The world has never been this full of distractions. It’s easy to get lost in the noise and prioritize what’s important. Whatever life stage you’re in, whether you’re single, wanting to get the most out of your job and get promoted, or being a stay-at-home mom (such a hectic and complex task). Seven of our Davao Bloggers have pitched their secrets on becoming more productive in this day and age.
1. Plan your Week Ahead
“For me to be productive, I set time blocking with my hour, day, and week. This helps me monitor my workload, my free time, and the things I’m accomplishing and yet to accomplish. This will help me invest and focus my time on things that need deep work, thus contributing to a more productive consumption of my precious time.”
– Jade of the Jade Factura Vlog
2. Separate your Working Space from your Bedroom
“As much as possible, don’t work when you’re in your pajamas. Dress up like you’re going out to work. I am more productive if nakapag-ayos ako and I am on my going-out clothes.” – Crislyn Nierva
3. Divide your Tasks into Small Subtasks
“As a full-time mom, I try to stay productive. Aside from taking care of my baby, I also keep myself busy by doing household chores. I also set a schedule in my mind to finish something within the week.
For example, we are 3 in the family, so our laundry sometimes can be overwhelming, so what I do is I section our laundry by batch: first is my baby’s dirty clothes. After 2 days I will fold it immediately while I start to wash my partner’s dirty clothes. After it’s dry again, I fold it right away and onto my last batch w/c are my clothes. It keeps me productive within the week at the same time. It won’t be as tiring as washing them all at once and wasting all day just sitting and folding them all at once.”
– Goin’ Pineda of Let’s Get Goin’ Blog and Vlog
4. Listen to Classical Music
“Listening to relaxing music on Spotify while working increases my productivity. Try listening to classical music by Bach, Mozart, or Vivaldi. As strange as it may sound, this style of music will increase your attention span so long as you are not required to listen to audio files.”
-JB Vertudazo of TECHGUYPH Blog and Vlog
5. Get Inspired
“When you’re inspired, it’s easy to become productive. For example, you’re inspired by your child to work hard for their future. For a parent with a healthy state of mind, that’s easy. However, sometimes, it’s hard to find inspiration, especially when the world seems to crumble. It took a while for me to get inspired again, but I eventually did after shutting down all the noise from social media and news outlets. I realized I knew what I wanted and was living for. Because of the increased volume of the noise that wasn’t contributing to my life but harming it, my brain did not see the more important things in it.
Choose what you’re consuming online and offline. Make sure they’re something that makes you feel better or improves your skills. Be silent for a few moments, and find things you should be grateful for–as simple as the air you breathe or your loyal friends and family. Take time to do that at least once daily, and you’ll be inspired to do your purpose in life (including making a change in the world).
-NeP-C Ledesma of The Pop Blog and Electricmoi
“In the BPO community I’m with, I always spread the act of kindness, especially during my Orientation Class and with my HR Talks. In writing or blogging with our portfolio, the BPO business is my scope with other sites I’m connected with. I’m a bit low-key in terms of my Davao Bloggers Society. However, I just see to it that being in Davao, I spread the news about how beautiful Davao City is. As an HR Officer, employment in a BPO Company is my key to helping others, especially blogging about BPO and HR-related notions.”
– Emmanuel Alba of Pop Davao
6. Apply the Pomodoro Technique
“When it comes to Productivity, may ginafollow ko na technique that I learned dati sa professor ko na until now gina-adapt nako, which is the Pomodoro Technique. Lalo na I’m working from home; dili jud malikayan na di ta ka procrastinate. I remember dati mao jud ni akong no. 1 issue pag work from home ko. So ang Pomodoro method uses a timer to break our work into intervals, and I usually allot 20 minutes na break after I do a priority task, then may 3 – 5 mins short breaks in the gap between tasks if feel nako na drained nako for that certain task. Nice gamiton ang Pomodoro method kay it will make you stay focused and mentally fresh.”
– Brienne Tahodo of The Pretty Prince
7. Utilize Mobile Apps for Productivity
“Despite being an extremely disorganized person, I always manage to organize myself and be productive no matter what I do. I am a full-time healthcare practitioner and a part-time blogger, and balancing these two responsibilities could occasionally become too difficult.
I utilize a variety of mobile apps to stay organized and productive so I won’t forget what needs to be done first. Things 3 is the to-do list and reminders app I now use. Only iOS is presently supported by this. My to-do list is further divided into Personal, Health, Current Project, Finance, and Side Hustle categories. Your tasks should be organized into categories to make it easier for you to navigate the app.
READ MORE: The Davao Bloggers Geeks’ Favorite Book and Comic to Film Adaptations
I use the standard iPhone Calendar app to keep track of my schedule. I list all of the crucial deadlines, class schedules, meetings I need to attend, birthdays of all my significant others, and class requirements. I must schedule birthdays since I have a terrible recall. If you have a lot on your plate, scheduling, and more especially time-blocking, is vital so you won’t miss what’s important and can create time for what you actually want to do.
Another thing that simplifies my life a little is my iPhone’s native notes app. It serves as a clearing house for all of my ideas, plans, and thoughts. Additionally, I divide my notes into categories such as Personal, Finance, Side Hustle, Work, Family Stuffs, Health & Fitness, Meetings & Events, and Miscellaneous. Once more, categorization will simplify your life.
These are just a few of the tools I use to maintain my organization and productivity. The tasks we must complete each day do not need to be committed to memory. To make our brains lighter, we must place our ideas, plans, and other things somewhere else.”
-JB Vertudazo of TECHGUYPH Blog and Vlog
The copyright-free images used in this blog post are from Unsplash. Cover photo by Thought Catalog.
