 Hey, Psych2Goers. Do you get overwhelmed with how much work you have to do? Does your energy go to waste because you're not spending enough time on the things you need to do? Do you wish that you could produce more without suffering from burnout? Well, you're not alone. Our society pushes the culture that promotes limited sleep and constant work, which isn't healthy in the long term. But having a flexible routine or schedule can have you achieving your marks, producing quality work, while minimizing burnout and creating a more balanced life. Here are 12 ways to be more productive. Number one, create a morning routine. A morning routine might sound counterproductive because you might feel inclined to just jump right out of bed into action. That's great, but morning routines actually helps set the tone for your day. Try creating one that helps you feel grounded, focused, and can channel your enthusiasm into your work. Maybe try a healthy breakfast after a good night's sleep and a quick meditation to start. Number two, initiate before you're inspired. Who doesn't love a good motivational quote once in a while? They're inspiring and really light a fire inside of you to go out and do that thing. But waiting to start something until you're motivated is not going to help you get motivated. You'll be waiting for a long time. It's better to start and let that inspire you to do more. Once you start, you might not want to stop because you'll be having too much fun. Number three, break tasks into smaller ones. The best way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time. Yeah, it's odd imagery. But when you think about the tasks you have to complete, you don't want to do, you feel overwhelmed because it seems like too much. It's easier to complete the task when you break it down into small, clear tasks. You may even start getting ideas on how to do more work with less stress and effort. Some tasks are more important than others, and some tasks we'd rather not do. However, once this task is done, you'll feel so much better. Mark Twain once said, eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. The frog is the biggest, most important task that you're most likely to procrastinate on if you don't work on it early. Number five, don't multitask. As good as you might think you are at it, try not to do it. You might be successful with low level tasks like chores, but with tasks that require more mental engagement, you'll tire yourself out faster than focusing on one task. A Stanford University study found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The study also found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another, as well as those who complete one task at a time. Number six, limit distractions. Anything is more interesting when you have work to do and you prefer not to do it. Random thoughts and errands pop into your head like, you remember that you have to go do your laundry. It's normal to have distractions, but you don't need to tend to them immediately. Try keeping a separate list of random things that come to you that you think are important and do them later. Number seven, don't be let down by failure and blinded by success. We all fail. It happens all the time. We think that throw to success is smoothly paved, but failure is the price you pay for it. Success is amazing, but it can ironically make you stagnant and comfortable where you are. Learn from both failures and success. What led you to missing your goal and how can you improve next time? What have you gained from it? Or what helped you achieve your goal and what can you do next time to replicate similar results? Number eight, monitor where your time goes. From YouTube to Netflix to video games and social media. Binges are something a lot of us participate in. You can be preoccupied with this activity and then suddenly it's 2 a.m. A better way to be more productive is to limit these binge sessions. Be aware of where your time and energy goes and how you feel when you've participated in these activities. Do you feel energized, depleted, stressed? How do you want to remedy that? If you plan your time, you can complete your tasks and still have guilt-free chill sessions. Once you get going, it's almost impossible to stop. Your newly discovered overachiever will want to do everything that has ever existed, but you will need to slow down and take breaks. A great method that helps incorporate breaks, limit procrastination and improve productivity is the Pomodoro Technique. A period of 25 minutes of deep, focused work is followed by a five-minute break. It's very important to actually detach from work when you take breaks. Maybe do a few stretches, take a short walk or do some breathing exercises. Number 10, learn to say no. Not only is this habit good for your self-confidence and establishing authority in your life, it's also good for your productivity. You might be tempted, or forced, to agree to doing something you don't actually have the time for when your productivity plate is already full. Don't take on something that has nothing to do with you. Saying no is a life and time saver. 11, use the 80-20 rule. The Pareto principle, or the 80-20 rule, states that roughly 80% of your results and outcomes come from 20% of your efforts and methods. Basically, you need to focus on 20% of your to-do list that is responsible for 80% of the results you need. Let's say you're learning how to play guitar. Instead of learning strumming or hammer-on, consider learning basic chords and transitions. That way you get 80% of the result in 20% of the time. Number 12, make fewer decisions. Making decisions can be surprisingly time consuming and take a lot of brain power. A way to solve this is to automate and make things easier for you to do without much thought. Don't have enough time to cook every day? Try a meal prep or a food delivery service. Don't know what to wear? Look up capsule wardrobes, or try keeping your style to minimal, similar clothes. Artist Dandy Warhol was almost always in a black polo or turtleneck top. You have many decisions to make. Don't let irrelevant decisions take up your extremely valuable time. Do you want to try any of these tips in this video? Let us know in the comments below how you get on. As always, the references and studies used in this video are listed in the description below. Remember to like and share this video with people who might benefit from it. Until next time, thanks for watching and take care.