We all have roughly the same amount of time to work harder, and many of us have access to the same tools to work smarter.Everyone assumes that being more productive is simply about getting more done in less time. If you are a productive person, you definitely accomplish more in months than many people do in years, but productivity is more of a way of being. You could be doing less and at the same time, be more productive.

I am not going to tell you where you can buy a magic pill to take away any effort you need to make to achieve what you want, but I am going to share with you 5 ways that really work to be more productive.

Plan for next day before go to Bed

 Productive people know what they need and want to do way before it’s the time to do it. If you failed to plan, you’re planned to fail. People who never plan for what they need to get done the next day usually get nothing done. Besides, having a clear mission and purpose for the next day also give you a solid reason to get up early and kick some asses the next day.

  Image source – Revolution Australia

Wake up early

You don’t have to immediately start waking up at 4:00 a.m. like Tim Cook (apple of CEO), but you can gradually start pushing back the time you wake up (I recommend 15 minutes a week), and over time you can be a really early riser. The reason waking up early is so integral to success is that there are no distractions whatsoever in the morning time and you can 8-10 hours of work done in 4-5, OR you can set your day up for maximum productivity by helping ensure your mental, physical and emotional welfare through eating a good breakfast, meditating, writing, etc.

              Image source – Revolution Australia

Meditation

Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day every morning to meditate. Any busy people will understand how messed up their mind is each day when facing multiple urgent tasks in the never ending chaos. Invest a short amount of time to wind down, think of nothing, plan for nothing, and literally do nothing. Focus on your breath, this simple (but not easy) routine helps to improve your focus. The best part is, you could use this skills of focusing on everything when you master it.

Information consumption

Stop reading the newspaper or browsing social media sites (unless those are your job). Consuming more information gives an illusion that we’re actually doing something and being productive, but the truth is – we don’t. Spend 80% of your time on executing; and only 20% of the time on learning.

Cultivate habits

It’s hard for you to apply all of these at once. Productive people make these their habits slowly, up to a point where they’re doing them automatically.