Cody

We all need uninterrupted work time every day, regardless of our role. Unbroken work makes us more motivated and focused. Yet uninterrupted calendar blocks are hard to design into a schedule.

We can't productively attend to meeting-heavy days while also spending hours on uninterrupted work time. We need to manage our expectations about what we can accomplish.

Anyone wanting to start something new, like creating art, authoring a book, volunteering, or building their brand faces the problem of time constraints, unable to accommodate any space in the already busy and overloaded life.

We need to create a structure for all the existing stuff in our lives and then carve out space for the new.

When most people want to improve their productivity, they make small changes, like creating a daily schedule or waking up early. However, you can also increase your productivity by moving abroad.

Moving to a country with a less expensive cost of living can enable you to work less, thereby devoting your spare time to other projects.

It's a productivity system that teaches how to take a simple approach to improving your productivity, by encouraging you to focus on forming one productivity-boosting habit at a time. 

We all have different Circadian Rhythms that make up our own chronotype, and are at our best if we work according to the same daily energy levels.

Our chronotype determines if we fall in one of the three types: A lark, an owl, or the third bird. Once we find that out, we can work our schedule to be the most productive, creative, motivated and focused.

Putting highly successful people on a pedestal can unknowingly hinder our own efforts. We get caught in comparisons and it’s easy to forget that they’ve had and still have their own set of struggles and challenges on their path.

Use highly successful people as inspiration, not idols.

When you feel overwhelmed by the mountain piled tasks you have to do, the first thing to do is to make sure you organize the tasks according to their urgency level.

Remember to reorganize your tasks and focus on what is important for the day. If there are tasks that can be moved to be done before the end of the day, then so be it. Just do not forget your priorities.

What we do in our downtime matters. For example, sports-related hobbies are beneficial for recharging because they require active engagement and distract the mind from work-related issues.

We all know that a constant connection to your work makes it harder to switch off after a day of work. We have to set time aside to recharge properly.

During World War II, the BBC broadcasted upbeat music in factories twice a day to see if it might step up the pace of work and get the military what they needed. It worked. One report stated that the output at a factory increased by 12,5-15%.

Since then, music has started to play an important role in productivity.

Managing time gets challenging as our career progresses and we take up more responsibilities. Five ways we can manage our time like a successful leader:

• Plan realistic reactive time.
• Don't respond habitually.
• Avoid the 25-minute meeting rule.
• Carve out your best 'brain time'.
• Answer a 'Yes' with true Intent.