Make Goals

Make a list of weekly, monthly and/or annual goals. This list should be different than your average to-do list. You should be making very specific goals that will motivate you to reach them.

If, for example, you say “I want to grow my Instagram follower count” then that isn’t a specific goal. You want to make the goals actionable. If instead you write down “I will comment on five new accounts every week in order to increase my account awareness,” then that goal contains a better milestone to determine your progress in order for you to gain followers.

While both examples are true goals, the first is ambiguous. The second is very specific because it contains an actionable and accountable task that needs to be completed in a weekly timeframe.

Make To-Do Lists

Make a list of all essential tasks that need to get done today. At the end of the day, any task that you haven’t finished should move on to tomorrow’s to-do list. Is anyone familiar with bullet journaling?

Any task that can’t be completed needs to drop off your list. Let. that. shit. go! Having a task that you can’t complete in under a week either isn’t important or needs to be delegated to someone else.

Batching

If you’ve never heard of batch processing, listen up! This is the process of getting similar tasks done at the same time.

Do you have a lot of photos to edit? Batch edit. Edit 30/50/100 photos in one-sitting to move through the process faster.

Do you have a lot of blog posts to write? Batch write. Write 5/10/15 articles in one-sitting to actually write something. You can edit them later, but the point is to get something written.

Do you have a lot of social media posts to schedule? Batch schedule. You can schedule your social media calendar ahead of time with many popular tools such as Planoly, Hootsuite, or Plann. They have free options available to help you do this.

Wake Up Early

I am not a morning person – at all. At some point in my life I decided that I wanted to go to the gym, but where am I going to fit that into my schedule? I force myself to wakeup at 5:30 in the morning to make to my 6:15 a.m. class. If I didn’t get up early, I would never workout. I have no motivation after 5 p.m. to raise my heart rate.

This applies to other tasks on my to-do list, too. Since the gym is out of the way already, I might have time to run an errand before I get to work. or I might have time to post about today’s hashtag holiday.

By giving yourself more time in the day, you can accomplish so much more on your to-do list. Which will help you reach your goals. And what’s better than that?

Check Emails Last

I am the worst with this. I always keep my email open when I’m working.

Email is a complete time-suck because you’re usually answering someone else’s requests – instead of focusing on your to-do list and overall goals.

Take your time each morning. Start working on your tasks first. Once you’re in a good place on your own tasks, go ahead and check your emails.

The point of this is to make your work a priority first by check your emails last.

Conclusion

We reviewed five productivity tips of making goals, making to-do lists, batching, waking up early and checking your emails last. I hope you learned something new and thank you for visiting! Also, if you need to spend a little time with a digital cleanup, check out my article here.

What are some of your productivity tips?! Let me know in the comments below.