Efficient time management and being and staying productive is more important than ever, as we face an era of increasing demands and distractions. Stay on top of your time and your tasks with these useful tips.

1. Organise Your Day Into Blocks

Some people are early risers; some are night owls, while others hit their stride mid-day. Ekaterina Walter, CMO at Branderati, and author of Think Like Zuck, advises to figure out when during the day you are most productive then establish blocks of time get more focused work done. “You can even set a recurring email going out to people telling them not to expect an immediate reply to their emails during those times,” she says.

2. Start, often

The hardest part is often just starting. The more importance and weight a certain activity has in my life or business, the more I seem to put off starting.

However, if you can just get moving on it, even for a few minutes, it tends to get easier.

Rather than setting the intention to finish something, resolve yourself to simply start. The more often you start, the easier things get finished. Overcoming that first bit of inertia is the biggest challenge (just like getting started on a run, or the first push of getting a car moving).

Once things are moving, momentum is on your side.

3. Don’t Get Paralysed by Perfection

“A career contribution isn’t made in a single ideal moment,” says psychologist and author Art Markman. “It is a collection of good and great moments that add up over time.”

The best project is a completed project he says. “It’s easy to get paralyzed by perfection, but it’s better to get something out the door than to hold onto it for a long time hoping to remove every flaw.”

4. Do things you don’t want to do

“Remember this sentence, tape it to your monitor, tattoo it on your wrist: You don’t have to ‘feel like’ doing something in order to do it,” says Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking.

“When I manage to remember that, I’m no longer sidetracked by trying to get into the right frame of mind for daunting projects. Don’t beat yourself up for procrastinatory feelings. Just feel them, and simultaneously direct your limbs to do the work.

5. Take responsibility

This is a big one. It can be hard to stay focused on what you really intend to do, and accountability helps with that a lot. Without accountability, fear, uncertainty and procrastination can get in the way.

There’s always an excuse for not doing something unpleasant. But you’ve got to look past these initial negative feelings.

Yes, it’s easier said than done, but spend a minute thinking about why you’re really avoiding it. There is almost always an inherent reason for not doing that task, and you typically aren’t going to admit it.

Once you face your fears, you are one step closer to getting over it, and getting it done.

6. Giving a damn

If you don’t actually care about what you’re doing, it’s very unlikely that it you will ever get things done.

It’s simple, really. You are more likely to complete a task when you’re fully engaged in mind, body, and spirit. This is why it’s imperative you make each task more interesting.

Here are five tips for becoming more passionate about your tasks:

– Tie it to your dreams: before you start a task remind yourself about the specific goal you’re working toward
– Make it personal: come up with a reason why this task matches your personal values
– Plan a reward: like, if you do the laundry you can watch your favourite show tonight
– Challenge yourself: challenge yourself to follow through on consecutive days – show with X marks on your calendar
– Break it down: make simple tasks out of large ones – all tasks are more achievable once they are broken down into smaller steps

Try to spend the first few minutes of your day thinking about the life that you’re creating, the people that you’re serving and why you care about what you do. Keeping those things in the front of your mind will help you to stay synced with your reason why.

7.Turn Stress into an Asset

Stress is unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to be damaging. When managed correctly, strain can positively impact productivity and performance. Here are three things you can do to make stress work for you:

Recognize worry for what it is. Stress is a feeling, not a sign of dysfunction. When you start to worry, realize it’s an indication that you care about something, not a cause for panic.

Focus on what you can control. Too many people feel bad about things they simply can’t change. Remember what you can affect and what you can’t.

Create a supportive network. Knowing you have somebody to turn to can help a lot. Build relationships so that you have people to rely on in times of stress.

8. Stop multi-tasking. 

No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).

9. Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals.

Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours.

10. Get up earlier

Research shows that mornings can make or break your day. It’s not uncommon for successful CEOs to start their day well before 6 a.m. In 27 Executives Who Wake Up Really Early, we see how incredibly busy people—from Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, to Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo—use their mornings to seize the day. Use the mantra “mind over mattress” to motivate yourself to get out of bed to pursue your goals. As Laura Vanderkam says in What Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide To Making Over Your Morning—And Life, while many are sleeping in, successful people are already up and getting a lot done. If this is not your preference, Vanderkam advises to start with small steps, such as getting up just 15 minutes earlier every day and gradually increasing the time.

Sources: Robin Sharma, American Express,

http://hbr.org/web/management-tip/tips-on-productivity

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