It seems like there’s a productivity tip for everyone and everything under the sun.
But the truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all system of getting things done in a way that feels good for you.
My best advice is to try different things and see what fits best with your personality, goals, and current needs. And don’t forget, those things can change day to day.
Because productivity isn’t always straightforward, I’ve found that there are certain things that work really well that are a bit… chaotic (I use that term loosely, of course–there’s nothing too scary here!).
Still, these aren’t tips that you’ll hear from every business guru.
But trust me, and give them a shot!
Here are my top 5 chaotic productivity tips (that work super well for me):
1. Don’t use an alarm to wake up
This sounds chaotic because some people immediately think, “But don’t successful people wake up at, like, 5:00 am? If I don’t set an alarm, I’ll sleep in and I’ll waste the whole morning and I’ll never start my own business and make enough money to take my goats on a cruise around the world…”
I firmly believe you can’t do your most intentional work unless you’ve rested enough.
Most people don’t get enough sleep. Making the change to get the right amount of sleep your body needs will change your productivity more than anything else.
Trust yourself and trust your body, and let yourself sleep.
I work from home, so if I sleep until 10:00 am (it occasionally happens), I start my workday then.
Most of the time, I naturally wake up between 7:00 and 8:00 am.
If you have to be up by a certain time to get to work or other responsibilities, reverse engineer this thing. Count back 9-10 hours from the time you would ideally get up, and set an alarm for that time. (So, if you’d like to wake up at 7:30, set an alarm for 9:30.)
Then, go to bed at that time. Before long, you’ll reset your body clock enough that you won’t have to use an alarm to wake up.
2. Skip the morning routine and just start working
I don’t know if this sounds chaotic, but it seems to go against most other productivity advice I hear, where morning routines are heralded as necessary–especially in slow productivity, which I’m all about, believe me!
But the reality is, if you got enough sleep (which I hope you did), your alertness and intrinsic motivation is likely going to be pretty high when you first get up. You might as well just dive right into the hardest part of your day–getting out of bed. (Amiright??)
Once you do that dreaded step, you can do anything! The longer you ruminate in being slow, the harder it will be to be fast in working, and the more you’ll want to crawl back into bed.
Take that momentum of “Yes! It’s a new day! I’m out of bed, world!” straight to “Yes! I’m starting work, world!” and make the first hour or two of your day a kick-butt one.
…And then take a morning break, of course. Which leads to the next chaotic productivity tip.
3. Take as many breaks as you want
As. Many. As. You. Want.
If you feel some internal pushback from hearing this tip (maybe you’ve got a feeling of “Girl, you don’t know me. If I can take as many breaks as I want, I will be breaking all day long”), hear me out.
You’ve got to trust yourself.
When your brain or body needs a break, you’ve got to trust that it will tell you. When my brain needs a break, it starts to wander and do work more slowly. It begs me to open my phone or a new tab on the computer to search “How do fish sleep?”
The key is taking the right kind of breaks. A break where you scroll on your phone for 20 minutes or watch the latest episode of Desperate Housewives will probably leave you feeling less motivated than when you started.
But a refreshing break can make getting back to work easier and can help you be more productive.
A mini-break can be as short as 30 seconds. A longer break might involve a snack and a walk around the block.
If you feel like you need a break, you probably do.
Recommended Article: Why Your Brain Needs a Break (And How to Give it One Effectively)
4. Ditch time blocking and go for spontaneity
Some productivity girls swear by time blocking, and I’m not trying to cramp their style. If time blocking works for you, run with it.
But I hate it.
It feels so rigid to me. I never follow the blocks well enough, which means I’ll fall behind or just feel like a failure.
If you crave flexibility and spontaneity, time blocking might not feel right to you.
Instead, work on the tasks on your to-do list for an amount of time that feels right to you in the moment. If you want to add more spontaneity, try some of the tricks in this article, like randomizing your to-do list.
5. Do a bad job on purpose
This is for us perfectionists.
Even if you don’t think you’re a perfectionist, but you’re just having a hard time starting, it’s probably because you feel like the task is big and you want to do a good job, but don’t feel like you’re up to the task.
My chaotic advice for those situations? Do it bad.
When I write a first draft of a blog post, it’s like, laughably bad. I’ll be like, blah blah blah… add something here.
(Yes, the above sentence was an example of what articles I write look like at first.)
A lot of times, you just need the momentum to get started. Once you start doing a bad job, you might realize it’s not so hard to put in a little more effort to continue. You can take your bad first iteration and improve it later.
(Plus, it’s not the end of the world if you do a bad job on something. Your B+ work is good enough for most situations, and it’s way less stressful than aiming for A+++.)
Final thoughts
There is no “perfect” way to plan your day or get things done – so why not be chaotic and give these tips a chance?
Let me know how they work for you!
Best of luck!
