You know you can get more accomplished during the day but why isn't it happening? What can you do?

1. Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day

Did you know that keeping an irregular sleep schedule equates to a similar feeling of being jet lagged from traveling West for 3 hours? Those of us who have experienced awful jet lag know that sensation doesn't sit well with productivity.

When your body's natural circadian rhythm is consistent your cognitive functions are as well. The brain is naturally impaired at times when it's usually unnecessary to be awake. For example, inconsistent sleep may trick your body-clock into thinking that 8 am is actually 5 am, a time at which the brain is generally unproductive. Keep your sleep schedule/body-clock consistent and your productivity will naturally improve.

2. Determine Times When You're Feeling Most Productive

Self-knowledge is the first step to any lifestyle change or improvement. If you're really busy you may not pick up on patterns of sluggishness or bursts of energy. Knowing your most productive times can be the determining factor of a successful endeavor.

Schedule a quiet day (when you're not feeling under the weather) and track your energy levels from hour to hour. Many people feel the most productive from 9 am - 12 pm but it might be slightly different for you. Be sure to log all your feelings, including when you feel tired enough to take a nap (a bad time for productivity).

Once you know your prime productive times make a concerted effort to work during those times every day. Consistency is your friend... she is also married to productivity.

3. Log Your Daily Goals, Ideas, and Accomplishments - Big and Small

You might think that you don't need to write everything down - you can just remember it later. Unfortunately the brain doesn't work like that. Successful people equate writing everything down (seriously, everything) to their increase in productive capacity.

First off, get a journal you like. I highly recommend a bullet journal, because it's a well-rounded method of journaling that gives you flexibility but doesn't hinder your thought process. Here's a beginner's guide to bullet journaling.

Write down your daily goals in the morning to give yourself a better idea of how you'll spend your day. People tend to get more done when they've thought about it beforehand.

Say you have a great idea (a present for Mom's birthday or the plot of an original story) during the day: write that down, too. You'll thank yourself later when you re-read your daily journal and realize how much of your day can be forgotten. Your productivity is as good as your record-keeping skills.

Log every accomplishment, big and small, in your journal at the end of the day. A positive outlook on your activities can a major motivation and productivity booster for days to come. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back for finishing your tasks.

4. Know When to Take a Break

When you focus on one task for too long your brain actually loses interest. Constant stimulation is interpreted by your brain as erroneous information that can be pushed down on your mental priorities list. Thanks, brain!

You can work around this by taking short intermissions to distract your brain from becoming distracted. (Cool, huh?) The rule of thumb: take a 5 minute break for every 25 minutes working on a focused task. This can drastically increase your ability to focus on an important task at hand and can save you a lot of time and frustration in the long run.

5. Do NOT Try to Multi-task

If you say you're a great multi-tasker, you're fooling yourself. We don't think two things simultaneously. Our brains focus on one thing at a time so when we attempt multiple tasks the brain just rapidly switches between them by utilizing its executive system.

Neuroscientist Daniel Weissman gives a great example of this:

If I'm out on a street corner and I'm looking for one friend who's wearing a red scarf, I might be able to pick out that friend. But if I'm looking for a friend who's wearing a red scarf on one street corner, and in the middle of the street I'm looking for another friend who's wearing a blue scarf — and on the other side of the street I'm looking for a friend wearing a green scarf — at some point, I can only divide my attention so much, and I begin to have trouble. So the brain starts switching. Scan for red. Switch. Scan for blue. Switch. Scan for green. Switch.

All that switching is wasting precious productive time. You can save time by focusing all your attention to one task at a time... even if it's just a small one. Remember, you can take breaks to help retain focus on one activity at a time.

Start small but start now! The sooner you make tiny changes to your lifestyle the sooner you'll become more productive and get more done.

Cheers!

Sources:

Irregular Sleep Leads to Lower Grades in College Students

Figuring Out Your Most Productive Times

Journaling Is The #1 Productivity Tool You Aren't Using

Brief Diversions Greatly Improve Focus

Think You're Multitasking? Think Again