What do you want to accomplish today? This question is commonly asked by many people when they are looking at their day's schedule. If the answer is "a lot," you should focus on staying productive and getting more things done. There are many different strategies out there, and this blog post will give you several tips that can help you stay productive and have more work accomplished.

Are you slacking off work again?

As we humans go on our daily lives, we have to do many things such as the daily chores that we need to do in our house, the multiple tasks that our work demands, and many other miscellaneous tasks. Sometimes, it can get overwhelming, and we feel like putting off doing things for a while. It doesn't hurt to take a break sometimes, but it becomes a problem when we habitually delay doing things, leading to procrastination. When we procrastinate, our troubles will eventually pile up and haunt us, causing more headaches and stress over time.

Productive people utilize various techniques and tricks to help them get more done and even have some time for leisure and hobbies. You can do these things yourself, but you need to make them a habit so you can effectively take on things without feeling pressured. If you want to become a more productive person, you can try doing any of the following items.

1. Get enough hours of sleep

It's hard to work when you're feeling haggard right off the bat at the start of the day. So one way to boost your productivity is something that you don't do when you're working, but before you do anything, and that is to get some good night's sleep. Try to get enough sleep every night, so you wake up feeling refreshed and have more energy to get things done.

2. Wake up early

With getting a good amount of sleep, waking up early in the morning can boost our productivity and happiness levels. Not all of us can become a "morning person" due to some people working different shifts, but try to wake up early in the morning if you can. By waking up early, you can have extra uninterrupted time to do work, allowing you to finish your tasks earlier and have more time later on to do leisurely things.

3. Make a to-do list

An excellent way to help you stay more focused and organized in doing things is to create a task list of your daily to-do's. Make a daily schedule of what you have to do and sort them by deadlines to know which ones need priority first. Having a list with you will allow you to understand what tasks you need to do and make a big difference in staying productive. Write your daily to-do list the night before your workday so you can be ready to start working the next day. You can even try using a planner and list your activities for the coming week or even weeks if you want.

4. Eat healthily and get some exercise

Along with sleep, getting some exercise and eating a healthy diet can help us feel better and give us more energy when doing our daily work. Even if the nature of our work involves sitting on a desk and in front of a computer, we still need to get our bodies active as sitting all day can make our bodies feel weak. If you can't have time to do exercise very early in the morning, try to do it when you have a break in the middle of the day or after your work is done for the day. Together with exercise, eat healthy foods for your body so you won't develop any severe disease later in your life.

5. Prioritize what you need to do first

When looking at your to-do list and deciding what to do first, prioritize doing the most important tasks first, such as the most difficult ones or the ones that have the most urgent deadlines. Getting the most challenging and most time-consuming tasks out of the way can make you feel better about doing the other tasks more efficiently.

An alternate approach to doing tasks is to start with the smaller tasks first. The idea is to give your brain that feeling of accomplishment, thus providing you the urge and motivation to do the other duties and eventually complete everything else.

6. Focus on one thing

Multitasking might seem a good idea to get more done efficiently, but we cannot finish anything and commit more mistakes. For example, it can be hard to concentrate when taking phone calls while writing something on the computer. Instead, focus on doing one project or important work and finish it before moving on to the next one. You would end up getting things done more efficiently this way and be more productive in the process.

7. Learn to say "no."

We can get overwhelmed with our daily work because we might be taking in too much workload from others. We might be afraid to say "no," especially if it's our boss or friend asking for a favor, but sometimes, we need to reject things if we know we can't fully commit to doing things. Know your limits and if the option to say "no" is there, do it so you won't end up with more tasks on your plate than you can handle.

8. Turn off distractions

Many things can distract us from getting more done in our daily work. Social media is a primary culprit, and there are also our smartphones. Some of us can't help but check on some juicy updates once the notifications ring, or we might even want to game a bit on our phones. You need to discipline yourself and learn how to get away from distractions when it's time to accomplish things. Also, if your workspace is full of clutter, it can distract you from working effectively. Sort out all your mess and make your workspace a clean one, and it can boost your productivity and enthusiasm to do your work.

9. Create a system on how to do things

An excellent method to make yourself more productive is to create a plan to do all your daily tasks. Figure out the most efficient way to do one task so that when you have to do the same task again, you won't waste time and finish it quickly. Do a time study and see how long it takes you to complete each task. Commit yourself to achieving a particular job within an allotted time and see if you can finish it in less time. By knowing how long it takes you to do each job and having the most effective method to do each assignment, you will see when you should have finished your work, thereby giving you extra buffer time to do other things.

10. Use things you are passionate about doing as motivators

What if your boss told you that you could get a dream vacation on a posh island resort, complete with bookings in a luxurious hotel and restaurant? However, the condition is that you must finish first a week's worth of workload. Most people would probably get their work done to get the grand vacation that their boss promised. The idea here is to use what you are passionate about as motivators to stay focused on your work and projects. Once all work gets finished, you can then have all the time to enjoy your passions.

Get more done every day.

There are many productivity hacks you can try doing and see which methods work for you. Then, spend time on each of them and see what can work effectively as daily habits for you. We only have a limited time per day, and most productive people will utilize their time effectively, so they finish their to-dos and still have time for play and rest. It takes practice, effort, and discipline to turn productivity hacks into a habit, but once they do, you will have less time to slack and more time for productivity. Life is not all about work, though, so remember to take a break sometimes so that your mental health will always be in good condition and be ready to take on the next day's tasks.