The world is noisy. Messages come from every direction and from seemingly every source. Our cars talk to us for goodness sakes! With this noise everywhere, staying productive is harder than ever.
Here are 9 things to remove from your life to increase productivity.
1. Remove Distractions From Social Media
This is easier said than done, but distractions creep into every aspect of our lives. Take an hour every day and turn off the Facebook Messenger, let the Instagram feed move on without you, and ignore the SnapChats. It’s amazing what you can do in just one hour when half your time isn’t spent checking your social platforms.
2. Remove Emails From Your Inbox
For most professionals, email is a tool that they use daily and can’t do without. The little red dot with the number of pending messages can be daunting. Keep your inbox clean! Check your mail when you get it, categorize it, and move it to a folder filing system. You don’t have a file folder system in your email box? GET ONE! Keeping your inbox clean and taking action when a message is received will save you time and keep you out in front of your day.
3. Remove Tasks Through Delegation
You don’t have to be the CEO to delegate tasks. Find creative ways to utilize every resource available to ensure you’re productive. This can be as simple as having lunch delivered rather than going out and picking it up yourself or utilizing a live chat on a retail website to find the product you need to buy rather than spending hours searching. Always be looking for ways to increase your productivity and efficiency by utilizing resources around you.
4. Remove the Roadblocks You’ve Created Over Time
Most people spend the majority of their time today doing something very similar to what they did yesterday. Life is very cyclical in that way. And it’s very easy to fall into a trap of doing tasks the same way you’ve always done them. Remove the roadblocks you’ve created by being a creature of habit. Always look for new, efficient ways to do your most repetitive tasks. By focusing on the things you must do and finding a slightly better way, you get the most productivity boost. Think about simple things like the route you drive to work or requesting a new keyboard rather than using the one with the broken left shift key. The small details, over time, lead to big boosts in productivity.
5. Remove Your Resistance to Change
Without change, you will only be as productive as you’ve ever been. Embrace new ways of doing things. Learn from others around you. If your co-worker always finishes before you, study what they do differently and be open to changing if it makes sense. Change can be a powerful force to drive a productive life. Stay open to it.
6. Remove Things That Don’t Matter
We too often hold on to things that no longer matter, whether for sentimental reasons or because we are so unsure of what the future brings. Don’t be afraid to remove the clutter. Whether the clutter is physical objects on your desk or in your home, relationships that just need pruning, or emotional scars that you hold on to, let them go. When you focus on what’s truly important you will live a more meaningful and productive life.
7. Remove Your Dependence on Others
When you only need yourself, you control your own destiny. Whether it’s huge things for which you depend on others like paying for bills or getting to work, or small things like working in a software or finding answers on your own, take a step back and see what dependencies you can remove. Make sure you don’t bite off too much to chew, but push yourself to learn more and be independent. You’ll appreciate your success more and become much more productive.
There are distractions everywhere, keeping us from being truly productive. By finding things to remove from your life, you can become more productive each and every day.
