It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants.
The question is; what are you busy about?- Henry David Thoreau
Don´t be busy being busy.
Be busy being productive.
But how do we become more productive?
How can we work smarter not harder?
Answer
By focusing on finding a way to be able to do more work per hour instead of working more hours.
We all have a time in our day when we are a lot more productive than any other time of the day. Call it "productive time" or "magic time".
It is a time of the day when you are able to concentrate the most.
Everything has a rhythm to it. Days follow nights. Spring follows winter. Ebb and flow. Your body has its own rhythm.
Know yourself enough to realize when you are the best at doing something. In the morning or in the afternoon or even in the evening. Figure out what time is best for you and then schedule the most important task for that time of the day.
Make your own rhythm work for you.
For me my "magic time" or my most "productive time", is during the midmorning. If I have to write a newsletter or a blog or something else that I need to concentrate on, my best time to do this is from 8 am to around noon.
In the afternoon I am having more trouble concentration and my brain isn´t as sharp. In the morning I can get the same task done in about half the time that it will take for me to do it at any other time of the day. In the afternoon I will check and answer emails instead. Make phone calls, read articles and books. Things that doesn´t need as much concentration on my part.Same thing goes for exercise. I have to do it in the morning. If I wait until late in the afternoon or evening, I have to use a lot more willpower to exercise. Besides, if I exercise in the morning I will feel the benefit of that exercise routine all day by flooding my system with healthy hormones, and a lot of positive mental energy that will last all day long.
To make this "magic time" or "productive time" work, you must shut down all your email alerts, turn off your phone. Make sure that you turn off all your distractions and interruptions. This time is your number one priority because you can get a lot more done, up to 3 times more in a lot shorter period of time. But you have to protect yourself from the energy-vampires, who will try to suck your time away from you.
Figure out what will work for you. Just because I do my most important work during the morning hours, doesn´t mean that it is right for you.
Your job is to figure out, what time of the day that you are the most productive.
