5 Ways to Be More Productive

Productivity.

Whether you are a busy professional with deadlines to meet, or someone like me with too many hobbies and not enough time, being more productive is something that should be sought after.

Productivity is so much more than efficiency at our job. For many of us, productivity at some point has brought to mind the image of a manager at a large corporation. A man in a suit trying to get the most out of the people he works with by ensuring they are hard at work from shift start to shift end. I don't like this view of productivity, because it seems to look at employees more like machines than people.

If you looked at a simple definition of productivity, you might find something along the lines of 'the ability or rate at which you produce or create.' This is a fine definition, but according to this definition, you can be just as productive doing a task the wrong way 100 times as you are doing it the right way 100 times. An equally important factor to consider in measuring productivity is the quality of that which you are producing.

The goal of increasing productivity then becomes a balancing game between rate of work, amount of work, and quality of work. This may seem like a daunting challenge, but below is a list of ways that can help you increase productivity and live a more fulfilling life. Some of these may seem obvious, but others may surprise you.

1. Get Enough Sleep

At the top of my list is getting enough sleep. I used to work night shifts at one of the largest hospitals in my area. The nursing staff was supposed to work a total of 36 hours a week through a combination of 8, 12, or 16-hour shifts, usually done in 3 12-hour shifts per week. While I worked there, I was also attending school during the day, so I wasn't getting nearly enough sleep to be a functioning human, let alone operate at full capacity.

One weekend before winter break, I had to finish finals the first few days of the week, and I wanted to have some time off to spend with my family for the holidays. I ended up having six shifts back to back, Thursday through Tuesday. I'd done back-to-back shifts before so I didn't think it would be too difficult, but by the end of the fourth night, I was drowning. On night five, I began to get disinterested in my work, doing only the bare minimum. By night six I was making mistakes that did not go unnoticed by the charge nurse. Luckily none of those mistakes caused any sort of harm to the patients, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do so many shifts in a row again. I just wasn't getting enough sleep.

Sleep is one of the keys to healthy living, and it is necessary not only to survive but to thrive. Getting a good night's rest is something that has been scientifically proven to affect nearly every system in your body. No one quite knows why, but sleep is a biological need. While nearly everyone gets enough sleep to survive, many of us are more sleep-deprived than we'd like to admit.

When we're facing a deadline or are really passionate about a project, a lot of us may choose to sacrifice some sleep in order to maintain progress. When you're close to ending a goal, this could definitely be of some benefit. I've done this a lot of times, whether it be at work or a project for school.

If we're in the middle of a project and will be needing to continue work on it in the days or weeks to come, it would be more beneficial to get more rest! Completion of REM cycles and complete, quality sleep allow our brains to recover and store information. This leads to increased clarity in critical thinking, as well as increased problem-solving skills. Additionally, we gain an increase in attention span and are able to work more efficiently for longer periods of time, with greater attention to detail.

Because I'm someone who uses my mind a lot (or tries to at least), sleep is my number one step to becoming more productive.

To learn a little bit more about the incredible benefits of sleep, check out this TED Talk by Matt Walker titled "Sleep Is Your Superpower".

2. Stay Active

Exercise.

This is one of those touchy subjects for a lot of us, me included up until a few years ago.

Exercise is something meant to benefit our bodies. We all know that by exercising, we can achieve goals of fitness, weight loss, muscular growth, and better cardiovascular health. We can even become happier due to endorphins that enter the brain while we exercise.

There are many more benefits to exercise apart from the physical; exercise is a natural stress reducer, helps us to increase the quality of our sleep, and improves brain function in the hippocampus region of our brain leading to improved memory. Our maximum energy capacity can be increased by exercising and allowing ourselves time to recover, and by improving our energy levels and health, we are able to take fewer sick days per year from whatever our project may be.

One of the important aspects to exercise is choosing a program that works for you and your fitness goals. Endurance, strength, and mobility are three common goals, and it can be up to you to focus on one or a combination of all three.

You also need to be honest with yourself about where you are starting from and your level of knowledge about exercise. Pushing yourself too hard too soon can end up being more harmful than helpful, as can doing strength exercises with bad form or too much weight. Whatever your goal may be, start off light until you understand your baseline, and then push yourself from there.

When you exercise is also important. Many people prefer to workout after work or before bed, and that may be the only way they can fit it into their schedule. For me, I prefer working out in the morning. Ben Franklin is often reported to live by the mantra "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Waking up early and starting the day off with exercise is something that helps me to start off my day by doing something productive, and helps me to perform better with my next task I'm doing that day.

This is a similar principle to that taught in the viral "Make Your Bed" speech by US Navy Admiral McRaven at a University of Texas commencement. This is one of my favorite motivational speeches here, mentioning not only concepts such as productivity, but judging by action rather than appearance, bravery in the face of fear, and hope in times of great hardship. The video to this speech can be found here. If you haven't heard it I highly recommend it.

3. Plan Your Tasks Out

Goals are something all of us should be familiar with. Goals can be specific to you or part of a greater movement.

Many people are familiar with the concept of SMART goals, or ensuring that goals we make are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. All of these are important factors to consider when working for your goals, and there are different breakdowns on each of these topics all over the internet.

Rather than provide a lengthy lecture of creating SMART goals, I want to emphasize the importance of plans. A leader of mine once told me that goals without plans are just dreams. When we plan out how we are going to achieve our goals we take the first step to committing ourselves to those goals. Committing to our goals is necessary if we are ever going to turn them into accomplishments.

Planning out goals can be a complex process, but it doesn't have to be. There are hundreds or thousands of articles and videos available that tell you the best ways to plan, but it's important to understand that we are individuals. There is no one-size-fits-all planning method, especially for goals that vary in nature and detail. However, certain principles are often found across different methods of planning.

For those that are familiar with software development, a common methodology used in planning the work for software development is Agile. Agile is a highly misunderstood process, and many companies claim they are implementing Agile, but are really using Agile structures and buzzwords and not Agile practices. Whether or not you work in software development, some Agile practices can be beneficial to you in achieving any kind of goal.

First, it is important to have a good definition of what you want to get done. This ties in to the Specific and Measurable part of setting SMART goals. We need to know what exactly it is that we want to get done. If you are having trouble getting more specific, it's a good idea to ask yourself "why?". Why helps us to figure out the reason behind our goal, and could help give us the motivation we need to keep working towards our goal.

Second, we need to break down those goals into small, bite-size pieces. Agile is usually done in two week sprints; large, time-consuming projects are then split into several tasks that can be done in two weeks or less. You don't necessarily need to work at your goals in two-week sprints, but breaking them down into smaller pieces helps larger goals seem more achievable, because they end up being just a compilation of many, smaller, more easily achieved goals.

The last principle I want to mention is iteration. In software development, a high-level breakdown of this principle is delivering the minimum viable product, or bare bones, to some users, and making improvements based on feedback given by those users. We can apply this principle to our own goals. If we start work and realize the nature of the goal has shifted, or some of the tasks we planned aren't going to be as helpful or doable as we thought, we can always iterate and come back with a new version of the plan.

Make sure you know exactly what you're working towards, break down your goal into achievable chunks, and frequently look at your plans to ensure they are still helping you to progress toward your goals.

4. Take Breaks

This one may come as a surprise, but stepping away from what we're doing can help us get more done. Taking frequent breaks allows your mind and body to recharge, allowing you to put forth a more focused effort when you resume the project.

The important thing here is the nature of the break, as well as the duration. There is no simple formula to tell you exactly how long or of what nature your break should be, but there are many different ways to have an effective break.

I've worked from home for over a year now and I think it has been the best thing for me. I've been able to complete school while working full-time in software development, and still have time for my hobbies. And I did so by taking effective breaks.

It is important to listen to your own body and mind to tell you what works best for you. I work until I have a noticeable dip in concentration, or my tasks seem to be getting too hard to process. This doesn't necessarily mean they're too hard for me to figure out, but rather that I need to take some time to step away and recharge before attacking the problem again. This process can last anywhere from an hour to three hours for me, but that can vary with each type of task.

After I realize I'm lacking concentration or just not at peak capacity, I do something to entertain a different part of my brain. Since most of my job involves me using critical thinking skills, to make my breaks effective I do an activity that helps me utilize a different method of thinking. These methods usually involve creativity, repetition, motor skills, or simply relaxation.

Many types of breaks can help in one or more of these areas, and there are some surprisingly effective ways to recharge. Figuring out what type of break you need at the time can involve trial and error, or simply listening to your body and mind. Our bodies have ways of communicating with us, we just need to listen.

One way I like to take breaks is by writing. I write stories, poems, and think-pieces in a small journal kept in my desk. I like this method because it helps me be creative and relax. It also helps me to keep it private so I can write honestly without fear of retribution. Privacy also helps me to have some level of control if things aren't going well in some of my other projects.

Another way I like to take breaks is by playing video games. Yes, you read that right; video games. While many people think of it as a waste of time, playing games can help your mind relax in a way that also utilizes fine motor skills. A game like Call of Duty is simple and repetitive, not requiring a lot of critical thinking, but some reflex and reaction skills are necessary in order to play well.

There are many different ways to relax and take breaks, so find something that suits your personality and interests. I do caution against some things though, and one of those is social media. Social media can be a great way to connect with friends and learn new things. However, it is generally a passive activity that does nothing to activate other parts of your brain. And if you're like me, it can be way too easy to get stuck in the rabbit hole and be there for much longer than necessary.

This brings up the length of those breaks, and once again, this is highly individual. I prefer breaks to be about twenty to forty minutes. This gives me ample opportunity to rest and recover while not being overwhelming to my focused time for productivity. I maybe take two or three of these in an average work day, and end up getting much more done than if I were to work non-stop.

Others I know prefer to have shorter and more frequent breaks in about five or ten minute sessions, but several more times a day. I even had a coworker that would work straight through the morning, take a two hour lunch, and then finish his tasks in the last two hours of the day.

Find a method that works for you, and try out different ways to engage your mind on breaks. To learn more about effective breaks, check out this website.

5. Work, Rest, Repeat!

Once you make some behavior adjustments and figure out some ways to be more productive, it's important that you make these changes a daily practice. It's at this point you should establish a routine.

People by nature are creatures of habit. Some are more susceptible to creating habits than others, but everyone can benefit from having an established routine. Routines naturally reduce stress levels, lead to higher quality rest, and can improve our health.

Establishing an effective routine can be a challenge; for example, it can be immensely difficult to begin an exercise habit. Waking up early or going to the gym after work when you're mentally drained can seem like a daunting task, but the first step is emblazoned on almost every Nike product presently made: "Just Do It".

If we can do it one time, we can do it again. If we do it twice, we can do it three times. After three times, doing it consistently becomes much more of a possibility.

Routines become important because we don't want our progress to be a fluke. Positive changes we make should last and not be something we did for only a day or two. Once we establish a routine, that forms a habit, and habits can be incredibly powerful tools, as illustrated in one of the most helpful books I've ever read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

I encourage you to try one or more of these small steps. These are all changes I've had to make in my life at one point or another, and I can attest that they are effective ways to feel better and do more.