The Simple Little ‘Secret” That Can Explode Your Productivity

We all hate to waste time, yet it’s something we all do, and some do it way more than others.

Over the years I’ve read so many books on productivity and one common thread that they all say is that to be productive, you need to know what it is that you want to do and the order in which you need to do it.

And this is a great piece of advice.

It’s why I use a diary to write down everything I need to do every day. I make a list of everything and then I number them in the order they need to be done.

This has an amazing effect of giving me more time to write every day because it cuts out thinking time so that I can get straight to work.

And having a daily to-do list can help you too. If you’ve never done it before, give it a try. You won’t regret it.

But it’s not just writing related tasks that you need to write down. You’re kidding yourself if you think you’ll be more productive by not including everything you need to do on your list.

And remember, you’re not writing down jobs to be done, but tasks to be done.

What that means is listing each task that needs to be done, rather than a whole project.

So, for instance, if you have a few writing projects you might put –

• Outline blog post about productivity lists
• Write query for magazine
• Write blog post
• Proof and send query to ABCD Magazine
• Proof and read blog post
• Tweet and Facebook with link to blog post

That list is more ‘do-able’ than writing

• Write and upload blog post
• Send query to ABCD magazine

If you only write the project to be done instead of the tasks involved, it can make you more hesitant to start or put you off doing it at all. That’s why it’s so much better to write the steps needed so that you can get straight down to business.

Just don’t overwhelm yourself with too many things to do in a day. I usually include a set amount of time to get things done and over the years I’ve got a pretty good idea of how long it takes to get them done.

And all the books I’ve written about writing work the same way as a list of tasks, because that’s what they are. 

They’re all set out to guide you effortlessly through writing an article, an ebook, a short report (in only 2 hours), set up and run a profitable website, or how to overcome writers’ block instantly.

You can find them all by clicking the link below:

https://ruthiswriting.com/make-money.html