How to Use Routine to Increase Productivity and Reduce Stress

how to use routine to increase productivity

Are you running from emergency to emergency and struggling to accomplish anything on your to-do list? When you first open your business, it can be challenging to set up a routine, but your routine can help you eliminate emergencies and work towards reaching your goals. Learn how to implement a solid routine to increase productivity.

1. Benefits of a Routine to Increase Productivity

A routine allows you to schedule specific tasks throughout the day. It also allows you to handle the tasks you need to do as daily and weekly tasks to no longer jump from one emergency to another. If you are running a business, such as a restaurant, you should establish an opening and closing routine for your staff to clean and prep the restaurant for customers.

The routine lets you know that all of the critical tasks for the day have been completed. Similarly, a routine for you allows you to schedule the critical recurring tasks and block out time for the intermittent tasks or emergencies that may arise each day.

2. Establishing Your Routine to Increase Productivity

The best way to establish your routine is to make a list of tasks that you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Then group the tasks together by type. This allows you to maintain your focus as you accomplish a list of tasks.

For example, if you must do payroll, complete a bid proposal, pay your bills, and order supplies for your business, it makes sense to do the ones that involve money together. Since you are already focused on your accounts, completing all those tasks at once will be easier.

You may set aside one day a week for specific types of tasks. You can work in advance this way, and it will prevent you from losing a bill or forgetting to submit a proposal.

3. Scheduling Time to Schedule to Increase Productivity

Your routine will vary each day slightly because you will have a different set of tasks to accomplish. You can increase productivity if you take time each day to schedule and prioritize the tasks on your to-do list.

Many experts suggest doing this in the morning before you do anything else. This works because you have not yet been distracted by emails or other problems that may come up, and it allows you to focus on the larger picture while working on your to-do list. You can also do weekly planning, monthly planning, and yearly planning sessions for your larger goals so that you can break them into smaller tasks you can accomplish on time. You can check my GTD system with Evernote and OmniFocus.

4. Automating Parts of Your Routine

If there are tasks that need to be done each day, you should look for ways to take care of them automatically. You can find computer programs that will handle tasks for you or hire someone to do it.  As a small business owner, you may be worried about your marketing campaign, but find that keeping up with a blog, Facebook posts, and Twitter is too much to handle.

You can hire someone to do it for you, or you can schedule these activities at the beginning of the month and take care of your marketing efforts on one day. Often the most mundane tasks are the ones that can be automated or passed on to someone else.

5. Eliminating Stress from Your Routine to Increase Productivity

Pay attention to your day and notice the times that you seem most stressed out. Are these times associated with specific tasks or people? If so, find a way to reduce the stress or eliminate it together. For example, you may need to stop phone calls from family members or friends during work if they are stressing you out. Additionally, you may find that a specific type of project or a client is causing you stress. Look beyond the person to determine what triggers your stress, such as taking on a task outside of your skillset or a tight deadline. Once you identify the real cause of your stress, you may be able to solve the problem. If you are not stressed, you will be able to focus and work more effectively.