While this post is titled and focused around being more productive, the reason may surprise you. It’s not to get more done and hustle harder, I’ll start with that! Productivity has had its moments recently, getting a bad name in many cases as we all realize how unsustainable hustle culture is. My perspective and opinion of productivity as for how it relates to my life also changed. 

I am encouraging you to be more productive for the simple fact that there are tools to relieve stress in a busy modern working life. These tools help us to get things done efficiently and in a comfortable way. Productivity is one way to do that. Let’s talk about how to increase productivity for your mental and emotional benefit – not for the purpose of doing more for any other reason. We’ll do so via bringing balance and order to the chaos that is modern life, so that when we do sit down to work, we’re able to get in the zone and do it better, faster, and with less stress. That’s what “more productive 2023” is going to look like over here.

 Even in the most demanding careers, we CAN create space to live our lives in between hyper productive business needs or corporate expectations, so let’s do it, shall we? I’m advocating for a more balanced approach overall. We can do the most and still stay sane – we deserve it. I’ll teach you how to be more productive for YOUR benefit. Make sure to subscribe here and also follow for daily content on Instagram @our.blog.life.

Top 3 Tips for a more productive 2023 with Office Depot OfficeMax

1. Set Broad Intentions for Growth

The beginning of the year is one of my favorite times, because it allows me to set powerful intentions. I love to reflect on the previous year and see what I can do to better my life. For me, that means finding a better balance between work and home. Always a little more challenging when you work FROM home, but you’ll see these tips are great for anyone regardless of your work location. Why broad intentions? Because you can’t plan your life to a T, and the universe throws things at you that you may pass up if you’ve been pigeon-holed into intentions that don’t allow you to be open to amazing opportunities that could present.

I am a big fan of using planning and project management tools for my work and for my personal life. I purchased my 2023 planner at Office Depot to help me plan my year for growth & productivity! It’s called a “Happy Planner” and the one I got is “Inky Florals” which you can search for at OfficeDepot.com. They have such a great selection of planners that it was tough to pick! I am sure you’ll find the perfect one that speaks to you with all that they have.

2. Contain the clutter & eliminate distractions

These sort of go hand in hand, so I combined them here. We all have some sort of clutter in our lives, whether it is in physical, digital or mental form. Clutter can attract our attention and overall prevent us from working in a calm and focused state. Working in a calm and focused state allows a less stressful experience and a more productive outcome. Meaning we do more in less time, giving us more time to rest and enjoy life! One way I am able to conserve my time is by using the “Buy Online, Pickup In-Store” in 20 minutes option from Office Depot OfficeMax! Such a game changer, it is self serve and really is ready that fast!

My favorite way to contain and clear the clutter is to have dedicated time to clear digital clutter, like set email catchup blocks. Physical clutter is contained in my office or shredded with my Ativa® shredder to avoid it stacking up. Mental clutter is handled with daily “brain dumps” in my notebook, and ad hoc sticky note jot downs on my yellow pad.

Eliminating distractions is easy to do when you have everything you need within arm’s reach of your workspace and have good headphones. All the cups I found at Office Depot are totally necessary to get in the zone and remain comfortable. I keep them around to not break my focus once I’m in the zone. I have coffee, ice water in the big one and greens with mushroom powder in the water bottle. This way, as I need to hydrate or caffeinate throughout the day, I can avoid getting up unnecessarily. Getting up is fine of course if you need or want to, but for me it’s a main cause of distraction as the trek to get more liquids can take my focus away from what I previously took time to get focused on.

3. Reduce interruptions, have clear schedule boundaries.

Again, hand in hand here. If you do best to work interruption free for certain tasks, hold yourself and others accountable! For example, let’s say you are a creative who must come up with content (oh, hi!) but your business or work is constantly demanding your attention. Emails and Slack, anyone?! Setting up times where you will turn OFF the distractions and get into a state of focus or deep work is going to relieve the stress of creating amazing work under pressure. You’ll allow yourself to be fully in the zone, knowing you have nothing to worry about aside from the task at hand. Not only will you get things done faster without the distractions, you’ll likely create the very best possible work you’re capable of. I realize that in some roles, being “always on” is necessary but chances are there’s a way to adjust your schedule to accommodate at least an hour of uninterrupted time to work on things that require full attention.

When setting boundaries with coworkers or family, it can be tough to justify DND mode. Try to at least wait to check your email & notifications until you’ve completed the deep work task at hand. It takes so long to get back into the zone in many cases, that your productivity and ability to help anyone else are better for it. Chances are if something is more urgent than what can be in an email, work peers have other ways to connect anyway, like a phone call or knock on your door.

Having a quick conversation about your ideal times to connect, or not to, can help people learn to know and respect each other at work. Or, simply knowing that people will respond when they can if it’s not a scheduled time to chat. Having this autonomy is great, but also means you have to learn to manage your own time. I’m here to help with that – again here’s an invite to connect with me on this blog or on Instagram.

There you have it, our top 3 tips for a more productive 2023 featuring my top tools from Office Depot OfficeMax! Let us know what you are planning for your 2023 intentions below! We’d love it if you shared this blog post on Pinterest, Facebook or anywhere else you connect with people who may find it beneficial. We hope to see you here again, and for now, wishing you a beautiful balanced day.