Have you ever watched a kitten spastically chase a string being yanked back and forth by someone? That’s what trying to be productive can feel like in today’s hectic world. Our phones ding us, our emails stack up, and our thoughts scatter with every interruption. 

What does a busy person do in a world with unrelenting distractions? The good news is that there are ways to corral your day and increase your productivity. 

Here are some proven ideas that can help:

Morning Digital Detox

What’s one of the first things you do the second you open your eyes? If you’re like the majority of people, you probably grab your phone and start scrolling. Instead, start your day with a digital detox. 

A digital detox means not engaging with your phone or other electronics for at least 45 minutes after you wake up, and there’s a scientific reason for it. Technology negatively impacts our dopamine levels (those neurotransmitters that impact our moods and motivation). Our brains release dopamine when we check our phones or scroll through social media, leading to a rise and fall of those feel-good feelings. It’s kind of like a sugar rush that leaves us wanting more. 

How does this help? Starting your day technology-free allows your brain to ease into a new day, which supports a balanced mind. If you start the first waking minutes mesmerized with technology, your dopamine levels rise and fall, which can leave you feeling drained first thing in the morning. Without realizing it, you’re chasing dopamine the rest of the day instead of being focused and productive.

Habit Stack

There are things we have to do and things we want to do. There’s a way to accomplish both, which will help your overall productivity and attitude: habit stacking.

Habit stacking means taking something you already do and then stacking another habit on top or below it. We all have things that we absolutely can’t get out of doing, even if we dislike them. The idea is to make your work and day more pleasurable, so stack a habit that feels like a treat with something you don’t love doing but have to do. For example, if you dread responding to emails first thing in the morning (something you have to do), you can add a quick coffee break right after (treat time). 

How does this help? Changing our behavior takes more than willpower. We tend to avoid doing things we don’t want to do, so if we stack something pleasurable before or after the task, we’re more likely to get the job done. 

Time Management

Adding hours to our day isn’t an option ~ we already know that. Instead, we need to find ways to spend our time intentionally instead of letting it run wild. Here are some time management suggestions that can help: 

• Pomodoro technique – This time management strategy involves a timer to divide work into 25-minute intervals, during which the focus is dedicated to one task. Check out apps on your smartphone that you can use for this technique. 
• Time blocking is planning each hour of your day and dedicating specific time “blocks” for various tasks.
• Eisenhower Matrix – A time management method that prioritizes tasks by sorting them into four quadrants: 1) critical and urgent tasks, 2) not important but urgent tasks, 3) not urgent but important tasks, and 4) not urgent and not important.
• Eat the Frog – This technique suggests completing the most important, complex tasks at the beginning of the day and then spending the latter half of the day on less important or less urgent work.

How does this help? Since we can’t add more time to our day, we need to plan how we spend it. Feeling like we’re flailing with our heads barely above the water throughout the day is stressful. Most women have to multitask to manage the day’s demands; being intentional helps us gain some control. 

As the saying goes, work smarter, not harder, and these tips will help. Go and enjoy your day with a little extra time to spare!

Photo Credits: MarekPhotoDesign.com – Adobe