Increase Productivity with 5 Daily Habits

So, you’re looking to increase productivity but aren’t really sure where to begin? Don’t worry, we got you!

This post shares how to Increase Productivity with 5 Daily Habits

We’ve all had those days, the ones where you feel like you’re banging your head against the wall. Your to-do list is never-ending and you’re struggling to build momentum. Instead of getting your next task complete you’re doom scrolling on social media or clicking around on your laptop with no real purpose.

By the time the workday ends, you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. This energy permeates into your personal life, you don’t have the energy to cook or tidy up, so you order takeout for the second or third time that week.

I get it, sometimes adulting is hard, and we all have days where our productivity is low. That is completely normal, and your self-worth is not a reflection of what you’re able to produce.

I also know that when low productivity days start to become the norm, it can impact our mental and emotional health. We all have low days, but they shouldn’t become our default.

Instead, picture this; you are flying through your to-do list with energy. You finish your work day feeling fulfilled, you have a balance between your work and personal life. Overwhelm is not your default state, and you are always confident in your ability to get things done, even when you have an “unproductive” day.

How do we get there? Our habits. Habits have a direct impact on our productivity and outcomes. If you’re not producing the kind of results you want to see, take a look at your daily habits.

How to Form Habits

Okay, but what is a habit and how do we form new ones? A habit can be defined as something we do routinely (sometimes even on autopilot). Habits can be a practice, an action, or something we tend to do regularly. We form new habits through repetition. The more we practice a new habit the more it’s ingrained and becomes second nature. It’s all about consistency.

5 Habits to Increase Productivity

1. Identity work

When it comes to cementing our goals into our reality, mindset is everything. Believing you are a productive person and embodying the version of you who is productive is the fastest way to increase productivity. This is called identity work.

Identity work is when we focus on our identity and mindset rather than only on external or environmental changes. If you want to become a runner you can’t just buy a new pair of leggings and running shoes, you have to start identifying as a runner.

*photo by three crowns branding

If you want to make identity work a daily habit here’s what you can do:

Journal or script. Set the scene in your journal, what does life look like from the perspective of this new identity? get specific, write it out every morning, and read it back to yourself.
Affirmations. You can write affirmations for yourself from the perspective of the identity you wish to embody, going back to our runner example “I show up to run club with ease”. Include these affirmations in your morning routine.
Thought work. You can create a thought log and add to it daily, this will allow you to analyze your thoughts and identify limiting beliefs that don’t align with your identity. You can work through limiting beliefs with meditation, EFT, journalling, shaking, therapy, and other modalities.

2. Set Your Big 3

One of the biggest mistakes people make in terms of their productivity is putting too many tasks on their to-do list. Not only do they overwhelm their to-do lists, they include the wrong tasks. We jam-pack our task lists because we think the only way to make progress is by doing more. What we end up doing is overwhelming ourselves, causing us to lose momentum, and most likely our list ends up incomplete.

The more impactful thing to do is to “set your big 3” What are the three tasks you can accomplish in one day that will actually move the needle on your goal? Instead of writing down all of the little things you have to do over the course of a week write down just three tasks you want to complete today. When you complete those three tasks you will be closer to your overall goal and you will have built momentum. You will likely have time left over in your day that you can then fill with all the smaller tasks you used to put first.

How to set your big 3:

Determine what your main goal or priority for that day or week is.
Write down every single task that needs to be completed in order to reach that goal.
Assess – what are the top 3 tasks within the list that will actually move you closer to achieving the goal?
Example: Your main priority for that week is to sign a new client, you have lots of tasks such as creating a new onboarding form, doing outreach, checking emails to see whose followed up, booking sales calls, and posting about your services online for marketing. What are the top three tasks that you should do first on Monday out of that list to accomplish your goal? then what three tasks can you assign to Tuesday etc?

3. Time Blocking

I like to assign some of my tasks to specific days of the week. I also like to block personal tasks like working out, running errands, family visits, etc to my calendar so that I can prioritize work-life balance.

This might seem like a basic suggestion, but time blocking has made a huge difference in my productivity. The thing about time blocking is that it needs to be done strategically.

Time blocking allows you to get sh*t done without having to think about it. The most important aspect of time blocking is sticking to your schedule. You outlined these tasks for a specific reason (maybe even considering your big 3😉), working through them will build momentum and self-trust.

Tips for time blocking:

Try using a time-blocking app if you don’t trust yourself just yet (try “use motion”).
You can use a project management system to organize your tasks, I personally use notion, but other apps like Asana, Monday, and Click Up are great as well.
Use colored blocks in Google Calendar.
Ask Chat GPT to help you with task prioritization.

4. Minimizing decision fatigue.

Did you know that the average adult makes between 33,000 and 35,000 decisions every single day?! (Reil, Harvard Business Review.com) Mama… I don’t know about you, but I’m fatigued just reading that stat.

By the time we make it halfway through the day, we feel like we’ve hit a wall and our brain is shutting off. This is decision fatigue! When your brain is so tired, you start responding to questions with “sure” or “I don’t care”.

Minimizing decision fatigue preserves our brain capacity and gives us energy for the more important decisions we need to make. How to minimize decision fatigue:

Plan your outfits the night before.
Meal plan at the start of the week so you know what you’re cooking each night.
Meal prep your breakfasts and lunches.
Put automation and systems in place in your business so certain tasks can run on auto pilot.
Set boundaries and “rules” with your clients and family around your capacity.
Outsource and hire where you can.
Time block your calendar.
Put time restrictions on your social media app (you won’t have to think about whether or not to like that post or engage in dialogue with an internet troll).
Schedule emails ahead of time.

5. Expanding our energetic capacity

The strange thing about certain goals and scenarios is that we find the time for them. I think about new parents who suddenly have enough time to take care of children. Or the person whose family member is ill, and they suddenly have extra time within their schedule to care for them.

When we HAVE to do something time stretches and our capacity expands. Who’s to say we cannot choose to stretch our capacity whenever we want to? We know it’s possible in pressing or necessary circumstances, so why not tap into that ability for our goals?

How do we stretch our energetic capacity?

We can optimize our time by utilizing the tips in this blog post.
Prioritize our self-care and pockets of rest so that our batteries are full.
Ensure we are prioritizing the goals and tasks that light us up and move the needle.

There are a multitude of ways to increase productivity, find which methods work best for you!

Additional Resources for Building Habits

This post shared how to Increase Productivity with 5 Daily Habits

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