Proper time management is easier said than done. It is also the same for task management.

However, once you’ve mastered yourself and found the right strategies and tools, significant results will be inevitable.

Below are three simple tips that can help you increase your productivity. We hope you’ll find them as insightful as we did.

Optimize how you take notes.

Productivity often requires creating to-do lists, managing a calendar, writing ideas, and other note-taking activity.

Unfortunately, information can come to us at any given time. An appointment can suddenly be set from a call while you’re in the bus. A task can be given during a meeting. An idea can pop up while you are eating lunch.

It’s not always convenient to bring out your planner to jot that appointment, or create that task in your to-do list. Thus, you need a place where these information can initially enter for processing at a later time.

This article suggests minimizing the places where you keep notes. Optimally, the best way is to have a handy notebook and pen with you where you can write everything down.

Make exercise part of your routine.

Exercise is not only good for your physical health, but also for your mental health and productivity. Research has shown that physical activity boosts short-term brain function and heightens awareness.

Moreover, it’s been found that aerobic exercise helps enhance a person’s cognitive function, specifically executive functions. And thus allowing you to make more insightful and better decisions.

Fortunately, you don’t really need to run a marathon to achieve these benefits. Just do enough that will test your personal limits, enough to make your physically challenged. If it’s a 15-minute run, then that’s good enough as long as you do it regularly.

Stop making things complicated.

Our minds will naturally resist things that are difficult or complex. That’s why one key to being productive is to make things as simple as possible to avoid procrastinating, especially on how we go about our daily life.

This article mentions three things you should stop doing to make your life simpler — stop overthinking things, stop multitasking, and stop overcomplicating your relationships.

When you find yourself paralyzed by a decision, set a short deadline to avoid overthinking the choices. When there’s a lot of tasks you need to do, focus on just doing one at a time and you’ll finish your list faster.

Lastly, there’s no need to make your relationships difficult. Open communication solves a lot of issues. And questioning your own drama helps you sort out unnecessary conflicts, anger, and hurt feelings for others.