In the pursuit of personal effectiveness, we often sacrifice our mental health. An incomplete to-do list guarantees stress, a spoiled mood, and bouts of self-flagellation. Today, however, efficiency is the key to success. How to be productive while remaining in harmony with yourself? Here are some tips.
1. Record. No matter how trite it may sound, fix tasks on paper. So you reduce the level of anxiety and do not forget anything.
2. Prioritize. There are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week. We cannot control time, but we can control our energy and decide what to spend it on. An effective planning system will help with this – the Eisenhower matrix, according to which you divide tasks according to the criteria of importance and urgency.
Start the day with important and urgent tasks. Then you should pay attention to important, but not urgent matters. The latter, as a rule, you can delegate, and the rest can be completely ignored. You can use the ready-made matrix in diaries from
3. Incorporate rest into your schedule. It is very important not to forget to restore strength for further victories. Even if we are productive in the morning, concentration weakens over time, the focus of attention dissipates, and it takes time to restore energy.
But, being distracted from work, we feel guilty, which is unlikely to help restore strength. So make the holiday legal, allow yourself a little break, or better yet, put it on your to-do list. So you will replenish your energy reserves without feeling remorse, because it was a planned break, and it did not stretch out for the whole day.
4. When starting a new task, think about why you are doing it. Sometimes we fall into the “to-do list” trap, where the goal in itself is to cross off tasks in the calendar. Ask yourself, “If I don’t do this now, what will happen?” It may be worth crossing out this paragraph or returning to it later.
5. Use the two minute rule. If the task can be completed within two minutes, do it right away. It will take much more time and effort to write it down in a glider and delve into the essence again.
6. Work at productive times. Everyone has their own time of peak productivity. Analyze your performance during the day and try to plan your schedule so that the most important and responsible tasks fall on this time.
7. Turn off notifications. Everything. Or almost everything. SMS about discounts, mailing lists, messages from friends on Facebook. Each notification you pay attention to not only steals precious seconds of time, but also knocks you out of the “flow” state. Invisibly, this leads to stress.
When you need maximum concentration, it is better to use the do not disturb mode. Trust me, you won’t miss a thing and you’ll be able to return to messages as soon as you finish the current task.
8. Start your day with something nice. Let this be your morning ritual. A “relaxed” cup of delicious coffee, yoga, reading or your favorite music – any little thing can make your morning a little happier and give you a boost of energy for the whole day.
Always remember: you are a human, not a robot. It is necessary to remain in harmony with yourself, because without peace of mind it is difficult to set goals and achieve them, no matter how significant they may be. Plan ahead and remember that your mental health is your top priority.
For more information about timetime diaries, visit