10 Tips To Be More Productive…without waking up at 5am

There are a lot of blog posts out there giving productivity tips. Usually one of the first tips I see is “wake up early to get a few extra hours.” Great advice in theory, but if you have a chronic illness (in my case fibromyalgia) that kind of advice usually makes me roll my eyes because it’s clear that they’re not thinking about those of us who literally can’t wake up a few hours earlier. 

I’m lucky if I’m awake before 8am. 5 or 6am isn’t going to happen. I don’t always feel like the most productive person (that could be imposter syndrome speaking) but I have managed to finish two Masters degrees and a PhD so I feel I have definitely learned a thing or two about working efficiently and being productive without burning yourself out or having to sacrifice sleep. 

Bottom line, sleep is important, if you’re tired you’re not going to be productive.

So here are my top 10 tips for being productive, without waking up at 5am and even if you’re struggling with physical or mental health difficulties that seem to derail your every effort.

1. Write it down 

I never work without my bullet journal close by.

Out of sight, out of mind. The weeks I don’t have some kind of task list or am not using my bullet journal are the weeks I never get anything done. So every week I try to sit down with my bullet journal (you can use whatever planner you use, hard copy or digital, or just a piece of paper) and list out everything that needs to be done. I usually have a list for the week, the month, and then a master list/brain dump where I can add any random thing that comes to mind and then I can prioritize it later. Don’t trust your brain to remember everything or to be able to automatically prioritize and know what’s most important. When I don’t list things out I end up wasting time on tasks that aren’t important for that day or week.

This is especially important if your chronic illness comes with any amount of mental fog or concentration difficulties. Some days I can barely remember things I was thinking about just five minutes ago. If I have a though pop in my head, a task, and idea, whatever, I write it down. I don't trust myself to remember it late that day, because if my fibro fog is particularly bad, I won't remember it. Find a system that works for you, whether that's a bullet journal like me, a simple note book, the notes feature in your phone, whatever, and stick to it. I feel like this tip alone has boosted my productivity over the last few years by at least 30% if not more.

2. Set realistic goals 

All that being said, when you list out your tasks, make sure you set realistic goals. Even the healthiest and most productive people can’t write a whole dissertation chapter, reorganize their house, go out to dinner with friends 3 nights, and read 5 self-improvement books all in one week. This is why I like the master list/brain dump, I can get everything out of my head but then can sort through that list and break it up into reasonable steps, create an action plan, and set realistic goals. This is an important tip even if you don't have a chronic illness to contend with, but for those of us who do have a chronic illness, we have to be even more realistic about our goals and recognize that our goals are going to look different from our co-worker's. That's ok. It's not a competition. Focus on you and getting your work done. Setting realistic and attainable goals will help you build momentum and stay productive even if you have a flare up of your illness.

3. Set a timer

When you’re working, set a timer for each task. I am a huge fan of the Pomodoro technique, working in 25 minute increments with 5 minute breaks in between. I use the Tide app on my iPhone and the Be Focused app on my laptop. But any timer will work. The main point is, over time you learn how long certain tasks take and/or how much time you want to spend on one task in a day, a timer will help you keep to those times. For mundane, simple tasks (like email or lesson planning) I limit that to 30 mins. Using a timer will help keep you from spending too much time on less important tasks and will give you better perspective on how much time you’re actually spending on the work that is important. 

Never sacrifice sleep for "extra work time," you won't
really be more productive.

4. Know your body and your limitations

I can’t wake up at 5am. It’s never going to happen. I work better later in the morning and the afternoon, so I organize and plan my day based on that knowledge. If you work best in the mornings, front load your tasks to get your hardest tasks done by noon. If your brain doesn’t fully wake up until noon, put your toughest tasks in the middle of the day and bookend with the easy stuff (this is what I do). Chronic illnesses and mental health can create temporary or ongoing limitations. Don't ignore them. Acknowledge them and then get creative about how to work around them.

5. Categorize your tasks

My work tasks are broken up into a few main categories PhD/Research, Teaching, Personal Admin (emails, submitting forms, renewing library books, etc), and Appointments/Meetings. I like to color code things in my calendar so that I can see how much time I’m spending on each category in a day and in a week. I also tend to assign a certain amount of time per day to spend on each category. When I was writing my dissertation, I spent at least 3 hours a day on it. That could be writing or reading, but that time was nonnegotiable. Whereas emails I tried not to spend more than 30 minutes a day on them. If you have a more email intensive job, you might assign more time than that, but the point is categorize and prioritize your tasks to make sure you’re being as efficient as possible.

Copying over quotes and citations I want to use is my
favorite "easy" task. Time consuming yes, but not a
whole lot of brain power required. Starbucks is an
extra bonus.

Another way I categorize my tasks is by level of difficulty/brain power required. Emails are easy, I can do that in my sleep. Lesson planning/prep is also easy. Grading takes a bit more brain power, so that’s a medium. Writing is a high focus task, and so is editing, but copying quotes I want to use from books into the draft is easy. Reading varies, hard theory is a high focus, general material culture or fashion theory is a medium. I try to have a back stock each week of easy tasks. That way I can spend Monday through Thursday trying to get the hard stuff done and then knock out all the easy tasks on Friday if the week went well. But if on a Wednesday my body or brain just gives out, I can spend some time working on those easy tasks and feeling like I’m still getting stuff done. Chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia suck. Fibro makes my life completely unpredictable  Knowing I have a list of easier tasks that need to be done helps on those days when I just can’t get the harder stuff done a little more manageable and I feel like less of a failure.

6. Take a break when you need it

Take 5 minute breaks multiple times to walk around, get some water, go to the bathroom, get a snack, but take longer breaks every few hours as needed. And if you hit a major wall, it’s ok to accept defeat temporarily. Taking an hour to take a nap or read a novel or go for a walk to clear your head is going to serve you better in the long run than trying to slog through your list and end up reading the same paragraph 10 times without comprehending it (been there, done that, got the t-shirt). Being productive doesn’t mean working for 12 hours straight, so if taking a break in the short term will make you more productive in the long term, take the break.

7. Ivy Lee Method

When I need an extra boost of productivity I switch
back to using the Productivity Planner. It's like my
secret weapon.

I’m a huge fan of this. I recommend googling it to get the full back story (it’s kind of cool) but the main idea is you list out 5 tasks to do in a day and rank them in importance from 1 to 5, 1 being the most important tasks, the task that if that were the only task you got done that day you would still feel like you accomplished something. The second and third tasks are things that if you could get them done too, that would make the day even more productive. The fourth and fifth are kind of the bonus stuff. On most days you can get these tasks done too, but if they have to get rolled over to the next day that’s ok. When I was working on my dissertation, my top task for the day would usually be related to my dissertation. My second and third task would usually be a secondary dissertation related task and something related to teaching. The fourth and fifth tasks would be a variety of things, usually things that were important but not necessarily time sensitive, so if they ended up getting done on Friday instead of Monday that was ok. But the main point is, you don’t move on to the second task on your list until you do the first one. You work your way in order down your list. This method forces you to prioritize your tasks by importance and then do the most important first. I’ve found this method not only makes me more productive it also cuts down on procrastination. If you don’t already use a planner and are interested in the Ivy Lee method, I would recommend using the Productivity Planner, for more info on that I’ve done two videos on my YouTube channel reviewing it which you can view here and here. 

8. Avoid distractions/dealing with email, chores, & other forms of “productive procrastination”

When you have a chronic illness/limited energy to work, distractions like email, chores around the house, lower priority tasks will derail your productivity every time. You’ll feel like you’re getting work done, but it’s not the work you’re meant to be doing. This is where writing down your tasks and using the Ivy Lee method and Pomodoro technique come in handy. Being productive isn’t about working harder and longer, it’s about working smarter and more efficiently. A lot of productivity articles will talk about delegating less important tasks. Well that’s great if you have someone to delegate to. I don’t. No assistant at work, no partner or kids who can do household chores. So it’s easy to feel like “I’m going to have to do it anyway I may as well do it now” but that will kill my productivity for the day. Now, I have a weekly schedule for these sorts of tasks. Emails get done in 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening before I log off. Dishes get done daily after dinner. Grocery shopping and laundry are done on Sundays. Other cleaning is done on Saturdays. All personal chores/tasks in general get done on the weekends or in the evenings. My 9-5 is strictly work working, just as it would if I worked in an office or had to keep a more regular schedule. 

9. Create an inviting primary work space but also have at least two alternate work zones/spaces

My desk might seem cluttered so some, but I don't do
minimalism. And everything that decorates my desk
was chosen because it makes me happy and makes
me want to work there.

Working from home allows me to be more flexible with my actual work space. Which means if I’m having a really bad pain or fatigue day (or both) I don’t necessarily have to work at my desk. So I have my main work space, which are my desks by the window (yes, I have two desks, you can see my office tour here), but then I also have a lounge chair I can sit in to be a bit more comfortable and if needed I can set up shop in bed. Working in my bed isn’t my favorite, but needs must sometimes. When I was really struggling with my fibro, just before finally getting diagnosed, I was bed bound 3-5 days a week, only getting out of bed when I absolutely had to. Taking a medical leave of absence wasn’t an option for me, so I had to find a way to work through the pain and fatigue. Working in bed was one of those ways. So if your chronic illness keeps you from working at a desk all the time, don’t be hard on yourself. Set up alternate spaces and move around between them as needed. I sometimes start working in bed, then switch to my desk, then the chair, then sometimes back to bed.

I'm writing this from the perspective of a grad student and instructor who doesn't work a 9-5 in an office, I primarily work at home except for when I teach on campus (as opposed to online). So I recognize that this tip won't be for everyone. But if you do work an office job and you haven't asked about working from home a couple days a week, it might be worth asking what your company's policies are.

10. Work when and where you can

If things all go wrong, I have no shame in putting myself
to bed with tea and a hot water bottle. Good self-care
will always increase productivity in the long run. 

At the end of it all, the work needs to get done. No one is ever truly a master of productivity. I think those of us who are the most productive are the ones who just get the work done. We don’t get sidetracked by unnecessary tasks, we don’t limit ourselves to only working under the most perfect conditions. We accept that things don’t always go to plan, but we get the work done. Some days I wake up feeling like a zombie. So I pull my laptop into bed with me and just start writing (kind of like the edict “write drunk, edit sober” only “write delirious, edit when you’re awake). Other days I get half way through the day feeling really productive and then hit a slump, that’s when I switch to an easier task and go get cozy in my chair or crawl back into bed. This is a good productivity tip in general, even if you don’t have a chronic illness.  

There are countless little moments throughout the day when you can get stuff done. Waiting in line at Starbucks? Send a quick email. Have to arrive 20 minutes early for a doctors appointment and stuck waiting? Read a few sections from a book for class or your research. As a grad student I got used to working in odd locations just to make sure I got stuff done. My car once got hit in the parking lot (I wasn’t driving, it was parked, long story) and I spent two hours waiting for a tow truck to get my car and for my dad to come get me. Part of that time was spent on the phone with the insurance company. The other part? Reading Aristotle or some other old guy for my Classical Rhetoric class with my Bizzell & Herzberg Rhetorical Traditions anthology laid open on the trunk of my car. The reading had to get done and I was just waiting, so it was an ok distraction from standing in the 110 degree heat of the parking lot in September.

Point is, we rarely get a solid 8 hours a day of perfect working conditions. Whether you have a chronic illness or not, none of us really operate in a perfect work environment all the time. So we all have to make the most of what we have. And for those of us who do have a chronic illness that limits what we can accomplish in a day, we have to be even more creative and adaptable. But we can get it done. Acknowledge your limitations and then start thinking of ways to work around them.

I don't always work in a coffee shop. But when I do, you
can bet I'll take a pic of it for Instagram to make me look
super productive. Don't fall into the comparison trap.

A bonus tip would be, don’t compare yourself to others. The people around you at work or at school might seem to be a million times more productive than you. They’re not. That’s your perception. Stop focusing on them, and focus on you. Focus on your work, what you need to do, and what you’ve already achieved. You’ll get it all done in the end. Remember, it’s not a race or a competition. It’s about finding a way to be as productive and efficient for YOU. Not for anyone else. It’s your work that matters. Some days I get a lot done. Other days hardly anything gets accomplished. If I compared myself to others it would paralyze me. But I never gave up, and day after day, little by little, I wrote, revised, and defended a 7 chapter, 60k+ word dissertation. If I can do that, I think I can do just about anything lol. 

Do you struggle with a chronic illness? Or some other limitation? What are some of your productivity tips that don’t require sacrificing precious sleep? I’d love to hear in the comments. And if you found this post helpful in any way, I’d love it if you would share it on your social platforms. 

Until next time,

Andrea