Most efficient people overcome challenges like procrastinating on tasks, boring work that needs just to get done, responding to email and other messages while working, staying motivated and energized throughout the entire workday and focusing and finishing the most important projects on their plates. How do they do it? They have mastered the habits that boost productivity and these include:
1. Focus on Most Important Tasks (MITs) first
When you focus on simply checking off to-do list items, you’ll end up with a mix of important and less important tasks completed. It also exposes you to the potential for procrastination — it’s easy to spend the whole day checking off easy, less important to-dos instead of buckling down on the hard stuff. Spend a few minutes at the beginning of your day to choose 1–3 MITs — the things that, no matter what, you need to finish by the end of the day.
2. Cultivate “deep work”
Some tasks are just hard and boring, these are the deep work. Everybody has a few daily to-dos that could be almost be done within the twinkling of an eye. Then there are other tasks — if anything, they’re hard to get yourself to do because they’re not especially interesting. At the same time, some tasks are just difficult. You can’t multitask your way to finishing them. You need to devote serious time and mental effort to knock them off.
3. Keep distractions away
With emails, social media, and a thousand little to-dos, it’s easy to get distracted when you’re trying to be productive. Whether you’re trying to focus on deep work or just dealing with smaller tasks, distractions affect productivity. It’s hard to maintain efficient work habits with distractions around. One powerful method of reducing distractions is creating a “distraction list.”
4. Use the 80/20 principle
Discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, the 80/20 rule (also called the Pareto Principle) states that, in any pursuit, 80% of the results will come from 20% of the efforts. To maximize efficiency, highly productive people identify the most important 20% of their work. Then, they look at ways to cut down the other 80% of their schedule, to find more time for the things that make the biggest impact.
5. Break tasks into smaller pieces
If you have to-do list items that are large in scope and not very specific, tackling those tasks becomes challenging. You look at the item and think “I don’t even know where to start.” You can start by breaking large to-dos into smaller to-dos. Set small goals for each task.
6. Take breaks
Nobody even a machine can work for straight hours non-stop. No matter how many efficient habits you build, you can’t maintain distraction-free focus for that long. Taking breaks is so important because it makes people more productive. Even breaks that are just a few minutes long can help you recharge and come up with new ideas. Be proactive about taking breaks. When you take breaks, it’s important to make them structured and deliberate.