Proven Strategies for Working More in Less Time, Backed by Science

While you’re working in a traditional environment or as an entrepreneur, you may be struggling with motivation.

You want to be more productive, but you just can’t find the inner fire that keeps the lamp burning. Sometimes you struggle getting over the hump, other times you’re so pressed for time that you forget about all the other commitments you had to keep.

You get no energy left over and need to rest. That’s where these 15 proven strategies can help you get more done in less time -

#1 Start Time Tracking – You can’t possibly become more productive without tracking the time that you spend on work v/s play. If you do end up spending hours on the internet browsing cat videos or scrolling through Instagram, you can check out exactly how much time you spend there and cut it out. You can replace this time with quiet relaxation and de-stressing.

#2 Take Disconnection Breaks – You should unplug every few hours, because you can’t be completely immersed in your screen all the time. You’ll start to get the side-effects of bad migraines and a tougher time to concentrate. Your mind will start to automatically wander, as you try to guide it back to the centre. We also need to get lots of sunshine in the morning!

#3 Go to Sleep for a While – Taking a power nap helps heal your inner workings, and controls your insulin levels which may spike during the day. You may be craving some sleep as you go from task to task, and getting some shut eye might just do the trick.

#4 Work Outdoors – This can be as simple as taking your laptop and sitting in your lawn or local park. There’s lots of free Wi-Fi spots all around the city, and you can even create a hotspot from your phone’s data plan. Working outdoors opens your mind to newer ideas and helps you become more creative.

#5 Check the Internet Speed – If you have a higher than normal internet speed and high-performance laptop, then you’re going to be more productive. Your mind takes less breaks as the information you need instantly pops into your screen. You don’t need to shut off so often as well or go to your mobile phone to browse through your social media feeds.

#6 Incorporate Plants in the Office – What’s the next best thing to working in nature? Bringing nature at home. You can add some plants in your office to give it an airy feeling. Plants bring a sense of calmness to the office and can really expand a natural dimension of the office space.

#7 Make Daily Schedule the Night Before – Planning your day, before it starts off is a great way to get a head start to become more productive. You can plan a night ahead, and get a lot of work done in record time by just becoming more aware about the time allocated to each task. You could be swimming in Costa Rica with all the time saved on a daily basis. Think about it – 20 minutes a day is 120 hours a year. Meaning that you can actually gain time from effective scheduling.

#8 Find Happiness – Love what you do, and truly find meaning behind the work that you indulge in. You can’t live forever, and you might as well make the most out of the life that’s been handed to you. Finding what makes you happy is the fastest way to becoming more productive as you take mini-breaks and focus on becoming happier before boosting yourself onto your work.

#9 Stop Reading the News – Seriously, you don’t need to know everything that goes on in the world. Ask yourself how many news articles do you remember this past year? How many truly informative news pieces did you read in 2017? Chances are you skimmed the headlines and hopped on over to social media again. Stop distracting yourself from the things that really count – your health, wealth and happiness.

#10 Enjoy Breaks With Friends – Taking a break to re-energize is a great way to entertain yourself and be relaxed enough for the rest of the evening. When you take a weekend off to play football with your friends, or take cooking lessons with your gal pals, it takes the edge off of work. You can retrain your brain to relax and energize and detract it from constantly being in a cycle of thoughts.

#11 Consume Online Video – You want to consume the right kind of online videos and not the ones that are mindlessly looping from one recommendation to the next. Research inspirational figures from your industry, think about what makes you feel happy and consume that content. You can get a feeling of being re-energized after you’re done and get on with the work.

#12 Adjust the Temperature – Workers that are feeling too cold will make more errors than those who aren’t. This is true for workers in all conditions and places. The temperature could be the quickest hack that you can do so that you can become more productive in a moderate environment.

#13 Become a Minimalist – Slow down and declutter the things that don’t matter. Focus on creating value for your life and become a minimalist. You can start to let go of the things that you don’t want and release the mental baggage associated with it.

#14 Stop Multitasking – You want to be able to focus on one task at one time. That’s all. If you’re constantly dealing with fires or talking on the phone, then you’re not going to get anything done. If you start to cultivate your attention and focus on one task at one time, then you’re going to reap the benefits of better concentration.

#15 Turn Up the Music – Focusing on good pleasant music can help you concentrate better by calming you down. When you focus on aesthetically pleasing music, your prefrontal cortex feels a sensation of relaxation and time expansion. You can work longer in lesser time and gain all the benefits of a good mood while working.

Conclusion

Use these 15 hacks to better manage your time and resources. Become more productive to reach your dreams faster!