How to be more productive at home after work to have a productive day at work
# 1. clean up your workspace
Although it is a pain to clean up when you enter work, it makes a big difference in your ability to concentrate. A study from Princeton University found that people who worked in a clean work area outnumbered those who worked in a messy because the disorder takes their attention away from their work. In fact, the effects of disorder on concentration are not so different from the effects of multitasking.
# 2 No email until you've eaten three frogs
"Eat a frog alive early in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." - Mark Twain
"Eat a frog" is the best antidote against procrastination, and the most productive people know the importance of biting this delicacy first thing in the morning. In other words, spend the morning in something that requires a high level of concentration that you do not want to do, and will do it in a short time. Get into the habit of eating three frogs before checking your email, as email is an important distraction that allows for delay and wastes precious mental energy.
# 3 Assign times to your to-do list and monitor your progress against your goals
The task lists are useful to make sure you do not forget anything, but beyond that, they can be deceptive. For example, if you have three hours of meetings and eight hours of work, you probably cannot do everything. However, a typical task list does not tell you that you have eight hours of work; it just tells you that you have ten things you should do. When you add time frames to your task list, it becomes exponentially more effective. It pushes you to avoid postponement or multitasking to complete things within the allotted time. It also shows you what is and what is not feasible so that you can prioritize your day accordingly.
It does not make sense to set goals in the morning if you do not check them. Look what you have done so far with a critical eye. If you realize that you are behind or doing poor quality work, it is important to adjust your goals or work ethic so that you can move intentionally during the day.
# 4 Keep morning meetings on schedule
Meetings are the biggest waste of time that exists and can ruin a productive morning. People who use their mornings effectively know that a meeting will last forever if they allow it, so they inform everyone at the beginning that they will stick to the planned schedule. This establishes a limit that motivates everyone to be more focused and efficient. Keep your morning meetings on time, and all day you will stay on track.
# 5 Does not multitask
Doing multiple tasks in the morning, when you have a lot to do, tons of energy and feel that you can do two or three things at once, it's tempting, but you delay all day. Research conducted at Stanford University confirmed that multitasking is less productive than doing only one thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with various streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, remember information or change from one job to another, as well as those who complete one task at a time.
But, what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford researchers compared groups of people according to their tendency to multitask and their belief that it helps their performance. They discovered that heavy multitasking (those who perform many tasks at the same time and feel that their performance increases) were actually worse than those who do only one thing at a time. Frequent multitasking got worse results because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and leaking irrelevant information, and was slower to change from one task to another. Oh!
Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus properly on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the ability to perform both tasks successfully.
# 6 did no
It is not a powerful word that will protect your precious mornings. When it's time to say no, avoid phrases like "I do not think I can" or "I'm not sure". Saying no to a new commitment respects your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to fulfill them successfully while you have a fresh mind. Research at the University of California at San Francisco showed that the greater the difficulty you have in saying no, you are more likely to experience stress, exhaustion and even depression. Learn to use no, and it will lift your mood, as well as your productivity.
Putting it all together
The right routine in the morning can make your day, every day. The trick is to be intentional in your mornings, understanding that my hours are precious and must be handled with care.
