Want to know the productivity habits that will help you manage adulting? These 7 essential habits will help you manage your adult life with much more ease and effectiveness.
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As you may know, adults manage multiple priorities and interact with several environments throughout their week. Going to work, taking care of the home, participating in religious organizations, and doing food shopping are just a few of the weekly tasks adults manage to keep their lives and the lives of those they care for on track.
As a grad student, full-time school leader, and long-distance caretaker these productivity habits have helped me stay on top of everything. Whether you are a student, parent, professional, or all three you can use these tips in your life to help you master adulting.
This post is all about the 7 productivity habits that will help you start adulting like a pro.
Disclaimer
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7 Insanely Effective Productivity Habits that will Help you Adult like A Pro
7. Have a Bedtime
Having and sticking to my bedtime has been a game changer for my overall productivity. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute 1 in 3 Americans don’t get enough sleep which can lead to a loss in productivity and a range of health issues (2022). The first step to ensuring that you are giving yourself the best chance to manage your life successfully is to commit to a bedtime that allows you at least 7 hours of rest. When you rest, your brain recovers and repairs to focus and concentrate again.
Using the sleep mode feature on my iPhone helps me to remember when to start preparing for bed. It filters notifications and other distractions to keep me focused on winding down. I’ve also developed a night routine that helps me relax so I can seamlessly transition from managing my home to shutting down for the evening. To build your night routine, identify when you need to wake up and make your bedtime 7-9 hours before. I suggest adding a 30-minute buffer for unexpected interruptions. Set a reminder for yourself to begin preparing for bed. Then find 1-2 activities that are quick and can easily transition you into bed. For example, putting on your pajamas can take less than 90 seconds and is a step towards getting you into bed. Along with shutting off your electronics, you want to do this habit each time you go to bed to begin to form a routine.
6. Time Management
Having a consistent time management practice is going to help you forecast what your day, week, and month will look like. Knowing what you need to do ahead of time allows you to plan and prepare. I recommend that you meet with yourself every week to plan your priorities, tasks, meetings, and deadlines. At the top of every morning, review your agenda to reorient yourself to how your time will be spent, this is also a perfect opportunity to set reminders and debug any schedule conflicts that arise overnight. At the end of each day, I encourage you to reflect on your progress and make any necessary adjustments. I have developed a time management practice over an 8-year career in education and as a student. In this time management activity book, I walk you through the essentials of planning your week, teaching you to review your inputs and ways to organize your tasks for maximum productivity. If you are looking to perfect or begin your time management practice, this is a great resource to get you on track.
{Related Articles: 7 Critical Time Management Goals to Help You Master Adulting}
5. Eliminate Distractions
In the age of social media distractions abound. In 2022 the National Library of Medicine conducted a study revealing that 61% of the study participants were addicted to their smartphones (Ratan, et al., 2022). Did you know that distracted driving accounted for over 350,000 motor vehicle accidents in 2021 (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2023)? It’s gotten so bad that we are distracted from our distractions. Have you sat down to watch a movie or show and then ended up scrolling through socials as you “watch”? If you are constantly presented with opportunities to receive the quick dopamine hit over doing the long-hand work for a more satisfying and beneficial result, you will inventable choose the quick fix.
A great way to help retrain your brain is to simply eliminate distractions that draw your attention away from the things you need to focus on. Delete the social media apps from your phone, take a social media hiatus, or place your phone in different parts of your workspace to curtail the desire to pick your phone up and check your apps. Another huge distraction to getting things done is smaller tasks that don’t take much time and thought. Have you ever found yourself avoiding a really big task by doing smaller insignificant tasks? In the next paragraph, I will share how doing the hard things first can help you win big when maximizing your productivity.
4. Do the Hard Things First
Doing the most difficult and complex tasks first is a challenge, but it will give you more time in the end. Have you ever seen the rock illustration demonstrating task management? The vase represents your time, when the big rocks (hard tasks) go in first you’ll notice that the smaller pebbles and sand can fill in the crevasses and not overflow. However, when you start with the smaller tasks (smaller less complex tasks), there is not enough room in the vase to hold the big rocks.
One way to motivate yourself to get the hard things done first is to organize your workspace in a way that leads you to complete the more complex tasks first by having them set up to start when you first open your laptop or walk into the kitchen. You may also find it helpful to eliminate distractions during the time you are working on your bigger rocks so that you can optimize your focus. Another way to work through this is to name your complex tasks and break them down into smaller less complicated tasks to complete.
3. Do the Things at the Right Time
Understanding time and task management is critical to being able to optimize your productivity, however, managing your energy is a game changer. Side Note: self-reflection and self-awareness are so critical to adulting because knowing yourself allows you to craft strategies and methods that work best for you! Have you ever tried to complete a work project or school paper at night? What would normally take you 20 minutes has turned into 60 minutes? This may or may not be you. If you are a night person, you enjoy the calm that comes with evening and you feel your energy rise and concentration peak as everyone is tucked away asleep. Whereas if you are a morning bird, you gain energy and clarity in the stillness of morning. Your energy will even eb and flow throughout your day based on your environment, interactions, and circumstances.
As you journey through your day take note of your energy and focus levels. Determine where your energy and focus are optimal and that is when you should schedule time to do your most mentally laborious work. When you are drained and devoid of focus and motivation, reserve that for mindless tasks that don’t take much time.
2. Rest and Recover
Resting and recovery are essential to productivity. Burnout happens when a person continues to expend energy without adequate rest and recovery until they become completely extinguished. Resting allows you to put an end to dispensing so that you can fill your cup. There are 7 types of rest that you need to recover. Dr. Sandra Dalton Smith details the significance of getting rest in 7 key areas and shares the exact methods each of us can use to recover well in her book Sacred Rest.
From taking a walk in nature to napping to enjoying board games with my friends, these are methods any of us can implement to refill our stores. Take some time to reflect on the areas you may feel depleted and determine what allows you to regain vitality spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, etc.
1. Do the Things you Love
This is the best piece of advice that I received a very long time ago. Sometimes we want to discipline ourselves to do things that we do not enjoy and we wonder why we struggle to produce in these areas. While it is possible to wield energy to do things that we dislike, it is much easier to do things we are bought into and enjoy. Whatever the reason you are attempting to be more productive ensure that the purpose is connected to something you are inspired by and want to do.
I was rarely motivated to be productive at my old job because my coworkers and supervisors did not appreciate or respect me. So, I was often pulling my wagon uphill to find the energy to be productive. I wasn’t bought into their leadership and approach to our work. Before implementing any of these productivity tips, find what inspires you and use that as the springboard of your motivation to be more productive.
This post details 6 effective productivity habits to help you adult like a pro.
References
National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2023, May). Distracted driving in 2021. (Research Note. Report No. DOT HS 813 443). National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813443
Ratan, Z.A., Parrish, A.M., Alotaibi, M.S., Hosseinzadeh H. (2022, December 9). “Prevalence of Smartphone Addiction and Its Association with Sociodemographic, Physical and Mental Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study among the Young Adults of Bangladesh”. Int J Environ Res Public Health.; 19(24):16583. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416583. PMID: 36554468; PMCID: PMC9778917. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778917/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, March 24). What are sleep deprivation and deficiency?. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleepdeprivation#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Centers%20for,at%20least%20once%20a%20month
