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how to be more productive

The First Hour You Wake Up Controls The Rest Of Your Day

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Start Of A New Day

There are a fair share of people who are productive, but there are more people who want and need to boost their productivity. While there are several methods to keep you productive throughout your day, the power of those methods are dependent on what you do on the first hour you wake up. Your first hour is the make or break point of your day. If you utilize this first hour properly, then you will be productive and happy throughout the day. If you do not utilize this first hour properly, then you will not be as productive or happy for the rest of the day.

Now that you know the first hour is by far more important than all of the others, you’ll definitely want to know how you can utilize that first hour properly.

One method is doing a 20 minute workout. Doing a workout makes you feel happier, and working out has a powerful impact on success. Another option is reading motivational books. Brian Tracy, the master of productivity, reads a motivational book for 20-30 minutes to start off his day. Those are the best two options you have. My recommendation is to either alternate between the two or do both of them within the same hour (reading the book and then working out).

The first hour sets the tone for the rest of the day. What you do in the first hour determines how much you can do for the rest of the day. Make your first hour count!

 

Case Study: How Keeping Score Increases Productivity

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A very long time ago, I wrote about keeping score, and I wrote about the results of my first score card. I have been using the score card for months, and I do not plan on stopping. Score cards enhanced my time management and productivity, and score cards continue to amaze me today. Before I created a score card, I thought it would have been impossible for me to write 25 blog posts in one week. Not only did I do that, but I also finished reading an entire book and created the blueprint for my upcoming membership site, Total Social Media Domination. The following week, I was able to accomplish 12 different goals which all required a good amount of work. Some of the things I did that week were:

  1. Write 20 blog posts
  2. Finish reading Blue Ocean Strategy from start to finish
  3. Write 5,000 words for an upcoming book, Unlock Your Potential

There were 9 other goals similar to those three, and I got them all done in one short week. What once looked impossible has now become a routine of accomplishment.

The main reason the score card works is because you have to write down what you plan to accomplish for the week. If you think about the things you have to accomplish, it is easy to forget about some things and reduce expectations for other things. If I thought of write 20-25 blog posts every week, I may think at some point in the week that writing that many blog posts is too challenging. Thinking about it could have resulted in me lowering the bar to 16-18 blog posts for the week. Writing everything down forces you to be accountable, and making yourself accountable gives you no one else to blame but yourself for anything that goes wrong on your score card.

It is the desire to get a perfect score that motivates me as I continue creating score cards and getting tasks accomplished. You may not get a perfect score when you create your score card. In fact, I almost never get a perfect score. It’s not because I am not productive. Instead, it is because I raise the bar very high. I could easily get a perfect score on every score card if I only assigned myself 10 blog posts every week, but then I would not be able to publish two blog posts in one day.

If you want to get better time management and increase your productivity, you need to use a score card. Write down the goals you want to accomplish and use tallies to indicate how close you are to accomplishing a goal. Then, draw a big checkmark next to any goal that you accomplish. It’s that easy, but it is going to make a big difference in your time management and productivity.

 

10 Ways To Get More Organized

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Organized Desk

Organization is the key to being productive. If you work in a workplace where papers are scattered everywhere, then you are not being as productive as you could be. Not only can being organized prevent your productivity from dipping lower, but being very organized also has the ability to enhance your productivity. In order to get organized, follow these 10 steps.

  1. Look at what is on your desk and see what can be removed. You don’t need to have a vase on your desk. Your desk is a place to work, not a place for clutter.
  2. Have sticky notes at all times. If you don’t have a lot of clutter on your desk, then sticky notes get more attention. Sticky notes are a great way to stay productive and identify what you have to do for the day. Here’s how you can optimize sticky notes and get the best results possible.
  3. Put inspirational things on your walls instead. It’s great to have an inspirational quote of Vince Lombardi, but why not put it up on a wall instead of leaving it on your desk? The more things you have to look at on your desk, the less work you will be able to get done. Your goal is to be able to look anywhere on your desk and either find a sticky note, a scorecard, or the material that your desk is made of.
  4. Move all of the clutter to one room. There is even clutter in the best of the clean freaks’ houses. In order to prevent this clutter from getting in the way of your productivity, you need to place all of this clutter in one room that you almost never visit anyway. Moving all of the clutter into one room will make all of the other rooms in your house–including your office–much cleaner.
  5. Record important data. Don’t you wish you remembered how much money you made four months ago? Recording the important data will allow you to remember how much revenue you generated in certain months. There are also other types of data that you have that are important enough to be recorded. Instead of trying to find your important data in the data hairball, you need to record your data using Word/Pages documents on your computer. Choosing to record this data on your computer also prevents it from getting lost or becoming a part of the clutter.
  6. Everything on your desk needs to have a purpose. Some people have iPads on their desks for no apparent reason. Those are the types of iPads that need to be taken off desks. Other iPads are on desks because videos are getting sent from an iPad to a Mac. Those types of iPads are the ones you need to have on your desk.
  7. Have more folders. Even if you don’t get clients and have to keep track of their reports, you still need to have folders. I use folders to store all of my scorecards so I can look back, learn from my mistakes, and identify my big strengths. There are plenty of creative ways you can use folders to store data. Just make sure there aren’t too many folders that end up on your desk.
  8. Have more envelopes. Envelopes can be used to store data and information that folders cannot store. I store all of my past sticky notes in envelopes. Although this particular use of envelopes is a clever idea for a giveaway, there are other ways that you can use envelopes to your advantage.
  9. Have a notebook. Instead of having 10 pieces of paper scattered on your desk, you can write on 10 pages in your notebook. All of that information stays in one place so you don’t have to search for it later. You can also get a subject notebook so you are able to separate different sections in your notebook for different topics.
  10. Have a desk with drawers. If your desk has drawers, then the likelihood of clutter developing on your desk decreases. However, you cannot just think of desk drawers as a way to remove clutter from your desk. You need have organized desk drawers so you can access more information quicker.

Being organized is one way to boost productivity. By implementing these 10 tactics, you will have a more organized workplace which means you will be able to get more done faster. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any additional tips on getting and staying organized? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

 

7 Habits Of Highly Productive People

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Completed Checklist

There are some days when we get our work done, and there are other days when we do not get any work done. While most people go through not getting their work for a majority of the time, others are able to get their work done on most days. These are the highly productive people. Those are the people who others envy when they can’t finish a project on time. Productive people come in many shapes and forms, but they all share these seven habits that allow them to be more productive than the average person.

  1. They plan their day out the night before. Remember when it was bad in high school to start the big project the night before it is due? That problem does not apply to productive people when they plan out their days. Most productive people plan out their days right before they go to bed. If you plan your day in the afternoon, then you are losing time that you can be productive in. Your productivity wanes as the day goes by, and since productivity is at its lowest at nighttime, productive people use this time to write down their goals for the next time.
  2. They give themselves closer deadlines. Highly productive people give themselves 1 week to accomplish the same goals that take a month or two for the typical person to accomplish. A closer deadline gives these people less time to procrastinate and make mistakes. This allows highly productive people to realize how valuable time truly is. You may have read on this blog before that time is our most valuable resource or heard it from someone else. Giving yourself closer deadlines will allow you to fully understand why time is our most valuable resource, and with less time there is less fooling around.
  3. They write down their goals for the week. Highly productive people take one week at a time. They write down the goals they need to accomplish for the week and then use a tally/checkmark system to indicate how close they got to accomplishing everything on the list.
  4. They give themselves bigger goals. As the goals on the list become easier to accomplish, highly productive people challenge themselves by giving themselves bigger goals and less time to get those goals accomplished. The bigger goals further establish how time is their most valuable resource and gives them less time to procrastinate.
  5. They barely watch TV. Television is productivity’s greatest villain. The average American spends 32 hours every week watching TV. There’s so many things that can be done in those 32 hours other than watch TV shows (and some can be very depressing or teaching immoral lessons), and highly productive people know that very well. They take full advantage by limiting the amount of time they spend watching TV every week so they are able to find more time in their days.
  6. They wake up early. In a sense, productive people start their work “before life happens.” There are not nearly as many things to do at 7 pm as there are things to do at 7 am (other than work). In addition, the earlier someone wakes up, the more willpower that person has. Willpower is a big source of productivity that wanes as the day progresses. Waking up earlier allows you to tap into your full willpower and get the best of it.
  7. They don’t think they have enough time. Highly productive people do not think they have enough time to get their goals accomplished. Highly productive people are continuously raising the bar higher and making it harder for them to accomplish all of the weekly goals. As a result, when something unexpected happens to the time schedule, these highly productive people feel uncomfortable losing all of that time. These highly productive people may be doing seven or more hours of productive work every day, but they feel as if they never have enough time to accomplish all of their goals.

Those are the seven habits of highly productive people. By learning to implement and develop these habits overtime, you will become a highly productive person. What are your thoughts on the habits? Do you have any additional habits you have that keep you productive? Please share your thoughts and your own habits below.

 

The Three Thoughts That You Need To Get Rid Of Right Now To Become Successful

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Bad Thoughts To Have

You have more control over your success than you realize. Success starts with having the right mindset. You can have all of the connections and all of the revenue to implement a campaign. No matter how many resources you have, many or few, everything comes down to your mindset. Although the mindset is important, many people have different thoughts in their head that prevent them from becoming successful. Having these thoughts will lead you to the wrong path and slow down your success. Before you launch another campaign, write another word for a blog post, or send out another tweet, you need to get rid of these three thoughts so you can reach success at a faster rate.

  1. Believing that you need to be perfect. There is no person or business that is perfect. If you think you are the exception, you need to wipe that out of your mind. You will make mistakes, people will say bad things about your business, and your book will get a bad review. Instead of being perfect, you need to be as perfect as possible to the people that matter for your business–your target audience.
  2. Believing that you have settled. The only people who believe they have settled are the ones who have given up and never go far. That does sound harsh, but sometimes the truth needs to be harsh in order for it to be acknowledged. Never settle with where you are. Keep on growing and experimenting with new ideas. One of those ideas may allow you to grow twice as fast as you would have grown if you settled.
  3. Doubting your abilities. In order to become successful, you need to believe in your ability to become successful. If you doubt yourself, you will constantly be afraid of taking steps forward. For the people with this mindset, it only takes a few more steps forward for the entire plan to collapse and fall apart. The doubt will consume you and prevent you from seeing what you have already accomplished and that you are a credible person in your niche.

Those are the three thoughts that you need to get rid of as quickly as possible. These three thoughts are the biggest hurdles for success. If you don’t have the revenue yet, your faith and desire to keep on growing will allow you to eventually obtain the revenue you need. If you have any of these three thoughts running through your mind, then you need to do everything in your power to get those thoughts out of your mind. Look at success stories of the leaders in your niche, get a motivational quotes app for your phone, read inspirational books, listen to music from Rocky, and do anything else that you can do in order to raise your spirits and get these thoughts out of your mind.

 

How To Wake Up Earlier

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Morning Roaster

Did you know that your morning is a strong indicator of how productive you are throughout the day? Waking up earlier in the morning may be the difference between an unproductive day and a day when you are able to write 10,000 words. The logic behind it is that when you wake up, you have more willpower. When you wake up, there are less excuses. You have less to do at 7 am than you have to do at 7 pm. If you are wondering how you can increase your productivity, you should also wonder how you can wake up earlier.

Before I continue, it is still important to get the right amount of sleep. Based on scientific studies, 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep every day will lead to a longer, healthier, and more productive life. If you are sleeping below 6.5 hours, then you are not getting enough sleep. However, if you are sleeping for 8 hours, then you are getting too much sleep (yes, there is such a thing). That means you only want to sleep in between the 6.5 to 7.5 hour range. This is where waking up earlier comes in.

The first thing you need to do to wake up earlier is to create a schedule that you are committed to implement. If you get to bed at 11 pm, then you need to commit yourself to waking up in between 5:30 am and 6:30 am. That does not sound like a lot of sleep, but that is because most people sleep longer than the recommended amount of sleep.

Now that you have the schedule in place, you need to have motives. How are you going to benefit by waking up earlier? If you can’t think of a benefit, then you will continue sleeping for 10 hours. We need to have a reason to get up every day, but having a strong motive will make you want to get up quicker every single day. Some strong motives could be getting work done faster, publishing more books in a shorter amount of time, doing the work now so you can spend more time with your family later in the day when everyone wakes up, and so on. Those are the types of motives that get you out of bed faster and allow you to be more productive throughout the day.

One of the easiest ways to wake up earlier is a two step strategy. Most people get the first step right, but almost everyone messes up the second part. The first part is setting an alarm clock. Everyone seems to do that. The second part which almost everyone messes up is leaving the alarm clock out of reach. If you can click the snooze button on your alarm clock while in bed, then the alarm clock is too close to your bed. Keeping it further away will force you to get up in order to turn off the alarm clock (which gets very annoying after a while).

If you want to be productive, what you do when you wake up will play a big role in how productive you are for the day. If you wake up and go straight to TV, then your day is not going to be very productive one. However, if you wake up and start the day off by writing some blog posts, then you are going to have a very productive day.

You have more control over your productivity than you think. What you do in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. By setting a good tone in the beginning of the day, you will be able to get more work done throughout the rest of the day. What are your thoughts on waking up earlier, and do you have any other advice about sleep? Please share your thoughts and advice below.