1. Set your alarm early
Stop hitting the snooze button; it's not doing you any favors, only increasing your crankiness and hatred towards your alarm.
2. Find your focus
Without focus, distractions interrupt your flow. So strike a meditative yoga pose and figure out what you need to focus on to get the day started.
3. Do what makes you anxious
Sure you might want to pull your hair out, but anxiety can be a positive thing too. It might be a signal that you're on to a good idea, maybe.
4. Make To-Do lists
You can't even fathom everything on your plate until it's all spelled out in front of you. So write a list, however short or long it may be, so you have things to check off and feel accomplished about.
5. Automate
Technology rocks, so use it! Set auto-responders for emails and reminders for monthly bills. Stop wasting time re-ordering dog food once a month and just set up a monthly delivery instead.
6. Start with the hardest task first
Stop stomping your feet and throwing a tantrum. Get the worst task out of the way first, and the rest of the day will be a breeze.
7. Group tasks together
If you've got a stack of messages to return, don't scatter the calls throughout the day. Get into that funky, funky groove by doing similar tasks all at once.
9. Create deadlines
You might not have turned your homework on time when you were in school, but these deadlines are different. They're ones you've set for yourself. Punish yourself accordingly if you fail.
10. Schedule your email times
Stop interrupting yourself by checking email every 10 minutes.
11. Slow down your day
While you might start getting more productive with these tips, be reasonable with your to-do lists so you don't feel like you're failing at the end of every day.
12. Go to the gym
Or do something that gets your blood flowing so you can power through the rest of your day.
14. Outsource tasks
If someone else is better at it than you are, outsource. Yes, this is us giving you permission to order take out rather than cook a homemade meal.
15. Learn the power of no
If you're not saying yes all the time then you have more time for other things.
16. Finish what you start
Think of work like a cookie: you'd never leave any crumbs behind, right?
17. Don’t multitask
Answering phones while vacuuming won't work — unless you don't want the person on the other end of the line to hear you.
18. Multi-task only when appropriate
Then again, if you can juggle and talk at the same time, more power to you.
20. Do self affirmations
Give yourself an ego boost by doing some self affirmations at least once every day.
21. Learn the 80/20 rule
80% of what you do is a result of only 20% of your efforts. Make that work for you.
22. Make a new routine
If you get the most done in the morning, plan your errands for the afternoon. Or vice versa.
23. Feel free to break the routine
But if you're feeling inspired to get some work done at 11 pm, why not?
24. Track what works best
Yeah this means adding another item to your to-do list, but by looking at what works best, you can start cutting out the things that don't work at all.
25. Stop your addiction to wasting time
Sure Candy Crush and Flappy Bird were fun the first hundred times, but are you really still enjoying yourself, really?
27. Pay attention to new tech
Technology, when it works, can be awesome. Productivity apps are especially cool, and if it reduces the amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B? Use it.
28. Get some sleep
Four hours of sleep may give you twenty hours of work time, but at what cost? It's much more effective to get seven to eight hours and be more productive for the remainder of the day.
29. Reward yourself
When you've had an insanely productive day, give yourself a big pat on the back. Or open that bottle of wine and enjoy.
30. Know that finishing everything is impossible
After all, you're only human. Accept that everyone has limits and be proud of all the things you did get done today.
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