6 Productivity Tips to Save Time and Stay Motivated

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The life of a solopreneur is never easy. Some days, you feel like the day never ends. Running a business on your own can sap your energy, which will quickly lead to delays. When you’re doing what feels like a million things all at once, you’re bound to feel overwhelmed, weary, frustrated, and, let’s be real, a little lazy. 

So how can you power through your day, stay productive, and save more time at work? Try these productivity hacks:

6 Productivity Tips to Save Time and Stay Motivated

Get a Power Break

One might think that a break from a busy day running a biz seems counterproductive, but no, breaks are essential, and these should always be included in your daily routine. Research shows that power breaks help restore energy and improve mental focus and alertness. Taking breaks will boost motivation too, enabling you to get more things done and save time. 

Don’t wait until you’re falling asleep on your work desk from blogging or getting crampy fingers from scrolling through your social medias before taking a power break. Choose specific times of the day for your power breaks, ex:  11:00 AM, 12:00 NN, and 3:00 PM each day. Don’t feel guilty about taking a breather; it’s good for your mental and physical health!

Create a Weekly To-do List

We’re not just talking about your everyday to-do list, but a long list of tasks that you should do before and after a work week. The big list should outline everything you want and should get done and ideas to explore. Don’t overthink; just write down all the things you need to get out of your brain, don’t filter your thoughts. Then, in quiet moments, you can explore these ideas to see which ones fit your business’ needs. 

Map Out Your Day

Don’t play catchup for the rest of the week because you’re feeling overwhelmed and experiencing delays. Mondays tend to be the busiest for most entrepreneurs, so starting the week strong is a must if you want to survive the rest of the week. 

Go ahead and map your typical day before the start of the workweek. You can use Google Doc, Microsoft Word, Excel, or a project management platform to list down and assign tasks to a specific time and day. By mapping out your day, you won’t feel so overwhelmed to get an actual start. Also, seeing how organized your daily tasks are, you’ll feel visually validated for accomplishing your to-dos; you won’t experience that deep sense of dread knowing Monday’s about to rear its ugly head. 

Try Mono-Tasking

Feeling like the quality of your work is suffering because you’re multitasking? Multitasking is great for surviving a busy workweek, but the lack of focus will affect the quality of your work. Sometimes, nothing gets done completely when you’re doing everything simultaneously. 

So don’t. 

Instead of multi-tasking and never getting anything done, try mono-tasking. AKA batch-working, monotasking is simply focusing on tasks one at a time to prevent distractions and disrupting high-level thinking. By spacing out your essential duties, completing one before moving to another, you can eliminate distractions that keep you from getting things done and staying motivated. 

Break a Big Project into Small Tasks

Do you feel a sense of dread on a big project, thinking you’ll never get it done because there are just so many things to do? Try breaking the big task into micro-assignments. Then, give yourself a little reward for completing each task to motivate yourself to accomplish the project in full. 

Do this by listing down the big tasks of a project and then outlining the little tasks of each one. Every time you complete a micro-task, tick it off your list and reward yourself, like an extra 5 minutes of breathing exercises as a break. You'll feel more productive and satisfied as you start completing one task after another. 

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Don’t underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep because it can affect your mood the next day. If you stayed out late last night, you might end up feeling tired in the morning, and this will potentially lead to delays or a lackluster performance at work. Sleep-deprived people are not only less efficient at work, but they’re also more likely to binge on fatty and sugary foods! Yikes!

You need at least 7 to 8 solid hours of sleep, so you’ll feel rested and invigorated the next day. A calming bedtime routine is key if you don’t fall asleep quickly. During the day, try taking a power nap after lunch or during your afternoon break to get some much-needed rest. 

There you have it, our best advice for a productive workday without feeling bogged down by mountains of tasks and distractions. Remember, having healthy work habits are essential to stay motivated and save time. Work only at a time you should — don’t feel guilty about taking breaks and practicing self-care. 

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