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Working full time as well as running this blog, I’m always on the lookout for tricks and tips to help me be productive.
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So, I decided to ask my fellow bloggers to let me have their top advice on the subject of productivity. Here is a round-up of what they told me. I hope you will find it useful. (PS their advice applies to everyone, blogger or not!)
Make A To-Do List
Photo by Chimene Gaspar on Unsplash
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The first thing that struck me was that pretty much everyone mentioned making a to-do list as a way to be productive!
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I’m a huge fan of the to-do list so this would be something I would also definitely recommend. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about this.
Alaina from the Passive100.com has written a number of blog posts on the subject of how to be productive. She points out that to-do lists can become a problem if they are filled with too many tasks. She recommends simplifying your to-do list.
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Victoria at Lylia Rose suggests writing a manageable list based on much you can feasibly fit into the day.
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Deborah Hunter Kells recommends including dynamic ‘to-dos’ on your list. These are things that you enjoy doing. Mix them in with the things that you don’t enjoy quite as much!
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And of course, there is nothing more satisfying than crossing things off your to-do list. Sarah from sarahclarke.biz loves to do this using a black Crayola marker!
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Set Goals
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash
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Another tip many of the bloggers give in order to be productive is to set goals. Deborah Hunter Kells points out the importance of writing them down. According to Deborah, research shows that we are 42% more likely to achieve a goal if it’s written down.
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Victoria of Twenty Five Thoughts gives some brilliant and detailed advice on goal setting in her post how to stay organized.
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Victoria advises us on being specific in the wording of goals, then breaking them down into monthly, weekly and daily to-do lists.
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For more advice on goal-setting claim your free e-book ‘Make It Happen’ .
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Prioritise
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Alex compares tasks to guests on a VIP guest list. She advises to only include your very important tasks (VITs) on the list. The rest you can leave out in the cold for now!! She also suggests grouping tasks together, like guests on the same table. I love this party analogy!!
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Victoria at Lylia Rose advises getting tricky tasks out of the way first, then prioritising deadlines and things with high value. Alaina from the Passive100.com is another fan of tackling the most difficult tasks first.
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Remove Distractions
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Afra at shemeansblogging.com advises removing distractions as a way to be productive. I agree as I work so much better when I do this!
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So, close down the email, switch off social media and concentrate on one thing at a time. Afra suggests closing all your tabs and switching your mobile to silent. Wise advice!
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Victoria at Lylia Rose agrees with this and advises turning off the TV. She says “As lovely as it might be as background noise, what happens when something pops on that grabs your attention?”
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Alaina from the Passive100.com points out it can take 15 minutes for us to regain complete focus once we have become distracted!
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Batch Tasks
Alaina from the Passive100.com also recommends ‘batching’ like tasks together. I’m already a fan of this having read about it in one of my favourite books How To Have A Good Day At Work by Caroline Webb. (You can read my review of the book here).
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Batching involves focusing on similar tasks in one go and allows the brain to focus on one type of task at a time. Examples include responding to email, social media, cleaning, making phone calls and cooking meals for the week.
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Mindfulness & Meditation
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash
One Queen One King works like me with a blog on the side. This post gives some quick and easy tricks for staying focused at work. Especially useful when your brain is so full of, and excited by, all the new ‘side hustle’ stuff!
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The first tip centres around one of my favourite methods – mindfulness. For example, concentrate on every word your colleague says and read every word in the email you just received.
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Other tips to be productive include working to a timeline, give yourself incentives and rewards and, of course, the good old to do list!
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(If you are a beginner to meditation, check out my handy beginners’ guide
For a more detailed overview take a look at this post).
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Take Breaks
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Marie talks about the R.E.S.E.T philosophy in her video. She talks about the importance of taking ‘intentional smart breaks’. She explains how to take these and the importance of planning them in.
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Yvonne in her catchily titled post ‘How To Get Shit Done’ talks about the importance of making sure you schedule time in to rest.
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Delegate
The last one is something I’m not particularly good at! Mainly because I’m a bit of a control freak…I’m going to put this on my list of New Year Resolutions to be better at next year!
Alex at Living Pretty Happy advises that people will likely be more flexible and supportive than we think they will be. (Alex also has a post on how to be less of a control freak which I’m off to check out right now!!)
Split Your Time Effectively
One way is to schedule blocks of 1.5 hours. DCPR says it is long enough to keep focus without becoming bored. And it builds in time for a little 5-minute daydream!!
If you have one task to concentrate on, DCPR suggests setting aside a full day. An example of this which springs to mind for me is setting a full day aside for clearing out your closet or painting a room. Do that one task and nothing else.
If you have a number of tasks that are repetitive but not necessarily fast, then try setting aside half a day.
Sophie at sophie-elise.co.uk concentrates on one task every Friday – cleaning up. Sophie also talks about the importance of having a routine, for example getting up at the same time each day.
Ruth at Melanin Talks also suggests splitting your days. She says that it’s OK to focus on something different in the afternoon than you did in the morning.
Kirsten at Obtaining Bliss recommends trying the Pomodoro Technique. Use a timer and then work flat out on your task for 25 minutes. Then take a 5 min break followed by another 25 minutes of work.
Do this 3 or 4 times and then take a longer break. Just make sure you don’t use your breaks for checking Facebook! Take some gentle exercise or make a snack instead.
Jo at A Rose Tinted World is another a fan of the Pomodoro Technique, recommending it to overcome procrastination.
Declutter
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Tione at beautythatwalks.com suggests making small changes to remove clutter from your home. For example, clear your desk daily and create storage spaces. Tione also talks about a couple of environmental issues to consider – the air quality in your workspace and also the impact of colour on your mood. Find out more here
A brilliant book on the subject of removing clutter is Decluttering At The Speed Of Life by Dana White. Check out my review of this book.
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I hope you’ve found these tips on how to be productive useful. If you are struggling to get going at all, you may like my post about how to get your mojo back when you have no motivation.
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Do you have any tips we’ve missed on how to be productive? Or have you tried any of the tips mentioned? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
Still feeling disorganized? Check out this post:-
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Latisha
This was a wonderful way to pull your reader in. You provided so many great suggestions to become more productive in life. Great time management is so important while you are going through your journey. Thanks so much for supporting other bloggers through the process.
Alison
Thanks Latisha, glad you enjoyed the suggestions. I couldn’t have done it without my fellow bloggers!
Yvonne Wabai
Thanks so much for including my guide in this round-up! How To Get Shit Done has really helped me out of many a pickle and I hope it can do the same for other bloggers as well as for non-bloggers.
Yvonne Wabai | yvonnewairimuwabai.weebly.com
Alison
Thanks for contributing Yvonne, it is indeed a very useful guide
Victoria
So many useful tips here. It’s so easy to get distracted in this day and age instead of focusing on the task at hand, especially when working from home!
Alison
Distraction is something I definitely need to watch!!
Abby Heird
Great collection of advice! I act like I am so good at being organized and getting things done but I am so not. I need to be better about cutting out distractions and making doable lists that I can actually stick too. I love the concept of VITs (Very Important Tasks). There are definitely tasks that take priority. Thank you for putting this guide together!!
Alison
Thanks Abby, glad you enjoyed. I’m getting better at the goals and lists things but distraction is still an issue!
Pamela
Well done and full of SPARKLE!! 😍
Alison
Love a bit of sparkle! 🌟🌟
Crystal
These are great tips! A to do list & prioritizing make a huge difference. Thanks for sharing!
Alison
Thanks for stopping by. Can’t beat a good old to do list!
Alex Grace
This is so helpful thanks Alison – lots of useful advice to get me through an exceptionally busy month! Thank you for sharing x
Alison
Thanks Alex, here’s to successfully navigating December!
Marie
This is a very helpful post. You often hear about people with lists of lists, so definitely keep it simple, and remove distractions is a must. I am going to click on those links now. Thanks for sharing.
Alison
I can be one of those people if I’m not careful! Definitely good to simplify x
Chloe Chats
These are all amazing tips! I always find making to do lists really help me, without them I’m such a mess and often forget what needs doing, and I find when it’s written down it makes me want to do it more for some reason! I haven’t written a list for this week which is why I’m probably such a mess this week
Chloe Chats xx
Alison
Thanks Chloe, I love my to-do lists!
Loniesha
I try to do most of these things but sometimes it’s just so hard to stay organized with all the things. I can say that I’ve been doing better, though!
Alison
I know what you mean, I seem to fluctuate between being organised and being in wild chaos 😉
Nickie Rager
These are all great tips! I love the to-do list. I use a four square method as described in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I never thought of meditation as a way to be more productive but what you explain makes total sense and I’m going to make an effort to add five minutes in each morning and see my results.
Thanks so much for all the great information!
Alison
Hi Nickie, thanks for stopping by and glad you enjoyed the post. I definitely find meditation makes a difference. I think it works by slowing down my ‘monkey mind’ and stops me flitting from one thing to the next so readily!
Wendy Wallace
Hi Alison,
I appreciate all of your really great tips. My favorite is the to-do list. I use one daily.
Alison
Hi Wendy, can’t beat the good old to-do list!
Sarah
Love all of these tips! Especially being someone who is easily distracted, I always try to set myself up for success!
Alison
Thanks Sarah, I’m easily distracted too 🙄
Becky
I LOVE ALL OF THESE! Great sound advice I’m trying to get myself to follow! One day at time.
Alison
Thanks Becky, you can do it!
Whitney
As someone who works full time at unsociable hours and has just started my blog this advice is GOLDEN. I really need to get onto this organisation thing and stick to a schedule! factoring everything it can be so difficult sometimes so, I am definitely going to try out some of these tips!!
Alison
A schedule and writing it all down can definitely help, good luck!
Dragana
To- do lists are great to have some order in everything you do. Sometimes I look myself as a cook who is making 10 different dishes at the same time 😁
Great article, Alison
Alison
Great analogy Dragana! I’m often the same!
Lavrax Rinc
These are all such good tips! Sometimes it’s a bit hard to be doing all of these at once but it’s such a good thing to do in the long term. I can see why you’re such a fabulous blogger! I hope I can be this productive soon too!!
Alison
Thanks Lav, you are right it is hard to do them all at once! Even if you only apply one or two it can help. I always have to-do lists, but admit the other things slip sometimes!
Deidre
This has been so helpful! I love how so many people love Marie Forleo haha. I’ve been reading up on how to be & feel more productive as a blogger especially since this past month has felt like such an ambiguous cloud of arduous tasks. I want be sure my actions are leading to direct results and this post has really helped to clear some things up!
Alison
Hi Deidre, thanks for stopping by and reading my round-up post 🙂 I’m glad you have found it useful and hope that you will hit your goals!