Secret #1-Don’t begin your day without reviewing your yesterday’s activities. Entrepreneurs are in the habit of jumping into their daily routines without reviewing yesterday’s activities. If you are one of such, pause for a moment. This is what you should do; before you begin your day, evaluate yesterday’s activities. If there is a secret that has helped me become effective and productive, it is the Weekly Routine Sheet, which I created. The Weekly Routine Sheet is divided into rows and columns. It has a column for the important tasks I need to perform daily, column for feedbacks and column for personal suggestions. The feedback column is for recording the result I get from each activity I carry out, while the suggestion column is for documenting what I should have done differently. With such a weekly routine sheet, it is easy for me to consistently evaluate my yesterday’s routine before I begin a new day.

Secret #2-Plan your daily tasks. It is easy to get into the office and then jump straight into what you perceive are the necessary tasks that need to be done. Sometimes, you have series of uncompleted tasks in your mind all through the night and in the morning you are motivated to soak yourself in them. This is quite a wrong way to beginning your day. From your yesterday’s review, you should plan your today’s tasks. Research has shown that those who plan their daily tasks tend to achieve more than those who just get into activities without planning.

Secret #3-Apply the 80/20 rule. The rule says that 20% of your time and effort committed into your business will yield 80% of the result you want to see. So, to achieve this, you need to simply set your daily tasks in order of priority, from the most important to the least important. And then, begin the day with the most important ones. Don’t move to another task until you have completed a task. That way, you won’t have series of unfinished tasks.

Secret #4-Take short breaks in between tasks. After working for few hours, the brain gets saturated and tired. At that point when it seems you’ve had enough of working on a task, take a short break. It is also advisable to at least leave your work space for a few minutes just to refresh your mind and stretch your legs. Even if you have so much to do, don’t push yourself too hard; create short breaks in between tasks.

Secret #5-Evaluate and reward yourself. At the close of business, take at least fifteen minutes to evaluate your entire day using the Weekly Routine Sheet I mentioned earlier. This will help you know whether your day has been productive or not. It is also an opportunity to plan the next day tasks. And when you realize that you have achieved a lot, reward yourself with a special treat even if it is a bottle of coke.