You have heard it before, being busy is NOT an indication of being productive. Sure, the time goes by, but what did you really accomplish? Did your tasks and projects get you closer to your goals or just help to pass the time.

Organization is one key component to your productivity and time management.  You may be hearing: blah, blah, blah, but it is the truth.  We read about it all of the time, but do you implement any measures to bring you back to focus?

What are your daily objectives? Trolling Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter updates don’t really count. They may be good distractions and provide entertainment, but how do they help you operate your business?

There are some simple straightforward, no brainer things you can do every day. They don’t cost anything, they will only help you invest more in yourself, your business and your time. Maximize your time to work smarter, not harder.

Productivity KISS

1. Wake up early
2. Establish morning rituals
3. Determine your goals
4. Create a To Do list
5. Make action steps
6. Plan your strategy and priorities: do the most important/most difficult task first.
7. Engage or create your team
8. Brainstorm and mindmap
9. Don’t lose focus: maintain discipline and work ethic
10. Figure out where you waste your time
11. Time block to batch process your tasks and projects: for example, set aside 30 mins each morning to attack your email. Do this 2-3x per day
12. Create an editorial and social media calendar
13. Set aside time each week to write your blog posts and content curation
14. Keep and sync a calendar with your mobile devices
15. Use a timer or app to stay ON task
16. Tune out distractions and notifications: every interruption adds more time to your task.
17. Know and set time/space boundaries
18. Never stop learning new tools or methods. Times change.
19. Network with like-minded people
20. Maintain a positive attitude about work and life
21. Take timed breaks to refresh, but get back to work: no zombies allowed
22. Keep everything in its place. An organized workspace is an organized mind with no wasted time.
23. Think quality productivity
24. Be aware of your core genius and outsource your low payoff activities
25. Use project management tools that work for you! If you don’t like an online program, then at least use a basic spreadsheet. I love Teambox.
26. Update and use your policies and procedural systems to maintain efficiency
27. Do NOT multi-task: it is distracting, harmful to your brain and impedes productivity
28. If you telecommute or work from home: change up your office environment: try a café or library
29. Automate daily routine items: no need to continually recreate the same efforts every day. This also applies to SOME of your social media efforts. Notice I said some. Never automate personal engagement. That is not social at all
30. Store things in the cloud so you can access them when you are away from your computer
31. Learn some keyboard shortcuts
32. Remembering passwords is a PITA: store them online and keep them safe with LastPass
33. If you are working with a team, utilize Dropbox or Google docs to share content and easily review revisions
34. Procrastination kills time!!
35. Use news aggregators with keywords, favorite RSS feeds and topics to avoid hunting for your daily digital news. It is a time waster. Suggestions: Feedly, Prismatic, Tagboard

 What tips can you add to this list?