The 10-Point How to be Incredibly Productive Everyday Checklist
The 10-Point How to be Incredibly Productive Every Day Checklist
How to be super productive every day without burning yourself out!
Everything you need for the semester you want!
This bundle includes:
The Syllabus Study Planner
The Pomodoro Planner
A Confidence Tracker
A Q&A planner
The “Get Organized Checklist”
and more!
This workbook is full of super useful resources that can be applied to every aspect of your day.
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Staying productive is an empty request when you don’t really know how. Productivity is more than just keeping busy; it’s moving forward towards doing what you need to get done.
Often, our lives are so hectic that we do not have time to stop and think of if we are actually productive.
Do you need to find some productive study strategies? Download our FREE Study Planner and Activity tracker. It has more than 20 different study activities that you can track over the entire course. It also has study session planners and confidence trackers to help keep you focused on progress.
I invite you to take that time now and check out this 10-point checklist to being monumentally productive. Then, we can hit the ground running in the right direction.
DOWNLOAD NOW: FREE STUDY PLANNER & ACTIVITY TRACKER
Download your free study planner and activity tracker.
Everything you need for the semester you want!
Why is Productivity Important?
As a student, your time is at a premium. Every hour you sink into your study strategy has to count for something. Time is your most valuable asset. With so many classes to attend, assignments to complete, and tests to cram for, you need to make the most of every minute.
So many times, you find yourself so busy you can barely believe all you need to get done in a day. You rush from commitment to commitment, then sit down to study but realize later that you really didn’t get much accomplished.
There is a distinct difference between being busy and being productive. Being busy can mean just about anything that takes up your time. You can be diligent in organizing binders, preparing for labs, or reading your textbook. But it is not very productive if you are doing these things instead of working on that big assignment due tomorrow.
Productivity is doing things in order of priority and crossing items off your list. Starting multiple projects but not completing any of them is just going to cause a backlog on your to-do list. It will also clutter your brain with even more tabs open. Actually, getting things done and crossing them off your list is true productivity.
How to be Productive in 10 Simple Steps
Being productive does not have to be a tedious task. Applying these 10 simple strategies to your day can increase your productivity. Approach this as a marathon, not a sprint. Adopt this simple checklist, and you will soon notice that you can accomplish more with your days, weeks, and months.
1. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals
Big goals should always be broken down into manageable pieces. Ultimate, or even yearly goals, should be broken down into realistic goals that can be carried out in a month. These, in turn, should be broken down into weekly goals. Once the goals are broken down weekly, you should be checking in on them every day and deciding what you can do today to cross something off this list.
Staying goal-oriented is a natural productivity booster. Breaking down your list into simple tasks will allow you to make constant progress toward it. As you see yourself getting closer to reaching your goal, the motivation will increase, propelling you towards achieving it. Soon, you will be excited about working towards your goal, regardless of how fun or exciting it actually is. Just getting closer to achieving it will inspire you to work harder.
When you are always looking for ways to accomplish your goals, it is easy to move forward and get things done. Also, you will always have something productive to do, rather than being bored.
2. Start Early
Start projects as soon as you get them. There is no point in putting them off for later because now is when the creativity is sparking. Regardless of if it is an assignment for school or a project at home, start it now. At the very least, put pen to paper and write out a rough outline of what you would like to include, how you would like to organize it, and what you want it to look like in the end.
This can take as little as 15 minutes, but it’s already started. As the day progresses, start hashing out some specifics, gathering research, or writing pieces of the draft. You will be surprised how much progress you will make even dedicating this small amount of time and effort to it now.
When you are ready to sit down and devote real-time to the project, it will be basically prepared to just need to be pieced together. This will give you more time to dive into the details and ensure that your assignment is assembled precisely as you want it.
3. Take breaks often
Taking breaks, while counterintuitive, boosts your productivity in so many ways.
A break can:
Replenish your concentration,
Reassess progress and direction,
Keep you alert by flooding your brain with oxygen.
It refuels your ability to concentrate on a task by invigorating your concentration. Taking a break can refresh you and bring on a second wind to get things done. Taking a step away from a job can help you find new momentum when returning to it. It also decreases the tunnel vision you may experience by concentrating on a specific detail for too long.
Secondly, when you return, you can quickly reassess the progress you have made. From there, you can review the overall headway to avoid travelling down a rabbit hole by over-focusing on one specific detail.
Finally, it gives you a chance to stretch, get your blood pumping, and grab yourself a snack, all things that fuel a creative brain.
4. Plan your time
When you plan your day, make sure to include how much time you expect to spend on each project, as well as any obligations you already have scheduled. This will help you to more realistically decide what you can tackle on any given day.
Overburdening yourself with more tasks than you can hope to get done will do the opposite of motivating you. Instead, it will make you feel like a failure, dragging down your mood and motivation.
Avoiding these pitfalls will go a long way in keeping yourself productive. Block off specific periods throughout your day to do certain tasks. This attention to detail while planning will increase the likelihood of successfully carrying out what you need to do.
5. Turn off distractions
Distractions are the enemy of productivity. Once you are distracted, it takes several minutes to get back into focus and even longer before reaching the pace you were working at before the interruption.
When you have a task at hand that needs your focus, turn off or mute anything that might pull your attention away.
This includes your phone, tablets, or even your computer monitor. Once you have completed your task, you can check in on anything you may have missed.
6. Do not multitask
Try to devote your complete focus to one task at a time. You will complete that task much faster than trying to juggle many at once. If you feel anxiety about not multitasking, try to write down these thoughts as they circle around in your head. When you have finished the task at hand, review this list and add the contents, if they are constructive, to the project they are destined for.
By doing this, you will not forget any of the fantastic ideas that come to you at these inopportune times. You are also crossing more things off your list faster by dedicating your efforts to one project at a time.
7. Make a to-do list
Keeping a hard copy of your to-do list keeps you more productive and ensures that things stay organized. Review your to-do list multiple times a day and decide if there is anything that you can take care of and cross off.
Ticking items off your list will boost your productivity because the sense of accomplishment is second to none. This feeling will propel you to tackle more and more things. Before you know it, you will be ahead of schedule.
This will also keep you organized while planning your day. You will easily assign specific tasks to certain days where they allow you to be dedicated to them.
Finally, multi-part tasks, which are hard to keep track of, or tasks that are easily forgotten, will no longer be an issue. They are now immortalized on your list until they have been taken care of. This will ensure that no balls are dropped.
8. Use your planner
Daily plans, to-do lists, shopping lists, and even random thoughts are all best kept in the same place. Planners are ideal for this and can be the next best thing for a personal assistant.
If you don’t have a planner, I highly suggest investing in one and using it to its full potential. This can be your trusted sidekick and will keep track of everything you need it to.
There are so many types of planners, and they can keep track of nearly anything you can dream up. Do not underestimate the usefulness of this tool.
We have created a planner specifically for students looking to achieve their goals. The Ultimate Student Planner is an undated planner that will help you set and organize your goals and lead you through your entire academic journey. It starts with an in-depth self-coaching exercise to help you get clear on your priorities and plan your future. It then breaks down each goal and allows you to set a clear path for it. Learn more here.
Study Skills Digital Course
Learn how to create a stress-free comprehensive strategy!
9. Follow the 2-minute rule
If a task takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it now. It is as simple as that.
2-minute tasks should be completed as early as possible, rather than being added to your to-do list or put off.
These tasks can also be a great source of motivation. It will only take a minute for you to do it. Once you are already busy being productive, you may also tackle something that takes a little longer.
10. Tackle your hardest task first
Get the most challenging tasks off your list as soon as possible. Whether they are hard because they are time-consuming or they take a lot of effort. The longer they linger, the longer you have to stare at them. This can lead to dread in having to undertake them. Don’t let this happen. Tackle them as early as possible so that you can coast the rest of the day. You will get such a motivational boost from completing this enormous task that the rest of your day will be a piece of cake.
Learning how to be productive is often elusive to many students. They just keep themselves busy and ultimately end up spinning their wheels. Keeping a to-do list in your planner and checking items off every day will help you get more done faster.
Motivation comes from seeing progress. This rule applies to both your grades and your messy room. But by using this strategy, you can make a smooth transition from putting things off to getting things done.
Don’t forget to grab your free copy of my Study planner. It will help you to create a comprehensive study strategy for your entire semester. Use it again and again to get the best grades possible.
I would like to be transparent so that there are no misunderstandings. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission from any products linked in this post. This is not a sponsored post, and I was not asked to recommend these products. These are products that I genuinely love and wanted to share with my audience.