Evernote. I highly recommend Evernote. It’s basically an online notebook that stores everything – notes, photos, to-do-lists, articles, emails and even audio files. Best of all, it’s free.
Clear. If you’d like your to-do list to look fancy, then grab this $1.99 app. It’s simple, elegant and it’s satisfying. List your tasks, then swipe them away.
So you’re useless at 3PM in the afternoon. By that point you’re sitting at your desk, checking Pinterest and looking up tips on “how to be productive”. Clearly, the mid-afternoon is not your best time for getting stuff done and that’s okay. Start building your day around your low points. Take a late lunch break, or use the low point to grab a coffee and think through your to-do items. The key is to understand that what works for you may not work for anyone else, and to where possible block out people distractions from what you know are your more productive periods.
They’ll know that if something’s urgent they can instantly message you and get a rough response or short answer from you straight away. Be cautious about who you hand this out to – you don’t want to end up in meaningless chatter, or being forced to drop everything to respond to a constant line of questioning.
Spend five minutes prior to clocking off for the day going through your to-do list. What did you not get done and why? This is your chance to determine your productivity problem areas and figure out what’s interrupting your ability to focus, or where certain tasks, meetings or competing priorities have gone overtime. Have a think about how you might be able to improve on it the next day, then start a new list, write down what you need to continue with tomorrow, and go off and relax.
Are you trying to be more productive than what’s actually possible? Is your to-do list completely unworkable? Have you thought about how many hours are in each day and what you’re actually hoping to achieve? Look at the to-do list you’ve written today, assign the amount of time you expect to complete each item in and then tally it up. If your to-do list beat you before you even got close to tackling the first five items then you need to readjust your expectations. You’re not superhuman. Back up, slow down, and make your next to-do item to tell those who’re waiting on you that they’ll have to wait a little longer.
Agree? Disagree? Care to berate me? Leave some productivity tips below.
Women’s Agenda is a publication for career-minded women who want to stay ahead of the conversation.
