BE MORE PRODUCTIVE AND AVOID OVERWHELM WITH THESE 3 STRATEGIES

Push. Hustle. Or like Rihana says: work, work, work, work, work. This pressure to keep going and do more causes us to constantly feel like we’re falling short, which leads to us pushing ourselves more, which leads to overwhelm and burnout.

A few years ago, in the middle of my chronic stress, I decided I had to do things differently if I wanted to be productive and at the same time keep my sanity. These 3 things helped me be more productive, decrease stress and get the feeling like I have more time.

Get in Flow

There are a million things that demand our attention, and it’s easy to get distracted and multi-task to get the feeling like we’re accomplishing more. I used to be super proud of my ability to multi-task, until I discovered that it’s actually impossible to pay my full attention to more than 1 thing at a time. Also, I always take longer to finish things when I multi-task. As women we have this ability to multi-task, but it doesn’t mean we should, especially because it can actually lead to less life satisfaction. Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, has a theory of the 5 things that lead to well-being. This theory is called PERMA, which stands for Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment. By engagement he means flow: being in the mental zone, fully immersed and you loose track of time. How can we ever get in flow if we’re doing many things at once? By doing one thing at a time, it’s way more likely we’ll get in flow, be more productive and even increase our well-being.

Batch

Write an email, work on a presentation, go run an errand, come back to answer more emails, organize my office. Given, I work from home and it’s very easy get distracted. But I think we all jump from activity to activity without realizing how much mental energy is lost in those transitions. Now I batch. If I’m out, I’ll run all the errands possible in that area (especially if it’s far from home). If I sit down in my computer I’ll take time to answer email, then work on a presentation, then work on a course, then post on social media. Batching activities that are similar is one of the best ways to save time and energy.

Make Two Lists

I used to write down in my calendar (yes, I still use my paper calendar) my to-do activities for the week. By the end of the week I hadn’t done the things that were most important, but I was still really busy, which means that I was doing things that were not that important. I had a lot of trouble prioritizing and a compulsion to procrastinate the important things. Which made for really unproductive weeks. Now I make two lists. First, I make a weekly list with the 3 activities I absolutely have to do that week: my top 3 priorities. If something happens and I can only finish those 3 things, then even on my worst weeks, I’m still productive. My second list is of the things I have to do that day (beside my top priority). And every time I think of a small task that I need to do, I write it down, because I don’t want to forget. So I write down things like: call back so-and-so, follow up with client, text friend. This way I don’t forget but it doesn’t take mental energy away. This was I can accomplish more, in a way that feels more spacious and relaxing.

Over to you: what's your favorite strategy to be more productive and avoid burnout?