Best productivity tips to overcome the slump and crush your goals

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As online entrepreneurs and bloggers, we all spend a lot of time sitting in front of the computer and blog away. Many times we experience burnout and lose our motivation and productivity. If you’re reading this post, then chances are you’ve searched for the best productivity tips at least once or twice.

If that’s the case, then you’re in the right place. I hope you get some useful tips out of this article. I believe with the right mentality and the best productivity tips, you can definitely overcome your slump and achieve your goals.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and services. This means that if you click on my link to make a purchase, then I will get a small commission at no extra expense to you. I only align myself with products and services that I use and love. You can read my full disclosure for more details.

best productivity tip #1-move your body!

Believe it or not, the best productivity tip is to exercise. Your exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous or difficult. You just need to move your body.

Going for a brisk walk three times a week for up to an hour, jogging, strength training, or HIIT (high-intensity interval training) are all great forms of activities that you can do. This is by no means an exclusive list, merely a few mentions.

So how does exercise make you more productive? It’s simple really. According to Julie Boehkle in How Does Exercise Improve Work Productivity?, “When you exercise, you are also increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project. A protein called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) boosts your cognitive abilities; and BDNF is triggered by exercise according to the American Council on Exercise.”

In other words, as a result of exercise, you have increased amounts of alertness and energy, and this is key for productivity.

The nature of our work is such that we can sit for hours and stare at the screen. Definitely not the way to go about getting more energy and staying alert. So move around, do yoga, take up walking, dancing, just put your body in motion for at least half an hour in a day.

Best Productivity Tip #2-Self-care plays an important role in boosting your productivity

Self-care comes in many forms and has different understandings for everybody. It can be meditation, or spending an hour in a bubble bath, or going to a salon, or catching up on your sleep.

Self-care is about having time for yourself. Making yourself a priority and working on your well-being.

One of the best productivity tips is to never sacrifice your sleep. A human body needs a certain minimum number of hours of sleep to function at an optimum state. By foregoing sleep, you’re putting a strain on your body, brain and cognitive functions.

According to Deanna deBara on the Trello blog, “…carving out that time, making yourself a priority, and cultivating a consistent self-care routine will not only help you avoid burnout (and be a happier person in the process), but it can also help you ramp up your productivity—and squeeze more out of the time you are at work.”

No matter how busy you are, always carve out time for yourself. It seems counterintuitive to take time off when you’re swamped with work and deadlines, but that short break will reenergize you, focus you and make you into a more productive person.

Think of this way-the best productivity tip is to take care of yourself so that you can be at your best, function at your optimum, have energy and alertness enough to tackle any task in front of you.

Now create your plan and plan your goals (plus my favorite tools to help you with this)

I find that one of the best ways for me to stay productive and make sure that I am going to follow through with my goals is to write them down.

It’s actually been studied that when you write things down, you’re more likely to see them through. For these reasons, planners are my best friends. I’ve used and continue to use several different ones for different purposes.

For example, I have a journal where I keep blog post topics and ideas, tripwire ideas, lead magnets, potential courses, etc. Yes, I write them down in my journal or notebook-whatever you want to call it. Do I also keep a digital record? Yes, of course. However, there is something about writing them down on a paper that stays with me better, and I can think better.

Another great productivity tip is to create a plan. By that I don’t mean a super strict schedule such as wake up 5:30 am, breakfast at 7 am, blah, blah, blah. I mean create a loose plan for yourself that you can maintain. More importantly, create your plan with benchmarks and goals. For example, by the end of next month, finish and publish your ebook. By month 5 earn minimum $500 in affiliate fees. You get the picture. Your plan and goals have to be both flexible and planned out. You need something to work towards to, but not so strict and unforgiving that you’ll be lost if you mess up.

One of my favorite brands for various types of planners is Erin Condren (affiliate). Her store is incredible. My favorite planner from her store is the Kaleidoscope Neutral Metallic Lifeplanner (affiliate). It’s gorgeous, completely customizable, albeit a little on the pricy side. However, when I feel like splurging, I allow myself a planner from the store. If you want a luxurious planner that is so beautiful, yet functional, that you want to carry it around with you, take a look at her store.

Another type of planner that I love is the Deluxe Monthly Planner. As always, the designs of these planners are beautiful. This particular one is another favorite of mine (affiliate) (it’s a little feminine in style). Men, don’t fret. There are some designs that are perfectly suitable for men also. check this one out (affiliate).

other productivity planners that are more affordable (but not less functional)

Aside from the choices above, there are also many more affordable options out there that are as functional as Erin Condren planners. I go through a lot of planners, organizers, and journals. So Amazon is my best friend when it comes to frequent buying choices.

Here are some of my favorites from Amazon that are priced affordably for most people. You can also check out my Prime Day post where I listed some more great planners for entrepreneurs.

• Pursuit Goal Journal (affiliate)-the official description of this product states “A Unique, Down-to-Earth Method for Productivity, Motivation, Mindfulness, and Goal Planning”-I must say that I agree with this-this is a very highly rated product on Amazon.
• Get Stuff Done (affiliate)-this is quite possibly my favorite in terms of options and functionality. It’s beautiful, slick and works for both men and women.

Aside from physical planners, there are two other tools that I use on a regular basis to keep myself organized and productive. Both of these tools are software and both have amazing free options that you can use without the need to upgrade to the paid plan (unless you want to).

The first one is Trello. I am sure that at the very least you’ve heard of it. It’s an incredible task management and organizing software. I have so many of my tasks and different calendar in Trello that I would be lost without it. You can create boards in Trello and then create individual cards. You can move them around as you see fit. The screenshot below is an example of a card where I planned out a blog, with graphics and content, and attached it to my Google Drive pull the article. It’s incredibly versatile and powerful. This is not an affiliate product, but regardless, I feel that this post wouldn’t provide the best tips for productivity if it didn’t recommend Trello and my next tool.

My next, and possibly best tool is ClickUp. It’s an online task management platform that does so many things! I am still learning this platform because that’s just how powerful it is. It has one of the most generous free plans that you can use forever. ClickUp is where I house all my tasks that have hierarchies and/or I might need to bring in another person to work with, such as a virtual assistant.

Don’t punish yourself–Be your own cheerleader (seriously!)

Now that all is said and done, you created your plan and you have your trusty tools to see you through, the only thing that’s left is implementation.

Take your planner and look at your goals. Don’t look at the things to get overwhelmed. Approach it one step at a time. Remember, reaching your goals, staying productive is a marathon, not a sprint.

One of the best productivity tips that I can give to anybody is to never compare yourself to another person and how far ahead they are of you. What’s important is that you also move forward. The pace is totally up to you. Do what feels sustainable.

Remember, you’re only human, and you’re bound to make mistakes, or slack off, or not meet goals all the time. Don’t be hard on yourself. Let it go, and concentrate on doing the next thing even better. Your productivity will only suffer if you become super critical of yourself. Cheer yourself on! You can do this, and you will find productivity in your positive outlook.

If you liked this post and found it useful, I would be grateful if you shared it with others.

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