Three Underrated Steps to Increase Productivity

As an entrepreneur, I have tried to read every book and article about productivity that exists. Over the years, I have dog-eared and highlighted a ridiculous number of pages, bookmarked a million sites, and have written page after page of meticulous notes. Sometimes I would try to incorporate the advice into my life, and other times I would forget about what I read the second I closed the book.

Eventually, I realized that the time spent researching how to improve my time-management and productivity was, ironically, another way to waste time. I love learning, process improvement, and efficiency, which means that I am more likely to get stuck in the Research Loop (if you are reading this, then I know you know what I mean). ?

But at the end of the day, researching is different than doing and I started to think that maybe I was just stalling. Or maybe I had too much on my plate and there are no time-management tricks that change a 24-hour day into a 36-hour day-- that I am aware of at least, (but if you know how to pull that one off, please message me).

There are exactly three steps to a productive day. That’s right, just three.

1.????Go to your workspace and sit down.

Don’t fumble with coffee and mood lighting and the perfect playlist. Put down the phone, close the excess browser tabs, and sit down.

2.????Pick up a pen and a piece of paper, set a timer for 3 minutes, and brain dump your to-do list.

You may already have a written or digital list. I challenge you to not look at those lists for a minute here. Hear me out. When you brain dump your list, the items weighing on you the most (consciously or subconsciously) will find their way out of your brain and onto that paper first. These are your priority tasks for the moment.

3.????When the timer goes off, take the top item from your list, and just start.

If it is something someone else can do, then delegate immediately. If it is something only you can do, then take the very first step. And then scratch that task off your list.

Just start. As simple as it sounds, that part has found a way to trip me up time and time again. It is easy to get lost in re-prioritizing and researching, subconsciously finding ways to procrastinate and ways to delay decision making.

Oftentimes, we do everything except take that first step when we are overwhelmed. We find ourselves organizing bookshelves or scrolling on our phones to subconsciously get away from that feeling of being swamped. I think the sheer overwhelm is what blocks productivity. Organization and having a clear ‘Step One’ lessen the sense of overwhelm and this is what makes your productivity flourish.

The real secret of this technique is that you must do it daily. Look at the list until it is time to make a new one and enjoy all the messy scratch marks from checking things off the list. Make building momentum a habit because that will Build your Momentum.

Comment your favorite productivity tips below!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”- Will Durant