When we talk about living a High Performance Life, productivity always comes up as a main area of focus and High Performers are always looking for the next best thing to improve their efficiency to elevate them to that next level.

Even if you feel like you have an effective system in place, there is always a way to tweak it and make it work better for you. So today, I want to discuss a few productivity tips I use to help you get more done in less time! I don’t know about you, but this type of thing excites me… greatly! Evidently, it’s the result of me being a productivity nerd and it’s a badge I wear with pride.

1. Start Your Day with Intention:

Before you roll out of bed and begin your day, set an intention for yourself. What are the top three things that you want to accomplish today? This helps you stay focused and keeps your priorities in check throughout the day.

2. Set Time Limits for Tasks:

If you have a task that seems to be dragging on, give yourself a time limit for it and stick to it! This will help keep your attention focused on the task at hand instead of letting it drag out and become long-winded. The most effective time frame for this is 25 or 50 minutes and then have a quick 5-10 minute rest before starting again.

3. Outsource What You Can:

If you can afford it, outsource as much of your workload as you can. It will free up more of your time so that you can focus on activities that are more important or make better use of your skills. It’s important to note here where your time is better spent. If you earn $50 per hour but are spending time doing jobs that would cost you $35 to outsource, is would it be better value to outsource it so you can focus your time where it makes the largest difference?

4. Create a Calendar Template:

Creating a template helps you stay organized and more productive during the day. It allows you to have an outline of all the tasks that need to be completed, as well as their due dates, so that you don’t get lost in the mix of things. For myself this also involves blocking out my breaks before the year starts. This means that I am resting and recharging frequently, and I know I can push harder and also stop when I need to.

5. Break Up Your Work:

Look at what needs to be done and break it up into different tasks. This could look like, blocks for admin tasks, blocks for the financials, blocks for meetings with staff, blocks for creativity, times to do the kids emails etc. Breaking up your work into different areas helps to not only keep you on track and focused on the task at hand but it also allows you to have some structure around what you want to complete and the time frame around that.

So there you have it, 5 simple ways to take back some time and become more productive at work and at home.