It’s 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon and you’ve been staring at your computer screen for what seems like hours. As much as you love having an online business, sometimes the need to be self-motivated is a bit of a downer. You know you need to increase your productivity or you’ll never meet your deadline, but it’s hard to stay focused when you have a long to-do list and other things you’d rather be doing.
I know all about it–You have lofty goals and a shortening time frame to complete the tasks. You’ve been working so hard to get it all done but the final leg feels like a push.
Here are 6 ways to increase your productivity so that you can crush it online.
1. Take short breaks for exercise.
Sometimes all you need is a little blood flow to wake you up and leave you feeling energized. After you’ve been sitting down for days, weeks or months on end it can be hard to maintain your energy.
There’s a great app called 8Fit that has short 10-15 minute workouts you can do in the comfort of your home. Or if you’re up for it, head outside and take a stroll in the fresh air.
2. Take a full day or at least an evening off.
I’m very familiar with the feeling of guilt that comes with taking extended periods of time off work, but scheduling in a regular day or evening off will do wonders for your productivity.
Pushing yourself to work when you’d rather not be only delays completion of tasks.
3. Find an accountability buddy.
Set up a coffee date or even a Skype date with an accountability buddy and commit to getting the work done. Sometimes having someone to work with means the difference between daydreaming for hours or actually making progress.
You can arrange a few hours and then set specific targets to work towards together. That way if someone starts getting off track you have each other to be accountable to.
4. Set yourself time-bound goals.
One of the most beneficial things I’ve done for my own productivity is to download the Time Keeper app on my phone.
The app works on 25 minute cycles separated by a 5 minute break. That means that you have 25 minutes to work distraction-free. During this time I set very specific goals. When I’m feeling super motivated and inspired I’ll even commit to writing an entire blog post before the first 5 minute break!
5. Batch your work.
If you’re finding it difficult to be on social media every day or sending newsletters or writing blog posts every week, then perhaps batching might be a nice alternative for you.
With batching you set aside a couple of days per month to create all your content and then you schedule it out using tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Later or Tailwind.
This way you are getting lots of work done in a short period of time and free up your time for other things!
6. Give yourself a reward for reaching your goals.
If you’re anything like me then you probably thrive on celebrating, so as a way to promote increase your productivity and give yourself some incentive decide on a reward before you sit down to work.
My reward is usually some type of outing or even a treat break. So I may go across to the beach with an iced coffee for some relaxation time, order in food from Grubhub or take a stroll to the nearest restaurant for lunch.
When you reward yourself it makes the whole experience just that little be more fun! What do you do to celebrate your progress and your wins? Let me know in the comments below.
