Whether it’s not giving yourself enough time to do something, or putting it off for later, we all tend to procrastinate and end up in a bind.

There are a lot of things to keep us both busy and distracted, so learning how to be more productive takes a little bit of time and getting use to.

But rest assured, there are helpful ways to help schedule yourself so your productivity doesn’t go wasted.

One thing everyone should get into the habit of doing is making a realistic to-do list. When our lists get too long or unreasonable we begin to feel like we are falling behind when in actuality we are just overloaded.

Go through your weekly list and see what is top priority. Things like firm deadlines and urgent appointments need to have precedence over something menial like returning your dress to the department store. The dress can wait until the weekend, but the deadline for your work project can’t.

When it comes to productivity at work it’s said that you tend to do your best before lunch when you feel fresh and ready for the day.

I know myself well enough to know that I actually work better in the afternoon, so I tend to plan out my work tasks based on when I know I will pay the most attention to them.

Speaking of attention, keep distractions like your phone in your purse or desk drawer and leave it on silent. When you have a million texts coming through it can be hard to focus on your work.

The same goes for social media. In order to be productive you need to keep yourself away from the things that distract you the most.

Whether that’s Facebook or your coworker, start making it a point to limit yourself to how much time you spend doing things other than what you should be working on.

You can even give yourself incentives for completing tasks. For every task you get done you get to take a five minute break to chat with your coworker or checkout Instagram.

Lastly, being productive means not multitasking to the point of not being able to complete something fully. Sometimes we try to multitask thinking it is a better use of our time, but when it starts preventing us from completing projects, it’s time to focus on one thing until it’s done, then move on to the next project.

Our brains weren’t designed to multitask the way we force ourselves to, especially when it comes to using multiple electronic devices at once in an attempt to get things done faster. 

Using your time wisely is different than multitasking to the point of exhaustion, but the main thing to keep in mind is being productive means working the way that works best for you.

And if you’re still having a hard time being productive team up with a buddy and hold each other accountable for being productive busy bees.

You’ll be getting through that to-do list in no time!