The key to a productive day lies entirely in how you set yourself for the day. With a few tweaks to your workspace and mental mindset, you can ensure yourself an extremely productive day. The following 7 steps are an effective way to make those tweaks that will help you make the most out of your day.

Step 1

Plan for tomorrow, but make the most of today. An easy way to lose track of time is by living in the future at the expense of the present. Set aside time to plan ahead, then put aside planning and live out your plans at the moment. A good way to do this is to make your to-do lists for the next day in the evening.

Step 2

Use a life planner—for example LifePlanner. 93 percent of LifePlanner customers agree that it increases productivity by helping you organize your tasks in a clean, stylish way.

Step 3

Know when to say “no.” Over-committing yourself to time-consuming tasks is a sure way to lose control of your time. You have to say “no” every once in a while to keep your priorities straight and stay productive. This is why it’s crucial that your to-do list includes several “must-dos” and several “would like to’s.” 

Step 4

Eliminate distractions. The obvious answer is to avoid browsing online and checking in on social media, but the less obvious trap many of us fall into is becoming sidetracked by incoming emails and notifications! Set aside time to catch up and respond to notifications, but turn them off when you want to focus and achieve optimal productivity. 

Step 5

Give yourself a time buffer. Set self-imposed deadlines ahead of actual deadlines. If you know something is due at 9:00 am on Tuesday, give yourself a due date of the Friday before, so if your Monday gets slammed, you won’t find yourself in a frenzied race against the clock.

Step 6

Plan gaps in your schedule. A counter-intuitive productivity hack is to plan gaps in your daily schedule to make room for whatever unplanned events may pop up, like a popped tire. Or, when things do go smoothly, you can use those schedule gaps to review and recharge.

Step 7

Know when to take control and when to delegate. We all have moments where we want to control everything, but eliminating the non-essential and delegating when necessary is working smarter, not harder.