A lot of times, we may feel unmotivated because of the fact that we are not achieving what we want, and we feel there is not enough time. This may happen because we don’t set a good plan or have good strategies, and that’s why today I will explain you how to make of yourself a more organized and productive person. This will work for school assignments, your job, or any project in which you want to be successful. They have worked very well for me; I hope they work for you as well ;)

Let’s get right into it!

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#1

Put down your ideas!

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Paper is not for nothing! It has been one of the most useful tools in the history of humanity. Writing down your goals or ideas is a great option when it comes to motivating yourself and remembering to complete them.
Make a list of your MUST DO tasks, and set up a deadline for those tasks. Every time you complete one of them, take a pen and cross it out. This is like a game where you have to complete the mission, and you will feel more committed and motivated.

According to Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at the Dominican University in California, you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis.

What are the benefits from doing this?

• It keeps you motivated: We as humans are naturally competitive and what better way to explore this feeling that competing against ourselves. This will increase your desire of winning, just like in a game. You can reward yourself to make it more fun and entertaining.

• You don’t forget your goals: Sometimes our memory can play tricks on us, specially our short-term memory. That’s why it’s always beneficial to write things down, to always remember your awesome plan or project for the week. You can take a diary with you wherever you go, this way you can immediately write down any great idea that comes to your mind.

• Celebrate your progress: There’s nothing more satisfying than having success. And you will feel very happy every time you cross out a goal.

• It helps you to your time: You can’t set up a proper schedule if you don’t know what you are going to do. If you write your goals down, this will make it easier for you to figure out how much time you are going to spend on them, and therefore create an adequate schedule.

#2

Use a tool to control your time.

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Sometimes a clock or an alarm is not enough to control the time you spend on what you are doing, and they are also so strict you can’t allow yourself to take a break. In this case technology is your best ally, there are lots of ways to manage this, but I recommend one that works best for me, it’s an app called “POMODORO”.

What’s pomodoro?

Pomodoro is a method where you use a special timer which breaks down the time into 25 minutes’ intervals separated by short breaks (usually 5 minutes) you can use to stand up, drink water, eat a snack or anything that takes fewer than 5 minutes.
Those short breaks are named “pomodoros”, and after you finish four of them, you are allowed to reset the timer and take a longer break of 20-30 minutes. This method will help you to get more focused and finish your task faster and with no distractions. This is a good way to try the Zeigarnik effect, which suggests that students who take breaks in their studies to make other activities are more likely to remember materials than students who didn’t take breaks during their learning sessions.

POMODORO ONLINE TIMER

Pomodoro is an Italian word which means Tomato. The inventor of the Pomodoro technique Francesco Cirillo was Italian, and at that time Tomato clocks were very famous, so he decided to call his method " tomato" , referring to the clocks created in Italy.

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#3

Do ONLY, one task at a time.

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Often we may think we can accelerate our productivity if we do several things at the same time, thinking we can kill two birds with one stone, but it turns out that it’s the other way around…

According to a study performed at Aalto University and published in ScienceDaily (a source for the latest research news), performing several tasks at the same time, reduces productivity by as much as 40%.

There are plenty of studies that suggest multitasking is not the best option when it comes to getting something done in a fast and effective way. This is basically because we use both hemispheres of our brains to perform an action, but when we are multi-tasking, the right and left hemispheres work by separate, this causes “lag” in our brain, and therefore it works slower and we can say it “resets” every time we switch between tasks, forgetting very important details stored in our short-term memory.

You can see several studies in the “sources” section down below, that reinforce this statement. Feel free to check them out.

Thank you for reading my article. I hope that those tips will help you to improve your productivity and you succeed at all of your goals. :D

Images: 1,2,3,4,5.

Sources:

The power of writing down your ideas.
The psychology of the to-do list.
Pomodoro explanation.
Pomodoro and management of time.
Multi-task study
Multi tasking overloads the brain (Aalto University).
More about multi-tasking.
Even more about multi-tasking.