Want To Have A Good Day? Do The Hard Things First

Have you heard make your bed, change your life? This may seem like a simple solution to complicated problems such as: ‘how can I be more productive?’ and ‘how can I be happier?’, but there is a lot of truth here.

The theory behind this sentiment is that you have already accomplished something by the time you leave the house. Additionally, you are putting effort into a task that will help you stay clear-minded and organized, however, it could have been easily put off. As stated in the article above:

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day.”

“It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”

The act of doing the hard things first starts a chain reaction of productivity and becomes an anchor for the rest of your day.

How to Get Organized at Work

That’s where Accelo’s flexible Project Management and task management tools come into play. With a client work management platform like Accelo, you can easily drag and drop items on your to-do list and move those important tasks (the ones you’re probably dreading) to the top of the queue.  

With long-term projects, you can manage and organize priorities the same way, and we suggest using words that inspire creativity rather than stunt it. Labelling something as "critical" may grab your eye, but it can also trigger a stress response and procrastination. An alternative is numbering your tasks as:

• P1
• P2
• P3

Or, using a time-based categorization, like:

• Today, by 11 AM
• Tomorrow EOD
• This Week

Be Better at Multitasking

Through the theory ‘make your bed, change your life’ we also suggest changing the way you multitask. With that said, is your task management currently effective? Multitasking can be a struggle, and we all struggle to stay focused on one thing when our to-do list is so long. That’s why Accelo is built to facilitate multitasking. How?

1. Automate busy work, such as tasks. We have a video here on how this can be done. These tasks appear during designated time periods and are automatically created/assigned to the right team member.
2. Create a schedule. We aren’t superhuman and can’t go 110% all the time! Schedule your sprints and your breaks in a Team Schedule that shows you who is doing what, and when, in real-time.
3. Keep things clean. Use filters to check on different goals by searching status, deadline, and workload. That way, you can prioritize work, prevent scope creep and avoid burnout before it’s too late.

The takeaway? Do your hard tasks first, and take it one step at a time. When you focus on the task at hand, use the right tools, and stick to a schedule, your workload will seem much lighter. Heck, you might even see a 40% increase in productivity just like this company did! To see the same results in your business, click here to start your free trial of Accelo.