Ever wish you could get more work done? 

You’re not home alone — the thousands of productivity apps prove that today’s workers are always looking for ways to be more efficient. Here are some simple, low-tech ways to jumpstart your productivity right away. Success is rarely the result of the major decisions you have to make. Success results from committing to making each day count and seeing each challenge as providing your business a new start.

1. Change your surroundings.

Making slight changes in your working environment will make a huge difference in your willingness to work. When you shift things around it makes work feel new again which is great for re-igniting motivation. To be more productive do some of your work outside of the office. See what would happen if you sat on the other side of your desk to face a new wall or window. It is also of great benefit to add some form of life such as plants. Changing the appearance and location of your working space helps you to think in different and more innovative ways.

The more innovative you are the more you thrive in business.

2. Add colour or live plants.

Colour can have a major effect on your mood and productivity throughout the day. Blue creates the feeling of calmness and helps you focus, while red is great for work that requires accuracy and attention to detail. Plants can also help people focus by reducing headaches and fatigue: A study found that plants increase workplace productivity and creative performance by up to 30%.

3. Aim to be at your best.

Always imagine yourself as being your “ideal successful self,” that part of you which is out in front encouraging you forward. This part of you is holding up the ideas and possibilities for your growth, happiness, expansion and success. Work backward from your “ideal self” by setting small, incremental goals for each area of your business. Keep your mind focused on the positive. Before you know it, you will be thriving at higher levels than you ever anticipated were possible. To succeed at these levels you must not only be a great starter but an even better finisher. Accept that you may get redirected on your path, but strive to have the resilience never to quit. Hold the belief that if you can dream it, you can achieve it.

4. Get out of your comfort zone.

When you break routines you essentially create new life. Habits are easy but there is no risk because in your comfort zone you are just lazy. You cannot succeed stuck inside the traps of familiarity and comfort. To increase your productivity you must be creative and brave. Make healthy changes to your diet. If you go to the gym after work, try raising your heart rate before you get to the office. If you feel tired during the day get up, move around and change your scenery. Spend time outdoors. Leave your cubical and go out for lunch. Expand your perspective by changing patterns and breaking outdated habits.
5. Change and re-adjust your priorities.

Your daily schedule is a reflection of your deepest priorities. If your calendar is booked up with meetings and other responsibilities, with no free time for fun, family and friends, you are missing out on the best parts of life. To inspire your passion for work, make sure to schedule time for yourself. On a plane they always tell you to put your oxygen mask on before helping someone else. Once you have scheduled personal time to refuel, then block times to enjoy with family and friends, adding joy and vitality to your life. In your last moments of life chances are you are not likely to look back and wish you had spent more hours in the office.

6. Get your most difficult task out of the way.

Everyone has at least one task on their to-do list that keeps getting pushed back, simply because the thought of actually doing it seems so awful. That task is actually the one you should try to complete first. Instead of waiting until the last minute to finish a task, get it off your list as soon as possible. Your other tasks will seem less daunting by comparison, and you’ll stop stressing about that one task all day, making you more productive overall.

7. Invest in personal growth.

The responsibility for achieving success is on you. Make the effort to keep yourself in a place of personal expansion, whether that means going to seminars, meeting weekly with an executive coach, reading books and writing down goals, or making the commitment to become fully knowledgeable in your industry. Life is your greatest mentor. View every challenging situation as a necessary lesson. Utilize people and situations, which are against you. Allow people and situations to help refine your skills and, ultimately, drive you towards levels of success you may not have been able to reach without those types of pressures.

8. Change your friends.

The people with whom you surround yourself profoundly influence you. If you are lacking motivation and feeling down, it might be time to upgrade your friends. Negativity is contagious, as is positivity. Those closest to you should bring out your best qualities and inspire you to work harder. The best-of-the best, have the best-of-the best as mentors, friends and partners. Learn as much as you possibly can from other successful, fulfilled people who want to share their wisdom with you. When you spend time with successful, happy, fulfilled people you elevate your own personal productivity, so choose wisely.

9. Change your thoughts.

You are what you think. You cannot think negatively and have unlimited success. If you think negatively about business and finances, your subjective experience will be a lack of both, whether or not that is true in reality. Discipline your mind towards the goals of what you want your productivity to look like and start putting the effort in right now to get there. Keep in mind that suffering over your own suffering doesn’t work. Know the negative thought patterns you hold which require change and change them.

10. Be genuine.

There is nothing more success promoting than having a natural and understated charisma about yourself. When you are committed to respecting yourself you project confidence. Your focus is on being genuine, kind, strong, courageous, intelligent, successful and fulfilled. All successful businesses are built upon the foundation of good relationships. In being authentic, you are who you are and who you are doesn’t change from person to person or situation to situation. This authentic quality builds trust into your relationships. In business, take care to cultivate relationships that can be depended upon and which serve both parties equally.

11. Take short breaks.

Whether it’s a walk around the block, a run to the nearby coffee shop, reading a magazine or visiting with a colleague, taking short breaks — about 10 to 15 minutes — helps improve circulation while reducing eyestrain and build-up of muscle tension. Stepping away from something you’re working on can also provide you with a new perspective when you return.

12. Quit procrastinating

Procrastinating is a huge waster. Think of all the things you could have accomplished if you never procrastinate from this point onwards!

13. Use productivity tools

There are tools, both software and hardware, which help us become more productive and you should wholly leverage on them. There’s even mind-mapping software to make brainstorming easier!

All these changes are not easy. Each requires a deliberate change of habit. However, because reaching for those higher levels of business productivity is critical to your overall success, it is certainly cause for some radical changes. Great things can come only from feeling passionate and motivated every day for your work, for your family and for yourself. In this way, your success is a win for you and a win for those who depend on you.