8 useful tips to make your 2022 more productive
Did you know that January is Get Organised Month? With a new year comes a great opportunity to get some ideas in place so you can better organise your life for a productive 2022!
But how can you start being more productive to make sure that by the time your coursework deadlines and exams come around, you are ready to go?
1. Take more breaks!
This may seem like a strange one to start with but trust us – taking regular breaks helps you be more productive when you start working.
A common mistake a lot of people make is to try and push through the tiredness, but our brains don’t work well like that, make sure in-between work you are scheduling in regular breaks to let your brain rest before you get back into it. This is not a get out of free card for your lessons though – don’t walk out of your classes, take breaks in-between your studies!
2. If you know you have something challenging to do, don’t leave it to the end of the day
If you know you have a challenging task to do, working on this task when you first wake up/early in the day is more likely to yield better results.
This is because your brain will be fresher and more focused, allowing for you to be more productive. Leave tasks you know will be less challenging until the afternoon if you can for the same reason – prioritise the challenging tasks!
3. Focus on one task at once
Multi-tasking is certainly a useful skill, and we understand that life can sometimes get in your way. You may feel like you have a lot to do but when you can, focusing on one task at a time is proven to make you more productive and will allow you to complete each task.
4. Break up your tasks into smaller tasks
Got a big task you need to complete? Break it up into sections and remember to take regular breaks if you feel like you need to.
A big task can often feel more manageable when it is split into several smaller tasks, and this can relax your brain to not only make you feel like you are achieving more but you are also more likely to enjoy it, which is always a plus!
5. Don’t be afraid to plan
Planning is important – often taking the time to sit down and think about what you are going to do before you do it makes the task go ten times quicker than if you just rush straight into it.
Putting it another way in a quote often attributed to former American president Abraham Lincoln: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe “.
6. Focus on your energy not just your time
We often make the mistake of seeing the number of hours in the day as the only thing we should focus on in order to be more productive, but we also need to focus on our energy!
If you’re tired and can barely think properly then you’re not going to engage with the task you must do. Use your peak hours when you are full of energy effectively and make sure you are only binging your favourite Netflix show for the tenth time that week when you are too tried to focus on that exam you have coming up.
7. Put down the phone
Let’s not beat around the bush, a lot of us spend far too much time around screens. You may be reading this blog post now instead of doing your work and if you are then you need to finish reading the whole post and then put your device down.
While doing important work, unless you need to have your phone for the task you are doing, turn it off and put it in a place where it won’t distract you. Productivity is often ruined by procrastination so make sure you put away everything that may distract you from your tasks at hand away before you start doing your work.
8. Find a system that works for you
If you are always cutting off your work to check your emails, then try making a routine where you check them at a particular time every day and set aside time to respond to them. This works for little everyday tasks you may have to do on a regular basis too.
Different people’s brains work in different ways so doing research and looking into different ways you can stay productive through routines and systems will be important in helping you be as productive as you can be. At the end of the day, everyone is different so finding a system that works for you (even if it doesn’t work for someone else) is very important.
