Make Work Hours Valuable

A workday is typically eight hours. Seems like a long time, right? As any working person with a demanding job knows, it’s not – the hours seem to fly by and it feels like you just don’t have enough time to meet your deadline.

So then begs the question: what is the most effective way to be productive with your hours? Let’s break this down by hours to be more specific – what is the best way to spend one hour to achieve the most you can? We all know each hour is precious in the working world.

Luckily, there are some steps you can add to your daily routine to be productive for not just one hour, but every single day.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my 13-book Series “Becoming a Pioneer” – Join the Pioneers Club by Clicking this Link

Wake up early & take an hour for yourself. 

Feel like there’s never enough time in the day? Waking up early gives your body time to wake up and process what you need to do. Some people use the early morning time to focus on mental health, such as meditating, listening to music, or journaling their intentions for the day. 

Prioritizing your health (especially if you have a high-stress job) is essential in being productive. If anything, spending your one hour checking in with yourself is one of the most productive things you can do – if you are overwhelmed and stressed out, you won’t perform well in your career.

Create a list/goals

Another way to productively use an hour is to create a list of your goals, intentions and what you need to get accomplished that day.  Sometimes, we can feel overwhelmed by the number of tasks we need to get done that our job demands from us. If we can take a step back to realistically figure out what needs to be done today versus tomorrow, you can prioritize your focus on one or two tasks instead of a million, making your hour of work more productive.

Put your phone away

While cell phones are necessary for work, try to avoid going online as a means to distract yourself or procrastinate. It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed and unmotivated, and to pass time scrolling through social media. This, however, is a poor decision – that absent-minded scrolling can lead to a lot of wasted time.

Try muting or putting away your phone, computer, or anything else that would tempt you to avoid doing your tasks. Sometimes putting it out of sight with the volume down can help prevent distraction. When you complete your one hour of work, then you can check and take a five-minute phone break. Having that incentive to finish your work to check your phone is a way to motivate yourself.

While it may seem like a small amount of time, one hour can be very productive – if you use the time wisely. 

Enhance Productivity Today

Prepare before getting started

Productivity does not just happen “in the moment.” It happens long before you even sit down and get to work. The more you prepare ahead of time and get clear on exactly what it is you want, need, or should do, the easier and faster you will move once you start.

The reason why so many people struggle with “being productive” is because they skip this step, and when they sit down, they expect to start flying even though they haven’t even decided where it is they want to fly to.

Turn off all distractions

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that every time your phone buzzes, your e-mail pops up on your screen, your office door opens, your train of thought is ruined. We like to believe we can both participate in a group chat via text and write our best-selling book, but the truth is, we can’t — and to think we can is wishful and naïve.

Your best work comes in silence. It’s why people retreat and take vacations away from the bus(i)yness of life — to distance themselves from distraction.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my 13-book Series “Becoming a Pioneer” – Join the Pioneers Club by Clicking this Link

Create a Routine

It is said the best musicians, athletes, innovators, etc., follow a daily routine that trains their subconscious to know when it is time to work and when it is time to relax. There is absolutely something to be said for always practicing at the same time, or always going to the gym at the same time, or always writing at the same time, every day. 

You train yourself to know, as soon as that hour strikes, to fall into that mode of focus required to do your best work.

Share your work – for Feedback

Maybe you are one of those professionals that never want to share or talk about anything being worked upon. You may think it was “bad luck” or would take you out of your flow. And I’ll admit, there are those moments when your ideas are best left to ruminate in your own head, but you should not be hesitant to share what you’re working on. Feedback is extremely important, and a lot of time can be saved by a single conversation where someone points out, very clearly, something that isn’t “working.”

It might not be easy to hear in the moment, but you will be thankful for it later.

Take Breaks

Again, being “productive” does not necessarily mean sitting still for eight straight hours. You might be able to swing that for a day or two, but you are not a robot. You will burn out. Productivity is all about flow. It’s about knowing your limits and being conscious of how to move within your own constraints.

Maybe you need to take 10-minute breaks after every 50 minutes of focus. 

Great. Do that.

Or maybe you can work for four hours no problem, but then you need to take the afternoon before diving into another four-hour work session at night.

Great. Do that.

Do what works for you, and you only. This isn’t about being productive based on someone else’s habits or way of doing things. This is about knowing yourself, and using your habits to your advantage.