What exactly is productivity? In terms of motivation, let’s define it as doing what you need to get done in the perfect amount of time and with the right amount of effort. Of course, the perfect amount of time and effort will differ from person to person. Still, there are small changes anyone can apply to their routine to accomplish more and become more productive than ever.

Put down that doughnut! Sugar gives you a rush that leaves you weak when it wears out. Avoid the doughnut in the morning and the soda in the afternoon. Try substituting foods containing more natural sugars. Locally grown honey, fruits (bananas, apples, pineapples), veggies (sweet potatoes, beet, carrots) and good carbs (whole-wheat bread, brown rice) are good alternatives. Cutting down on sugar will also help you lose weight, which in turn will make you feel better about yourself. Productivity will increase because you won’t feel so sluggish. And remember, when you are happy, your brain releases the three “happiness” hormones: endorphin, dopamine and serotonin.

Don’t hit the snooze button tomorrow. You know there are times when you hit it multiple times. When your alarm starts blaring tomorrow morning, get up, go to your kitchen and drink water. Not coffee. Water. Jump in the shower right after. Water changes your mood, gets your metabolism going, gets rid of toxins in your body and hydrates you. Basically, it prepares you for the day.

Leave the cellphone in your drawer or purse. Cell phones can be a distraction. You may want to check your social media, start texting or checking email. These tasks tend to absorb you. You can’t just look at one thing because something else might pop up. Since machines read our behavior, then anything they suggest will be insanely interesting to you.

Don’t Multitask. Finish one thing before starting another. Concentrate all your efforts on one task. You will finish it faster, unless you are part of the 2 percent of the population that research has found can successfully multitask. Since you likely aren’t, do one thing at a time and put all your effort into it.

Close Your Mailbox. Seeing that email pop up in the corner of your screen will make you want to click on it and reply right away. Remember, don’t multitask. If you are expecting an important email from someone, then create a rule or alert so you’ll know the email came in.

Separate your day into blocks. Allow a certain amount of time for recurring tasks: an hour to respond to emails, an hour to catch up on news, an hour to meet with decision-makers and so on.

Don’t leave things for the last minute.
When planning, remember that things don’t always go the way you thought they would. You may get a call from a sick child, a parent, a sibling or someone else who needs your time. If you get in the habit of not waiting until the last minute, these interruptions won’t be as difficult to deal with. Remember your mom’s saying: “Don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today”?

Get 8 hours of sleep. That means don’t fall asleep with the phone by you either. Our phones are attached to our hips, and bedtime does not seem to be the exception. Your body uses sleep time to recuperate. Don’t pull your good old college all-nighters.

Work out. More specifically, work out in the morning, if at all possible. Research shows a morning workout burns more fat calories—both during and after the workout—than one in the evening. A morning workout increases your mental clarity for up to 10 hours after you are finished working out.

Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Again, skip the doughnut. It has been proven that eating a healthy breakfast improves concentration and performance.

Don’t attend every meeting. This is a tricky one because of the old saying “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” However, be choosy with the meetings you attend. Decide or ask if it is necessary for you to be there. If you do need to attend, explore the possibility of teleconferencing to save travel time. Meetings take a lot of time, and it’s not always imperative that you attend.

Use technology to your advantage. Get reliable software to automate your back office and free up more hours in the day to get more of what you need: investors. There is an app for everything you can think of these days. Your homework is to determine where you lack and then look for solutions for it.

Find inspirational material. If you listen to podcasts on your way to work, home or during lunch, you will find yourself getting motivated and inspired. In turn, you’ll set and reach more goals.

Schedule tasks. Trello is a good organizational app to keep track of big picture things as well as little details.

Schedule meetings effortlessly. Doodle is an app that allows you to create an event or meeting, list your desired times and then send an email to meeting participants so they can pick their preferred times from the list you provided. Doodle will automatically alert when people select their preferences, and you can then choose the time that suits the most people. People you email don’t need to create a Doodle account to respond to you.

Save time scanning. Download the Genius Scan app. You can productively scan one or multiple pages from your phone.

Hire a coach. If you have tried everything and still seem to be caught in the non-productive aisle, then get a coach. If you are sick, you go to the doctor. If you don’t know how to invest your money, you get a financial planner. So why not get a coach when you aren’t happy with productivity or can’t seem to set and achieve business goals? A coach can see things that you don’t and suggest solutions you have not been able to implement or carry through for a more productive year.