A Simple Routine to Beat Burnout, Get More Done in Less Time and Crush Your Goals.

5 things that have changed my life that are insanely easy to implement

The way we work is insane, the busyness epidemic is not only making us miserable, it makes us perform even worse. You end up working harder and missing out on life only to accomplish less.

From the people I’ve worked with and my own story, it typically looks something like this.

• You’re pulled in a million different directions and feel like you’re letting everyone down.
• You’re doing a lot but not making the progress you want.
• You’re finding it hard to focus and stay on task for longer than a few minutes.
• You’re plugged into email and slack and feel a baseline of “communication anxiety”
• Worst of all, you end up working way longer than you want and missing out on things that are important to you.

I’ve been there too and it sucks, your job starts taking over your life.

One of the most surefire signs you need to make some changes is that every day is a bad day at work, and you bring those bad days home. It’s miserable for you and for the people in your life.

This exact problem and situation led me to a hospital stay.

Out of pure desperation, I was looking for ways I could get more done in less time so I could enjoy my life again.

I’ve read more books on the topic than I care to admit and experimented like crazy to find what works.

Here’s the cool part and where things started getting better. By making a few small changes, not only did I feel better, my career took off. I was able to get promoted and build a successful side hustle and go full time on it.

I owe a lot of it to keeping these habits as often as possible. I’m human so not every day is perfect, but the more I adhere to this system, the better I feel and the more I get accomplished.

Here it is, thank me later…

5 Steps Beat Burnout, Get More Done in Less Time and Crush Your Goals.

1. Set clear priorities.

This means identify 1 to 3 things and hold your ground on them. Everything that comes across your desk you need to ask, “How critical is this to my top 3?” It doesn’t mean you don’t other things at all, it just means running your day by what matters to you, not other people’s fires.

2. Follow the 80/20 Rule.

This builds on the last one. 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. Take time to think deep about . Taking 30 minutes to step away from your daily chaos and think here could double your productivity, not kidding. Once you figure out those top things you do that have the biggest outcomes, double your time on those items. Also, use the inverse. Figure out your biggest time wasters and get rid of them.

3. Block off one hour of your day, and protect it with your life.

This either sounds simple as it gets or an absurd request. The average knowledge worker gets interrupted every 3 minutes. Here’s why that’s a huge problem nobody talks about. Every time you get interrupted, it takes your brain time to reset, this is known as context switching. So when you get interrupted that often by notifications, it’s impossible to focus and do anything. I know we can’t all work like monks, so I found something that is a happy medium. I got more done in my distraction free hour than I did the rest of the day when I was a director at a startup.

4. Don’t start your day on email.

You can combine it with the last one where you do the first hour of your day not on email. This is my number one wellness and productivity tip I can possibly recommend. No other information requests enter your mind, so your focus is at its peak. You can also start the day in a positive mood and feel accomplished. I get a lot of pushback on this. It’s incredibly freeing to see that the world can go on without you just fine for an hour. You can make this work by communicating with people who need you and giving them your phone number if it is an actual emergency. If you’re hesitant, try it for one day and see what a difference it makes, the world can go on without you for an hour.

5. Have a shutdown routine.

Parkinson’s law is one of the most underrated productivity rules there is. This means that the amount of time it takes to do something is the amount of time you give it. When you give yourself a stop time, it helps you avoid getting distracted during the day. The way this works is picking a stop time and a set of rituals that signal to your brain work is over. This can mean writing out your top 3 things for the next day and watching your favorite show after work ends. It helps you get more done in less time, and shut off from work so you can rest your brain and come in fresh the next day.

Here’s what happens when you put these steps together:

• You have a clear understanding of where to focus your efforts so you can feel like you are making an impact.
• You start seeing progress from your efforts which improves your confidence and helps others notice your good work. (Important if you want to get promoted)
• You gain improved focus, when your thinking is clear you come up with better ideas and get things done faster.
• You aren’t doom scrolling your slack and email and can start to be more present in life.
• You build balance in your life and start to have more time to do the things you enjoy.

Here’s the funny thing, by doing the opposite of what 97% of people do, not only does your quality of life improve, your quality of work also improves.