you don’t need to answer all of your email or phone calls right away unless of course that’s your job turn those notifications off stop checking Facebook and other social media accounts every 20 minutes and put your phone on the Do-not-disturb mode. While working you’d be amazed how much work you can get done when you’re fully focused, let your friends, family and colleagues know about this and tell them not to disrupt you until you’ve finished your task. 
5. Organize your working space: when everything is in place and your work desk is organized it’s much easier to focus on the task at hand instead of feeling the urge to arrange a pile of sheets or searching for a pen not knowing where you left it lots of people invest a lot of time and money in their workspace buying expensive desks fast going computers high-quality pens. 
6. Track and limit how much time you’re spending on tasks: You’re spending on tasks in order to optimize the time you spend on a task it’s very important to track and evaluate your work do you spend too much time reading similar articles when doing research or maybe you go on Facebook every 15 minutes when you feel like taking a break and end up spending a whole half an hour scrolling through your newsfeed you can’t know to improve it unless you keep an eye on it.
7. Embrace technology: Don’t be afraid to use every app and add-on necessary to get your productivity score higher track the amount of time spent on each task create schedules set up reminders and work-related notifications instead of writing that to-do list on a piece of paper that is easy to misplace put it on your phone or desktop make sure all of these resources you have are at the tip of your fingers.
8. Get SMART Goals: The smart acronym stands for specific measurable attainable realistic and time-bound what this means is when setting up a goal you have to define it specifically set a way to measure the progress on it make sure it’s realistic and attainable and set a deadline to it so it won't get finished someday. 
9. Choose your friends Wisely: Surround yourself with people that have the same mindset and ambitions as you do and try working beside them this way you can motivate each other brainstorm ideas and discuss relevant topics that will enrich your knowledge and make you strive harder it’s an important step to follow so make it your purpose to find people that inspire you to work on and join them. 
10. Learn by Yourself: There’s this principle called the compound effect that says that no matter how small the effort you make is if you do it constantly it adds up and before you know it you’ve mastered a new skill think about it this way by taking one hour per day for independent study that means seven hours per week and 365 hours in a year in three to five years you can become an expert on a topic of your choice by spending only one hour a day. 
11. Develop the habit of saying no: You can’t be a yes man or a no man-pleasing everyone else’s needs and still finish your projects on time you should get yourself used to say no to colleagues asking for help because they interfere with your working habits and this kills productivity that doesn’t mean you should never help anyone but make sure you do it after you finished your own tasks whenever someone comes asking for a favor you don’t have time for just refuse politely or schedule it for a time when you’re less busy. 
12. Be Proactive, Not Reactive: This one is pretty straightforward and sums almost everything we’ve covered so far don’t let incoming emails or phone calls dictate your day but instead create a plan ahead and try sticking to it, get involved in your schedule, don't let others do it for you. 
13. Don’t get engaged in endless meetings: Meetings is the black hole of productivity because they take up a lot of time and more often than not don’t come to any conclusion avoid meetings that aren’t mandatory at all costs or propose a different way to do it maybe via a messaging group where everyone can answer when they’re less busy remember Bill Gates had 3-minutes meeting and whoever couldn’t address a situation in that time frame was left on the outside he was the richest man in the world for almost two decades so he was certainly on to something. 
14. Focus on result-oriented activities: Many of the activities we do throughout the day are not urgent and don’t usually have a visible impact on our lives there’s this principle called the Pareto principle that states that 80% of our results come from 20% of our actions what you must do is find the 20% activities that bring you the 80% result and get your main focus there. 
15.  Take care of Yourself: You’d be inclined to think that productivity is just about scheduling and sticking to a plan in order to be efficient in your work but there’s more to it than that you must invest in all aspects of your life in order to be properly productive go to the gym take care of what you eat and get enough sleep so you’ll feel energized and motivated to work towards your goals being productive means living a balanced life taking regular breaks from work staying healthy and happy nothing beats a positive attitude that comes from living life in harmony and that’s it we did our best to put together this list to help you become a more productive and successful version of yourself share it with your friends and family and perhaps inspire them to make some positive changes.