Twelve tips to stay productive when you are just too busy

Relax. You’ve got this

You are busy. Between work and home life, there is not enough time to do everything. Learning how to maximize your potential is not about choosing what to do, vs what to ignore. Learning how to structure your day can help ease the burden.

12 Simple tips to stay on top of things as a remote worker

1. Work in short bursts. Your body isn’t meant to work in 8-12 hour shifts. Your creativity and min-power need time to refresh. If you can work in 1-2 hour bursts with breaks in between.
2. Take breaks strategically. Use your break periods to get other tasks out of the way. Do dishes or laundry, read a book, or spend time on a hobby. When your break is over you should be fresh to resume your work.
3. Set mini-goals. Each day find one or two mini-goals that will help you feel more accomplished. This will help you plan your day, as well as feel better about getting things done.
4. Set a theme. When we switch contexts too often we begin to feel burnout, if you can try to schedule your time to group related tasks together. This will help both with motivation and flow.
5. Schedule interruptions. This is a tough one, but if you can ignore your e-mail and phone until you schedule time to deal with many tasks at once, instead of dealing with them as they come in.
6. Train your habits. Habits only work when you do them and stick to them.
7. Clear you calendar. If you have the luxury, try to eliminate any recurring meetings on a regular basis. Anything important enough can be re-scheduled if needed.
8. Reflect. Think about what is working and what isn’t. Change and adapt as needed. Find your you.
9. 1 touch, 2 minutes. If there is something you can do right away: do it. Don’t let things pile up until they snowball out of control.
10. Be dependable. Sometimes the best motivators comes from knowing that other people need you. Doing small things to feel recognized by others can be a great accomplishment.
11. Have a priority. Know what you want to accomplish. Have a plan for getting there.
12. Learn to say no. If you can’t do everything. Only do what you reliably can.

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