How to Boost Your Productivity with Daily Routines

How to Boost Your Productivity with Daily Routines

Apr 18, 2022

If you are like me, as a small business owner/entrepreneur, your daily routine is key to your productivity. Today, I am sharing 7 ways to help boost your productivity with daily routines.

Welcome back to GinAdmin. I’m your host, Gina Koran and as always, I’m pleased you chose to spend a few minutes of your busy day with me as I share my coffee-induced thoughts with you. So grab your cup…

Many of the things we do each day to reach our goals can be achieved by creating small routines or daily habits that you perform without even thinking about it each day.

By making your actions routine and, more importantly, a habit, you will find you get more done and not feel like you are always working.

Get Hydrated

Starting off the day hydrated will boost your energy and make it more likely that you get your tasks completed.

Staying hydrated keeps you focused and boosts productivity throughout the day.
Staying hydrated keeps you focused and boosts productivity throughout the day.

Even yours truly, a self-proclaimed coffee addict, I start my day with at least one glass of water. And while I might joke that I drink that glass of water to clean my palate before I start my coffee IV, it is truly to get myself hydrated after a full-night’s sleep.

I also will drink water with my lunch and my evening meal to keep myself hydrated, understanding that staying hydrated keeps me focused and more productive throughout the day.

The great thing about water is that you can spruce it up. Add a slice of lemon. Toss in some fresh mint. Maybe cucumber slices. So many possibilities!

Review Your Schedule

I’ve talked about this before, but each night before bed I write down the most important tasks I need to work on the next morning.

Then first thing (after my glass of water, of course) each morning before I start my day, I glance over my list to get an overview of what I need to do during the day.

Then, I can prioritize each item based on my very colorfully-coded calendar.

If you are looking for some inspiration on time blocking, check out Cindy Bidar’s latest podcast : “How to Use Time Blocking to Get Stuff Done”. Cindy is a master at this!

Create a Morning Routine

Set up a morning routine for your self-care. This is totally personalized to each person, based on your needs.

You can start with a shower, make your bed, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc.

You may also want to add meditation, do some yoga, or maybe even journaling into your morning routine.

Photo credit: Chicago French Press

Those are some of my own routine: drink my glass of water, do my morning stretches for my back, brush my teeth, shower and dress for the day, make the bed.

And finally make my first cup of magic bean water a.k.a. coffee. As my friends at Chicago French Press say: Coffee beans magically turn into a life-changing potion everyday!

Then I head into my office to start my day, starting with that task list!

Monitor Your Nutrition

Another way to become more productive is to eat properly.  As I have said before, I am not a doctor. But I do understand the importance of proper nutrition.

I would love to eat like that 14-year-old girl with her sugar-based cereal again. That sugar high, though will lead to a sugar crash a couple hours later for me, the NOT-14-year-old-girl.

I also know that too much pasta and/or bread make me lethargic.

Talk about unproductive.

You know what foods work best for you – do that.

For me, fruits give me a natural boost. With summer coming (YAY), that will mean early Wednesday morning starts as I head out to the farmer’s market where I grab loads of fruits and veggies to give me that natural boost.

Another trick I found is prepping food in advance to make it easy to stick to whatever plan you come up with.

It also makes for a less stressful meal-planning time each day if you have a super busy day and find yourself short on meal-prep time!

Develop a Positive Mindset

Find ways to look at the positive aspects of your life. When you have a positive mindset or outlook, it tends to strengthen your motivation.

And I get that with everything going on in the world and around you today, that it is sometimes easier said than done to keep a positive mindset.

Developing a positive mindset can help boost productivity.
Developing a positive mindset can help boost productivity.

One of the biggest ways I have found to stay positive is to distance myself from the news.

I have greatly reduced my time on social media. We don’t even watch the evening news, something both my husband and I grew up with with our parents. If you are reading this and you know my Dad, mum’s the word! (Wink)

Now that is not to say that we do not know what is going on in the world. We simply reduce our exposure to it all.

I have to admit, since we stopped watching and reading and listening to the news as much, both our mindsets have become much more positive!

Celebrate Your Victories

When you are successful and accomplish something, find a way to celebrate, no matter how small the victory.

One of my rewards for completing a task is (no surprise) …a fresh cup of coffee. When I am working from my colorful calendar and its time blocks, once I complete a task, I’ll refresh my cup.

This also gives me a chance to get up and stretch my back after sitting through that task so that it doesn’t put a damper on my positive energy.

Find something that motivates you. Something that will give you that motivation to complete a task. Then celebrate your win!

Segment Your Workday

Don’t work all the time. This is especially important if you work for yourself. The work never seems to end.

Set specific hours for your workday. Stick to these hours at least 80 percent of the time.

Keep in mind that being flexible is important. Sometimes working hard is going to be required, but it’s not required every single day.

I am getting better at this. And while I might have a client text me in the evening, if it’s not an emergency, it goes on my task list for the next morning (see how I tied that in from earlier?).

Well, there you have it, Gina’s coffee-induced thoughts on boosting your productivity through daily routines!

If you have some other ideas on boosting productivity or daily routines, drop them in the comments below. I would love to hear yours!

For my fellow small business owners, if you are interested in ways that working with a Freelance Administrator can help put more time in your day and boost your productivity, drop me a message over at www.GinAdmin.com/#contact.

Until next time my friends, stay safe, positive and productive!

5 Ways to Streamline Your Daily Schedule and Increase Efficiency When Working from Home

5 Ways to Streamline Your Daily Schedule and Increase Efficiency When Working from Home

Apr 4, 2022

Do you wish you could streamline your daily schedule and increase your efficiency when working from home? Do you frequently feel like there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to do?

Welcome back to GinAdmin where today, me and my sidekicks (my pupper and my always-on-hand cup of coffee) are going to share some ideas that work for me in streamlining my day to work more efficiently.

So, grab your favorite beverage and have a quick read.

As hard as it is, we must do things when we need to.

Otherwise, they don’t get done at all. Or we find ourselves having to do them when we truly don’t have the time TO do them.

Then it seems something else has to be put off.

If you’re like me, when a project has a deadline, it is important to devote all of my undivided attention to it. Otherwise, it won’t get completed. Time management is a critical aspect of every job – from planning to executing.

I have found that my schedule needs to be structured to support efficiency and productivity to reach my goals.

So, if you’ve ever felt like you need to streamline your daily schedule to work more efficiently, here are some tips are for you:

Check your existing workflows and processes.

Ask yourself these questions:

Are my workflows or processes efficient?

Do certain things take too much time or space to complete?

Are there things you can do to either eliminate steps or streamline your workflow?

Assessing current workflows is essential in improving productivity.

No process is perfect; there’s always room to improve. Ben Mulholland  

https://www.process.st/category/business-processes/

For example, do you need to complete specific tasks in a particular order or time? If so, then building your schedule with the tasks in the order you need to complete them will help you work more efficiently.

If you don’t need to do certain activities in the order you listed them, simply reorder them to streamline your daily schedule.

I do this with each task. At the end of every day, I review my current projects and list the priorities for the next day to keep me on track and complete those projects on time.

Ranking your processes to streamline your daily schedule.

Once you know your current workflows, you can rank them in terms of both the amount of time they take to complete and the extent to which they streamline your typical workflow.

I recommend using a scale of 1 to 5, depending on how time-consuming a process is and how much it changes your routine.

If it takes less than five minutes, you can probably combine it with another task in your workflow.

Turn off your notifications.  

Streamline your daily schedule by turning off notifications, this will help you work more efficiently!
Turning off notifications will help you work more efficiently!

Notifications in apps can be great when you want to receive a notice for something important.

But when you’re working tasks, they are simply distractions.

Turn off your notifications and focus only on the task at hand so that you don’t end up losing focus.

The truth is, most notifications can wait.

I put news alerts and messages on hold until later and read them as a reward for finishing my tasks. Then I can sit back with my favorite mug and read them without feeling guilty for taking time away from my important tasks.

Streamline your scheduling by tackling the hard stuff first.

If you are trying to jam in as many tasks as you can, chances are you’re not getting much, if anything done.

Or, you might even be the opposite. You’re spending more of your limited time on busywork that you don’t need to do. To help become more productive, I find that it helps to focus on one task at a time and work on that task until I complete it.

If I find myself multitasking, I try focusing instead for a single 30-minute period. I’ll take a quick break (probably grab another cup of coffee) and get back at it. I talked about multitasking before – you can read that here: How to be more productive this week.

Trying to work on more than one task at a time can cause procrastination, which is a whole new level of anxiety. I take the time to organize my tasks in order of priority. Then make sure the most important projects have the first slot in my schedule.

For instance, I tend to procrastinate on tasks that involve creative work, such as writing, brainstorming, and generating ideas. I find that setting aside 15 minutes a day to write helps me make more progress on that task.

Another trick I use is that I do the things I like to do the least first. Otherwise, I’m just dreading that task while I’m doing other things.

Do your work near an excellent natural source of light.  

Add natural light sources to your work area to help you work more efficiently.
Add natural light sources to your work area to help you work more efficiently.

A good source of light not only helps you see better, but it also helps you work better. This tip is handy if you work from home.

Those of us who work from home can become dependent on artificial light, leading to eye strain and fatigue. Working in a well-lit area and taking regular breaks away from your desk helps with this.

Watch your natural lighting, though. I have windows behind and next to me. When I’m going to be on a video call, I have to close the blinds and the curtains on those windows, otherwise the lighting is terrible!

And while some days my cup and I aren’t looking our best, the person on the other end of the video wants to see you as you’re talking to them!

There you have it…streamline your daily schedule and you’ll be more efficient!

Streamlining your daily schedule and increasing your efficiency will help you focus on what is important throughout the day. Try to limit the number of distractions you have around you.

Now, remember that you might not need to make a complete overhaul of your schedule. Many times, you can make small changes to greatly improve your overall productivity.

One of the best ways to improve your efficiency…you guessed it! Work with a Freelance Admin. We can help you assess and restructure your processes where needed, structure your schedule, and overall make your life easier!

If you try any of these tips, leave me a comment below and let me know how that works out for you. Or if you have other ideas, feel free to share!

And, of course, if you would like to learn more about how a Freelance Admin can help, contact me ~ we can chat over a cup of…yep, coffee, or whatever you beverage of choice is!

Until next time, stay safe my friends!