Focus on progress.

Small changes in how you work can gradually add up to big changes in productivity.

The secret to lasting change is acknowledging and accepting that real change takes discipline, time, and patience.

Maintaining the same level of productivity throughout the day is next to impossible. For most of us, making the most of our peak productivity hours is also a constant struggle. So, what can you do to improve your productivity?

Let’s learn how to identify and make the most of your peak productivity hours, following these 5 recommendations.

• Identify Your Peak Productivity Hours

Keep a log for a couple of days. Every 2–3 hours check to see if you feel awake and productive or sluggish and tired. Once you know what your most productive hours are, assign them to work without distractions.

For example, most people have peak productivity hours in the first two hours after waking. But, also most people spend this time on social media. So, if you tend to spend your time on social media in the morning, cutting into your peak productivity hours, you may improve by changing that!

• Identify Your Own Daily Rhythm

Are you a morning person, a night owl, or maybe you are somewhere in between?

Most people go through a predictable pattern every day: a peak, a trough, and a recovery phase.

For example, a morning person may be most alert between 7 and 10 am, sluggish after lunch, and regain steam at 4 pm. A person who’s a night owl may feel mentally sharpest from 9 pm-1 am. 

So, identify your own daily rhythm, create your personal timesheet schedule work, and use it to your advantage.

• Identify Your Current Tasks

It’s one thing to be aware of your most productive hours, but it’s another thing to be able to prioritize that time to work on your most important tasks. So, the next step in prioritizing these tasks is to figure out what your principal responsibilities are.

Write down every task you can think of. If you don’t have to do them at a specific time, then just make a note of them as secondary responsibilities.

• Identify Your Most Important Responsibilities

Peak energy tasks – require to be done when you’re feeling wide awake.

Mid-level energy tasks – need some thinking but are not as important.

Low-level energy tasks – can be done when you’re feeling fatigued or sleepy.

Make sure you fill your mental peak times with your hardest tasks, you need the most concentration to perform them.

For example, a dressmaker has to use the sewing machine at her peak. When she has medium levels of energy, she can reply to messages from her customers. When she has low levels of mental energy, she can make errands like going to buy buttons.

• Form habits that improve productivity

No matter how brilliantly you plan your week, there’s only so much a plan can do. After all, many well-laid plans can fail if you do not have the will to implement them. 

Here are some habits and best practices that you should follow to make the most of your peak productivity hours:

– Always finish your most important and most challenging tasks first.

– Break tasks down into parts that can be quickly completed.

– Learn to delegate tasks and say no (when needed).

– Take small and frequent breaks to improve your productivity.

– Identify your distractions and consciously avoid them.

– Regularly declutter your workspace.

– Find ways to optimize repeat tasks using business tools.

WEEKLY VOCABULARY 🗣

📌Procrastinate: delay or postpone action; put off doing something.

📌Diligent: having or showing care and conscientiousness in one’s work or duties.

📌Effort: a vigorous or determined attempt.

📌Strength: the quality or state of being physically strong.

📌Committed: feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity, or job; wholeheartedly dedicated.

PHRASAL VERBS ✍

📌Take over: assume control of something.

“Who will take over the leadership of the club?”

📌Knuckle down: apply oneself seriously to a task.

“It’s time we knuckle down.”

IDIOMS 📒

📌Kick the can down the road: to delay dealing with a serious problem in the hope that it will go away.

📌To put something on ice: to delay doing anything about a plan or idea.

Related Articles:

📌Dealing with Interruptions https://www.englishpriority.com/dealing-with-interruptions/

📌Learning from our Mistakes https://www.englishpriority.com/learning-from-our-mistakes/

📌Types of Motivation to Achieve your Goals https://www.englishpriority.com/types-of-motivation-to-achieve-your-goals/

Want to practice even more?…