6 tips to organize your day and be more productive

Do you remember when we thought technology would save us a lot of time? Two decades ago, we believed that, for example, sending an email would take much less time than carrying a letter.

Of course, sending the email really is faster than the letter, but we couldn’t predict everything back then. What we didn’t know is that, despite allowing us to save time on the one hand, we would spend even more hours and hours on other technology-related activities.

Every day, we receive an avalanche of spam, Facebook notifications, WhatsApp messages and endless stories to watch on half a dozen different apps. That is, we are interrupted all the time and it is very difficult to maintain concentration.

With so many resources at hand, it can be difficult to get organized to maintain productivity, which makes us waste precious hours every day with the clutter that accumulates. If you are suffering from this problem, take a look at the tips we have separated:

1. Check your emails, but only read what matters

According to some authors, emails activate an impulse in our brain, making it seek rewards. We keep waiting for wonderful news to come through this tool, so we check the inbox non-stop – something that does nothing to contribute to productivity.

The tip to solve this problem is to separate two or three 30-minute breaks a day to check your emails and be selective with what you read. Advertising emails and offers, for example, shouldn’t take up too much time in your day.

2. Don’t rely on memory: write everything down!

In the same way that you remembered more about your school subjects when you took notes in your notebook, it’s easier to remember your daily tasks if you write them down.

It is worth writing down on your cell phone or in the traditional paper notepad. You may even think you’re going to waste a few seconds dedicating yourself to recording your tasks, but you’ll thank yourself at the end of the day.

3. Have a right place for everything

Life becomes a mess when we don’t know where to find what we need when we need it. And that goes for objects like the cell phone charger and your voter registration card as well as for digital documents, which end up getting lost amid so many devices and cloud storage services.

While objects need to be in the right place (and you should always return them to that place after use), you can organize your digital documents into groups based on how often you use them. Don’t forget to keep a file describing how your system works.

4. Make to-do lists and cross them off as soon as you complete them

Traditional to-do lists are an excellent tool for planning your day – and you can do them on paper even if you don’t adapt very well to digital lists. Break up longer tasks into smaller steps and cross them off once they’re done.

In addition, writing down a time forecast when you will perform each task is also a good trick to better organize your time.

5. Find time to get organized

At the end of each day, try to set aside about 15 minutes to put your stuff away – whether it’s files on your computer at work or the clothes strewn around your room. The important thing is not to let the mess accumulate for the next day.

At first, it may seem like you are spending more time, but this habit will save you many hours of the days to come.

6. Don’t be multitasking all the time

Carrying out several activities at once may seem like a good way to save time, but it’s not a good idea when you’re doing something important that requires your concentration.

Interrupting a task to check a mobile notification, for example, is much more time consuming than it seems, as it takes us more than 20 minutes to regain our previous level of concentration. That is, if you need undivided attention to perform a task, it is best to disable any type of alert that could be distracting.

At first, it may seem a little difficult to put the tips we have suggested into practice, but they are all habits that can be acquired with persistence in everyday life.