Know Your Energy Levels

If you’re like me and work best in the evenings (as opposed to the mornings), don’t give yourself the most difficult task of the day in the morning. If you always hit a wall at 3 p.m., don’t schedule the most tedious meetings right around the same time. Know your most productive and least productive hours and work with that. Forcing something won’t lead to success, it will lead to resentment. 

Turn Off The TV

Or…just eliminate any distraction. And you know what distracts you. While I’m working, I’ll occasionally listen to music. But when I’m working on a project that requires more brain energy than other projects, music can be distracting. 

That being said, I have a friend who needs to have noises going on around her while she’s working, otherwise she’ll get antsy. Know what distracts you and what helps you and give yourself an environment that will help boost that productivity.

 Improve Your Vision

OK, hear me out on this: staring at screens can be devastating to your eyes. At one point during my college career, I was working four desk jobs and taking 15 credits. I was staring at screens all day. It didn’t take long before I started experiencing brutal migraines. My doctor actually suggested getting yellow-tinted glasses to wear while I was staring at screens. As ridiculous as I felt, it worked wonders. 

You can also set your phone and laptop to a yellow setting, which is much more mild than the harsh blue lights we usually stare at. 

Remember to focus on other aspects of your health, too. Eat regular, healthy meals, consider a standing desk and be sure to get regular exercise. There’s nothing fun about sitting at a desk all day. Healthier means happier, and happier means more productivity!

Work In A Way That’s Best For You

I’ve read all sorts of things about how you should organize your day: get the easiest, quickest things done first, get the worst thing over with first thing in the morning, only work four hours a day, you name it. Advice contradicted each other left and right, and I disagreed with a lot of it. So here’s what you do: find what works best for you and stick to it. 

Whether it’s getting the worst thing done first thing in the morning, working from 4 a.m. to noon or 4 p.m. to midnight, find what works best for you. Don’t assume that something that works for others should work for you. 

Sometimes you just need a little extra motivation to get through the day. Ideally, most days are amazing and you get excited to get out of bed and get to work. But those rough days will come inevitably. That doesn’t mean you’re not doing well or you should reevaluate your life. It means you’re human. Keep moving forward and these days will soon be far behind you.