Be more productive with these 4 strategies

Do you find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to get through? 

Do you find yourself regularly working 14-hour days to get everything done?

Or do you feel stressed when you get to the end of the day and you haven't completed your To Do List?

While some people consciously enjoy being busy or are unconsciously addicted to this lifestyle, for most people it can be frustrating never having enough time to get everything done. The good news is you can do something about it.

You can win time back by building the following productivity hacks and disciplined behaviours into your day.

Each one is proven to make a difference to those who stick with them to increase productivity.

1 – Plan your day the night before

The first thing you should be doing when you wake up is working on your priorities not creating a plan to work. When you plan your day the night before, you put your mind at rest. You wake up knowing exactly what you've got to do first so you can dive straight in. You don't waste time trying to work out what you are going to fit into your day.

Aside from this, your unconscious mind has probably been working and preparing for your day. As you have already signalled what is coming up, it gives your mind time to process your future activity while you sleep. This gives you a major psychological advantage in conquering your To Do list.

2 – Tackle your most important project or task first

Whatever you do in the morning make sure that the first thing you do is your most important project or task. And 100% it is NOT checking your email or your phone.

You want to put your fresh mind and energy into something that will make use of your creativity and your uncluttered mind. Once you get distracted by e-mail or phone messages you get lost. You will likely end up working on things that shouldn't really get your attention and suddenly you've wasted an hour or two.

That first hour or two in the morning is crucial. You know what your most important tasks are each day – let your uncluttered mind work on those as a priority.

3 – Turn your 'To Do' list into a 'Must Do' list

By switching your focus from To Do to Must Do, you bring a new level of discipline to your list

To keep a Must Do list, only write a task down if it must be done tomorrow. If not, put it on another list for another day.

An additional discipline to writing a Must Do list is to give some indication of the time it would take to do each task.

This can be a real eye-opener. You will most likely find that your usual To Do list contains tasks that are many more hours in the day. This is why you never get through it.

4 – Don't get stuck on $10 an hour tasks

If you are a senior executive or business owner never get involved in doing $10 an hour tasks. If you know your time is best spent doing tasks worth much more than $10 an hour, hire somebody to do this work for you. They will also be more likely to do it faster and better.

It can be difficult to let go of these little tasks. But you were never hired to do that work so give it to the person that is. It is so easy to get sucked into doing those things yourself. "It will only take me a minute", you probably tell yourself.

But every minute you spend on low-value tasks is time taking you away from working on more strategic and high-impact tasks

Our goal is to help you perform at a high level while still maintaining a happy and sustainable life. A balanced life does not involve working 14 hours a day to get everything done.

The key to balance is maximising your productivity and optimising your time. Test these four strategies and watch your productivity improve.

Know any other great productivity tips? Share them with the Power Up Community. Click here to join the group.