How do you stay productive?

[Kesha]

If time is money, we should be sure that we are spending it wisely! Yet, in the hustle and bustle of life, staying focused and maximizing your productivity can be quite challenging.

Whether it's prioritizing tasks, minimizing distractions, or a genius organization hack, I’m curious to know: What are your life hacks for remaining productive and squeezing every drop out of your day? 

Share your top tips in the comments below, and let's learn from each other's wisdom!
 

[texvox]

The biggest change I've made to my day-to-day operations to increase productivity for my business as a whole (including Fiverr, other platforms and my off-line direct clientele) is to limit the amount of time I spend working.

I used to be the type of freelancer who worked "as many hours as it takes." While I thought I was "crushing it" by giving myself a long leash to work until projects were perfect, and I was proud to be "the hardest worker in the room," when I stopped and actually spent time auditing my days I realized that much more of my time than I thought was spent in distraction, or in working tirelessly to squeeze that last 1% out of a project before I delivered. In other words, spent inefficiently.

At that point I resolved to work no more than 8 hours per day 5 days per week, and over time I have decreased my average daily working hours to 6, 5, and now about 4 hours on average. And now that I am working about 4 hours a day 5 days a week I am wildly more productive than when I was clocking in 8 hours a day 6 days a week. The reason? Setting a limit on the amount of time I can devote to something forces me to work much more diligently and use my time much more efficiently.

Over the last 2 years of doing this I have found that I can accomplish as much or more in 4 quality hours of work per day, 5 days a week than I ever did working 8 sloppy hours per day 6 days a week. Simultaneously my annual business earnings have more than doubled during this same window.

 

Edited March 19 by texvox

[levinewman]

I'd agree with Tex. One of the biggest ways to improve productivity is to spend less time on Fiverr. Make the time you are on here effective by stepping away often for your mental and physical health. It's easy to push yourself to the point of breaking trying to chase a system that's built to overwhelm and punish you. Do just enough to get your work done and make time for other things/people in your life, or you'll burn out quickly.