If you want to be productive and get the most out of your day so that you can achieve greater success in life, you’re in the right direction. Success is not so much about greatness, it is about being consistent. It is what we do on a daily basis that determines our success.
But learning how to manage your day and getting the most out of it can be challenging.
This is especially true if you don’t have a clear direction, don’t know what to do, and are always distracted by other people and things in your everyday life.
And this is why I want to share these 11 tips with you. Some of these tips are easy to follow, some are more challenging, but the thing is that each of these tips will boost your productivity and help you make a huge impact in your life if you are to stick to it over the long term.
“The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.”
– John Maxwell
1. Get up early
One of the easiest and most powerful ways to get the most out of your day is to rise early so that you can start early.
When you get up early say like 6 AM where others are still sleeping, you are getting ahead of others. It is an unfair advantage to start early to get more things done.
If you read the book, What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, you will see that most successful people wake up extremely early to prepare and kickstart their day.
Extraordinary people understand that if they want to win their day, they need to win their morning because the morning sets the entire pace of their day.
And this is what you can do too. Just wake up early so that you can prepare your day and get a jumpstart than most people.
But you have to make sure you get enough sleep and go to bed earlier the night before. Don’t waste time watching late-night movies or playing games, replenish your energy and get enough sleep so that you can win and create more victories the next day.
So what should you do if you wake up early? Read my article for suggestions: 7 Best Morning Routine to Kick-Start A Great Day.
2. Read a good book
If you want to get the most out of your day, you need to read a good book. We all know that learning is important, and the easiest way to learn is through reading.
When you read, you are putting yourself in the author’s perspective and think from his or her point of view. If you read a book written by Tony Robbins, you will think as he did. If you read Steve Jobs biography, you will understand his mindset, his characters, his experiences, and his beliefs.
This is how reading can change your life. It doesn’t mean that after you read a book you will automatically become successful.
No, things are not going to happen overnight. Reading may not immediately turn you into someone successful, but slow and surely, you will be.
When you spend time reading each day, you are training yourself to focus on the words and at the same time, you are playing with your own imagination on your head.
Compare to watching a video, you don’t use your mind to think, but when you read, you are actually turning texts into images in your head. It can boost your creativity too.
Hence, make it a habit to read every day. Commit to this little habit that will change your life, in a big way.
If you notice, most successful people are readers.
So, what books should you read? Here’s my recommendation.
3. Exercise
I know you have heard this over and over again, and you know it is important to exercise to keep yourself healthy. But, are you doing it each day?
If you want to be productive and get the most out of your day, you need to maintain your energy level and keep it high. One way to do so is to exercise.
Think about it, if you are always tired, exhausted, and sick, how much do you think you can accomplish?
The key to productivity is energy management. Without energy, you can’t perform at your best.
When you are beaming with energy and you are excited, you can get more done. You become more creative, productive, and optimistic.
Thus, work on your physical and mental energy with exercises. Keep your body healthy and fit so that you can perform at your optimum level.
If you think you have no time to exercise, how about spending just 10 minutes for a quick workout? Learn how to do so from this article on Self.com.
4. Prioritize and plan your day
How often do you prioritize and plan your day? You have to understand that to get the most out of your day, you must focus and do what matters most.
Your mission each day is to work on the main thing that will give you the most results first.
A lot of people are busy but at the end of the day, they are not accomplishing much. This is because they don’t focus on what matters most. They do whatever that comes to them.
They respond to everything and are being reactive than proactive.
You have to identify your daily objectives and goals, and then prioritize what you need to get done.
Not all tasks are created equal. Some task requires a longer time to complete, but they only give you little to no impact. On the other hand, there are some tasks that once you completed them, they will move you leaps and bounds.
This is why planning is important. You have to understand what you need to do each day so that you can move toward your goals.
You don’t want to go through each day without having a clear direction, which is what most people did.
Identify your goals and things that you need to get done each day, and then focus all your energy and put in your attention to get the most important tasks done first.
If you want to learn how to set goals and plan your day to achieve your dream lifestyle, follow my Goal Setting Formula method.
5. Don’t overwhelm yourself or overfill your time
One mistake a lot of people make is that they overestimated themselves and overfill their time. Instead of having just a list a few important things to do, they have 20 things they need to do for the day.
When this happens, you will never finish everything on your list, and you will need to carry forward some of your remaining tasks.
This can make you feel overwhelmed and paralyzed you with inactivity.
Why do you think people procrastinate? Well, it is because they think that the task they need to do is too big to handle or too difficult to do.
As a result, they feel the pain to work on the task. And they choose to procrastinate until the last minute or when they have no other options but to do it.
Never let this happen to you. Be more realistic with your time and energy.
As what Stephen Covey said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Focus on the most important and what matters most. Use the Rule of Five to help you identify your daily actions and plan your day.
6. Envision your victories and success
It is important to maintain your motivation and keep yourself in the right direction so that you can accomplish more each day.
And to do so, you need to envision the victories and success you desire. Instead of thinking about all the difficulties, challenges, and problems, choose to consciously think about the rewards, success, and having achieved your goals.
What prevents most people from living their best life is not that they lack talent, skills, or they don’t have the time, it is fear that stops most people from moving forward.
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
– Les Brown
We don’t take action because we are afraid that what if we fail. We don’t work on our goals because we fear that we may make mistakes and people will laugh at us.
This is why it is important to keep your mindset right each day so that you can get the most out of every day.
When you let negative thoughts cloud your mind, when you doubt yourself, and when focus on what can go wrong rather what can go right, you are preventing yourself from living at your full potential.
Remember, we become what we think about most of the time.
So, if you think about failure, mistakes, and fear every day, there is no way you can live a successful life. Change your thinking and you will change your life.
7. Make good use of your downtime
We all have downtime every day. And what you need to do is to be conscious of it and make good use of it.
Regardless of whether you are waiting in lines, in traffic, or are waiting for your children after school, there are plenty of pockets of time you can use.
Of course, I’m not saying that you must squeeze every minute out of your day, but most people waste their downtime on unnecessary and unproductive things like playing mobile games or checking social media.
You can use your downtime for many things:
- You can rest and recharge your mind,
- You can read for 10 or 15 minutes,
- You can visualize and envision the success you want,
- You can practice a quick meditation,
- You can review your progress and plan your day, etc.
Take your commute time as an example, according to this article on CNBC.com, the average Americans 4.35 hours per week on their weekly commute. And if you just make good use of half of this pocket of time for learning on-the-go like listening to podcasts, it can make a huge impact on your life.
Using your downtime as your productive time is one of the most powerful techniques to get the most out of your day.
We often underestimate how much downtime we have. Track and measure your downtime. And more importantly, be conscious with it so that you can make good use of it.
8. Don’t forget to have breaks and fun
As I said, we need to have breaks and fun throughout the day. Imagine going through a hectic day with all work but no breaks, how does that make you feel? Not good, right?
Hence, you don’t want to live a life where you only have one thing – work. You want to live a more balanced life. Work-life balance is important and we all should do our best to achieve it.
When you stop and take a short break, you are replenishing your energy and refreshing your mind. It makes you more productive, fresh, and able to focus better after the break.
You can’t perform at your best and get the most out of your day if all you do is squeezing every minute of it. This is why you need breaks.
Many studies have proved that taking a short break throughout the day is important.
It works just like the battery level for your phone. When you are fully charged, the bar is full. And as you go through each moment of the day, making decisions, thinking, and taking actions, you use your energy. And if you don’t recharge your energy, eventually, you will run out of it, like your phone.
Therefore, to get the most out of your day, make sure you take breaks.
I know this sounds contradicting, but it really is not. When you work, put in 100% attention and focus on your work. After that, make sure you take short breaks to restore your energy.
13 Creative Ways How to Take Short Breaks During the Day
9. Eat right
Another tip you have to know is about what you put into your mouth. The food you eat becomes the fuel for your body.
Therefore, if you put in a lot of junk food, you will become overweight, less healthy, and lack both physical and mental energy to perform optimally.
Imagine having a heavy lunch full of sugary foods and guess what will happen after that. You will experience the afternoon slump.
After your heavy meal and when you get back to work sitting on your chair facing your computer screen, you feel sleepy.
This is how what you eat can affect your physical and mental energy, hence, eat right. Read this article and learn the 8 tips on how to eat healthily.
10. Social with others
If you are serious about living a good life that is balanced in every area, you need to spend time socializing with others every day.
Humans are social animals and we want to have time to be together with others so that we feel safe and that people care about us.
First, when you socialize with others, it provides a balance to your life. Besides, it also forms good relationships with others. It will make you feel that you matter.
Next, socializing connects you to humanity. There is no way you can live all by yourself on an island. You need help and support from others if you want to make it in life.
Apart from that, socializing also broaden your horizons. Like reading, when you socialize with others, you get to exchange ideas and learn the experiences of others.
This is why successful people make friends with other successful people. They know that they need others’ help to achieve their goals and at the same time, they can learn how others’ think about life and success.
11 Habits That May Improve Your Social Life
11. Have your personal time and wind down
Don’t get me wrong, socializing is important, but at the same time, you need to have personal time to be in solitude too.
You don’t want to spend all your time socializing with others that you don’t time for yourself. Both are activities are important, so, schedule time for yourself.
One of the most obvious reasons you want to have your own personal time to be alone is to have an opportunity to reflect on your life.
You see, a lot of people spend time planning for their weddings and vacations, but most don’t plan how to get the most out of their lives.
Having a quiet time and space allow you to reflect on your life, and it gives you an opportunity to think about your goals, the future you want, and the kind of life you want to have.
You can make time to be in solitude and do nothing at all. Or you can schedule a time to do something that you love. The key is to create “me time” so that you can disconnect with the world and reconnect with your soul.
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
– Lao Tzu
Conclusion
Becoming productive and getting the most out of your day may sound like you’re trying to squeeze every minute out of your life, but it doesn’t need to be that way.
Use the 11 tips above to help you live a better and more effective life.
The thing is that you need to be conscious about how you live if you want to make the best out of it. And the tips above can serve as a great start.
Let me know what you think about these tips. So what do you do to make the most out of your day?
