How to Have a Productive Week!

Don’t worry, this does not include adding more work time.

When I was first introduced to the word “productivity”, I remember how I thought that it was about how much work you get done. You can imagine that if I did anything other than study and work, I’d feel guilty about it.

Over the years, I have learnt that you’re not just productive when you’re doing work. In fact, if you neglect the other areas of your life because you’re working 24/7, of course you’ll get burnt out and your productivity will get affected anyway.

This blog post will go through how to have a productive week. While you are encouraged to work hard and prioritize your work (because after all, we do need to work to earn and live), it’s also good to remember that working is not the only time you’re being productive.

You will learn of the actionable strategies and tips to help you be more productive this week. You’ll notice that there are not really any tips that tell you to work more but instead remind you to not exclude your other priorities.

This blog post is definitely for anyone who does want to be more productive (that’s why this blog post title is called this, right?). Just a heads up though, we’re completely redefining productivity here that may be different to what society has been saying all these years.

I have other blog posts where I’ve talked about priorities. I definitely think you should check out the Five Things That Count As Being Productive and 10 Actual Ways to Have a More Productive Life. I recommend that you read these two blog posts after this one to get the most out of it.

Before we dive in, I would love to know what you thought of productivity over the years… let me know in the comments!

What Counts as Being Productive?

The first thing to remember is that you’re not just productive when you do work. You’re productive when you’re working on the different areas of your life. You’re productive when you make time for the things that enhance your life. That includes:

• Health
• Relationships
• Self-Care
• Personal Growth
• Fun

So, if you want to have a productive week, just remember that it doesn’t mean you’re filling up your schedule with work. You’re actually filling up your schedule with all your other priorities that aren’t work related!

You can read the blog post where it goes in depth the five things that count as being productive.

Extra Skills that May Also Help You Be

Productive This Week

We’re going to walk away from quick-fix productivity life hacks for a moment. Instead, we are focusing on building skills and strategies that help our productivity long-term. Here are some things that can help us out with this:

1. Knowing your values – Making sure that your schedule aligns with your values is extremely important because you don’t want to waste time doing things that go against your values. But, it’s important to first know what they are!
2. Know your priorities in order – This isn’t the first time we heard this, but we do need to know our priorities. It’s one thing to know what our priorities are, but it’s another to know the order of those priorities.
3. Being flexible – It’s guaranteed that we won’t 100% stick to our schedule because something will always come up. But instead of stressing out about how it affects our schedule, we can build the skill of being flexible. Being flexible allows us to simply move things around without letting everything else get affected.
4. Think of Future You – The ‘future you’ is the person that you want to become who has achieved the goals you want to achieve. Keeping your future self in mine is a great way to help you make decisions related to your productivity. It helps you make better long-term decisions, rather than making impulsive short-term decisions.

You can read more strategies on how to life a productive life in this past blog post!

Now let’s dive into the tips to help you have a productive week!

1 – Have a Weekly Reset

Having a weekly reset allows you to save valuable time each day and give you an overview on how your week will look like.

You can read this blog post with in-depth steps on how to do your weekly reset (you can also download a free mini guide on how to do your weekly reset in the Free Resource Library! Click here!). But overall, the two main important tasks in a weekly reset:

• Reflection
• Scheduling

Reflection is important because it makes you aware on what you are doing good at, and what you need to improve on. It will also make you aware on the things that work, and the things that don’t. If you’re not aware of those things, you may waste time still doing the incorrect things. That’s why doing a weekly reflection is important.

Making a schedule is also important because it gives you an overview of the week. While you don’t need to 100% stick with the schedule, it still gives you a good idea on how your week looks like. When different commitments, tasks, or events pop up, you know ahead of time if you’re able to fit it in, or if there are things you can move around.

Again, you can read the blog post on doing a weekly reset here. Doing a weekly reset is definitely a big helper for a productive week!

2 – Have your Daily Non-Negotiables

You probably have different goals and tasks on your to-do list each day.

But it’s also just as important to have daily non-negotiables. These daily non-negotiables are your daily habits that you’ll do no matter what each day.

These non-negotiables are the habits that enhance your life in the long-term. Every habit counts even if you don’t see the ramifications of it in the short-term. In the long-term, you’ll eventually would.

While you’re not in obligation to 100% complete your to-do list every day, you can make your daily habits non-negotiable because you know they will improve your life long-term.

For example, my non-negotiable daily habits are:

• Prayer
• Reading
• Listening to minimum one podcast (even if it’s a 2 minute one, or a 30 minute one I put on double speed)
• 10-minute walk (even if it’s just inside my building)
• Self-Care time (even if it’s 15 minutes)

These are my daily non-negotiable habits because they will help improve my:

• Faith
• Personal Growth
• My Main Goals (through the podcasts & book)
• Mental Health
• Health

You can read some ideas of non-negotiable daily habits in this blog post here!

3 – Make time for exercise

It’s no secret that exercise is important. It helps improve your physical health!

Since it contributes to your physical health, it’s also productive.

Just remember that it doesn’t always have to be 5 mile runs or 1 hour gym sessions, there are so many other options out there!

There are many YouTube videos, in person classes, and activities to choose from. You just need to pick one that you enjoy. The key to feeling motivated to exercise is doing an activity you enjoy.

Most importantly, making time for exercise improves your productivity! Because if you don’t make time for your health, it will get affected, and so does your productivity. That’s why this is an important activity to prioritize for a productive week.

4 – Make time for personal growth

This is another important area of your life that you need to make time for. When you make time for this, you are also productive.

You can work on your personal growth daily by:

• Reading a personal development book
• Listening to a podcast
• Watching an educational YouTube video on personal development
• Reading a blog (like this one 😉 )

If you remember my daily non-negotiables from before, reading and listening to a podcast is one of them because they contribute to my personal growth!

But does making time for your personal growth give you a productive week? Well, a productive week also means a meaningful week. A productive week doesn’t mean you’re working 24/7, it also includes the times when you grow yourself and improve your key areas of your life. Personal growth is one of them!

5 – Set time for working on your goals

Before you say, “But I don’t have time”, hear me out!

It sounds cliche but if your goals and passions are really important to you, you will FIND and MAKE time to do them. But it doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours daily to work on them. Even just 10-15 minutes can make a big difference.

Many people set goals and do nothing about it. And then in the long-term we end up settling.

But it’s understandable that when we’re busy, it’s hard to find time for it. That’s why, you can always set just 15 minutes to work on your goals. It may not seem like much, but when you’re consistent with it for months at a time, you’ll eventually see progress.

6 – Set time for fun stuff

Yes, you’re also productive when you make time for fun!

We are like our cell phones. Our cell phones can do a lot of things, such as text messages, phone calls, social media apps, camera, games, and the countless apps on there. But, if it’s out of battery, it can’t do any of those things.

That’s why, before the battery is close to dying, we charge it. Many people even start charging their phone when it hits 80% or 50%.

It’s the same with humans. Before your “battery” drains, you want to start charging it before you get there. You can start charging it by doing something fun and allows you to step aside from the work you’re doing.

You can watch your favourite TV show, go on a walk, or even take a nap, whatever recharges your batteries.

7 – Limit Distractions

Of course, if you’re distracted, it’s hard to get things done.

Every individual has their own set of distractions that disturb them. You just got to figure out yours!

List down the distractions that distract you on a daily basis. Then, take the necessary steps to prevent those distractions.

For example, if you know that social media is a distraction, then one of the steps you can take to prevent the distraction is deleting the apps during your work hours.

It’s common sense, but the less distractions you have, the more productive your week will be.

8 – Productivity tools

I talked about in a past blog post on how you shouldn’t 100% rely on productivity tools. The reason for this is because productivity apps aren’t a quick fix to improve your productivity. You can read this blog post here.

While you don’t want to use too many, you can benefit from just using one or two productivity tools. The two productivity tools I use are Notion and Google Calendar.

Notion helps me organise my to-do lists and systems, and Google Calendar helps organize my schedule. These are the only two productivity applications I use because they help enhance my productivity.

But using too many productivity apps can distract you. When you have so many apps to check in on, you spend precious time you could’ve used to work on other things.

That’s why, choose the productivity app(s) that will actually help you become more productive. Delete the apps that you hardly use, and the apps that distract you rather than make you more productive.

Take a SMALL STEP

Now it’s time to take some small steps to help you have a productive week! These are:

1. Have a Weekly Reset – Read the blog post on how to do a weekly reset. You can follow the steps on there!
2. Have Your Daily Non-Negotiables – List at least 3 habits that you will make non-negotiable daily.
3. Make time for exercise – Write down one exercise activity that you personally enjoy. Then, don’t forget to schedule it in (even if it’s just 20 minutes).
4. Make time for personal growth – Read another blog post on laurenbarri.com today 😉 You can also list down a book you’d like to read (you can download my free book, Small Steps to Progression here as a starter!), a podcast you’d like to listen to, or search up on YouTube a video on personal growth.
5. Set time for working on your goals -Schedule in 15 minutes to work on your goal(s).
6. Set time for fun stuff/self-care – List 3 activities that you find fun and enjoyable. Then, don’t forget to schedule them in!
7. Limit distractions – List down all your distractions.
8. Productivity tools – List down two productivity tools that you’ll try using (if you already have a tool you use and it works for you, keep using it!)

Redefining Productivity One More Time

I don’t know about you, but for years I felt that society was only counting work as being productive. But as we had gone through in this blog post, you’re not just productive when you’re working. You’re also productive when you’re making time for all the other important areas of your life.

So, remember the other five things that make you productive – your health, relationships, personal growth, self-care, and fun! Think of your other values and create your other priorities from there as well.

Then, begin your productive week with this new outlook. Do your weekly reset to make sure that you prioritize well your priorities, schedule in time for other important tasks non-work related (exercise, personal growth, fun, etc), do your daily non-negotiables, limit your distractions, and as a bonus, use a productivity tool that works for you!

If you like this whole redefined productivity concept, I do think you’ll enjoy my mini e-book called, Small Steps to Productivity. And guess what? It’s free! You can download it in the Free Resource Library here where you can have access to so many other free resources such as other e-books, guides, templates, and workbooks!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your week. And remember, your productivity levels aren’t just determined by the amount of work you do.

-Lauren 😊

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Similar articles you might like:

Five Things That Count As Being Productive

10 Actual Ways to Live a More Productive Life

The Ultimate Weekly Reset Routine

Essential List of Non-Negotiable Daily Habits

5 Mistakes You’re Making With Productivity Apps

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