Do you sometimes feel like time is flying without you having accomplished anything? Or do you feel that you have way too much to do but so little time? Well, this happens to me more times than I care to admit. But regardless, I have adopted some habits over time that help me reduce this as much as possible.

This article will highlight 5 tips that will help you to plan your day effectively and be most productive.

1. ALWAYS Have your Plan in Writing.

Writing down your daily plan serves as a form of reinforcement when you want to accomplish your goals. You may have a detailed breakdown in your mind, but there is nothing that sets them in stone like a pen does. Research from the Dominican university found out, that people who write down their plans were highly successful than those who don’t. In addition to accomplishing your goals, writing stuff down prevents forgetfulness and will help you manage your time wisely.

I like to use my planner to keep track of tasks and events, days or even weeks in advance. And I make it a habit to go through this and tick off completed tasks. It is its own form of reward. Also , you can use digital planners or planner apps on your phone. Whatever the case, just make sure to write stufff down.

2. Schedule Breaks.

Regardless of how stacked your day may be, it is always important to schedule some time for a rest. It may seem like a good idea to just grind through several hours, but that is very counter-productive behaviour.

Taking time to rest gives you time to breathe, and reduces ‘tunnel vision’. You are more likely to come up with fresher ideas during your rest moment, that will improve your efficiency exponentially once you DO return to work.

3. Separate Task Lists

It is too easy to mix both work and personal lists in your planner. However, this is dangerous because you it may hurt your work-life balance on a daily basis.

What I have found effective in planning my day is to have 2 separate to-do lists. In one I plan my workday, while in the other I plan my personal day.

4. Set Personal & Realistic Boundaries.

When you’re planning your workday, give yourself a realistic window of time for each item and cut yourself off at that window. Setting boundaries with your time, as well as those around you, enables you to focus and rely on the scheduling parameters you set for yourself.

Another habit to build into your day is to reset your mind and body – even when you don’t want to. Set an alarm to ring every hour. When it rings, stand up and stretch to reinvigorate your state. Before getting back to work, ask yourself if that last hour was productive and plan the next hour for maximal results.

5. Reflect & Review.

At the end of each day, it is good to review your plan and feel some fulfillment in your completed tasks. You won’t be able to complete your tasks all the time. And sometimes you may be tempted to focus on that negative feeling of incompletion, whist completely ignoring the great work you put into complete the other tasks.

So remember to allow yourself to feel good about the small wins. You deserve to.

These tips have helped me become more productive in both my work and personal life. Of course, some days are simply not great – and that is just how life is. You may be moody, overwhelmed or affected by something entirely out of your control. However, it definitely does help to develop a set of habits that lean more towards discipline than just a love for what you do.

So try using the tips above, and hopefully, they will reap results for you like they are doing for me :).