12 Surprising Productivity Tips

Productivity is the result of focused efforts alongside some intelligent planning. Staying productive at all points of time can be really challenging, leading to dissatisfaction with your accomplishment by the end of the day. But what if you are told procrastination is good, obsessing about work-life can stress you, and other surprising tips? Find out these 12 surprising productivity tips that can really work in managing your productivity.

1. Intentional procrastination is good 

According to NY Times bestselling author Rory Vaden, procrastination is good, especially when it is intentional. By selecting the time for doing your tasks and prioritizing the way they need to be done, you can change your perspective on productivity and time.

When you understand that you do not need to do a particular task immediately, you can choose to procrastinate. By doing this, you are basically taking ownership of your tasks with an understanding of when and how to do it.

2. Strong habits can actually make you wiser.

To follow a basic routine every day might sound like a boring and dull life, but the key to improving your productivity is to eat healthily, exercise regularly, and sleep for eight hours every day. Not only this, a strong habit can add positivity to other areas of your life.

The concept of decision fatigue where if you spend more energy in decision making, you will less left over for tasks for the latter part of the day. Decision fatigue prevents us from making productive choices. The best cure is “habit.” Converting your decisions into habits can lead to saving mental energy and using it for more productive choices. 

3. Small wins can lead to big success.

The best way to achieve big success is to start small and start now. When you feel burdened, step back, and relax and cut off everything that adds to the burden. While evaluating to-dos, opportunities, and commitments, make sure you are practical. Remember that you cannot change your life every night. Small steps surely lead to a big change. Pick only one change and focus on it for 3 to 6 weeks. When you achieve success in that one thing, it will lead to confidence building. This improves not only your productivity but also your lifestyle.

4. Take an exercise break

Many startup business owners forget to exercise. They do not pump up their blood flow, not realizing that an exercise break of 10 minutes can add wonders to their productivity. Each short exercise is a much needed mental boost that can make you feel stronger, both physically and mentally. 

5. Go and have Fun (Really)

To a business owner, this may sound counterintuitive, but the truth is taking holidays is a productivity booster. The heavy burden of work and office can lead to burn out. Instead, refresh, relax, and rejuvenate and come back with recharged batteries to take on your projects with better energy. 

6. Stay away from mobile notifications

The world of the internet is funny and ironic at the same time. While at one hand, it fosters collaboration and streamlines your work for better productivity; on the other hand, it is a big-time waster. Those constantly popping notifications from different sites can make you spend hours on the internet for no use. Do one favor and turn off this notification to avoid derailing your focus. 

7. Let others work for you

For an entrepreneur and manager, it is important to know how to manage the work. Learn to delegate and focus on the strength to deliver high-quality output. You cannot always do everything on your own no matter how good you are. Create a team that you can trust upon and use their complementary skills to make your work life easier and add more productivity to other important things. 

8. Burn your “To-Do” list

That’s right! Before your to-do list burns you with tension, throw it away. IT’s an old method of increasing productivity, which lacks proper strategy. Instead, replace it with “When To Do,” where you can dedicate the time for each task to be focused. Planning a schedule of when to do what will help you stay realistic, and you will be able to finish the work.

9. Yes, “Say No”

Learn to say NO to small opportunities when you can focus on the better ones. Keep up your high motivation and boost your productivity by saying NO to the projects and collaborations that will not help you in the long run and are not worth the time and effort. Sometimes being slow is also being fast, and a NO can help you save your sanity.

10. Laugh lot more than you can

According to an International Survey by Robert Half, it is found that 91% of professionals believe that a sense of humor is really important for performing better at work. The social laughter can trigger the release of feel-good hormones endorphins, which help de-stress. Therefore, laugh a lot whenever you can.

11. No need to answer all the mails

Productive people do not care about emails every 10 minutes. They do check emails a few times during the day. However, by limiting yourself to check your mailbox for new emails can really help you stay focused on the task at hand.

12. Use a notebook

There might be thousands of apps to make your life better and recording your notes, but do not forget the simplicity and efficiency of a notebook.