Since the world shut down for the pandemic in 2020, a lot has gotten back to normal, but there have also been plenty of changes that seem like they might be permanent. One of these changes resulted from the quarantine, where it seemed like everyone except fast food employees suddenly found themselves working from home for the first time. And what ended up being even more surprising for many was that, after businesses started up in-person work again, some of that shift to remote work stuck.

Have you ever tried to do a quick job that needs a hammer, without a hammer? In a pinch, lots of things can do a hammer’s job – a textbook, a brick from the side of the road, maybe even a shoe if you’re desperate –, and you can make it work pretty well. Thinking on the fly and solving a problem with a paper clip or a plastic knife is gratifying, but then the next time you use the right tool for that job you realize how much easier it actually is. Anything can be a hammer, but a hammer does the job so much better.

Maybe you’re the kind of person who can’t take a break. Either you’re in the zone or you’ve got your back against a big deadline, so you push through and keep grinding all day (and sometimes all night too). Or maybe you’re the one who always seems to get distracted, whether it’s by your phone, your coworkers, or your stomach, and you constantly find yourself taking another short break.

We’re all too familiar with the stress of not having enough time to get everything done, but one of the only things worse than that is the guilt of knowing you had the time but procrastinated until it was too late. I don’t know about you, but that feeling ruins my day and sometimes the rest of my week. If I don’t have time for something, that’s not always my fault. But when I use up my time procrastinating, that is my fault. So what do you do about it? Keep reading!

Old habits die hard, but what if that was a good thing? What if you could give your productivity in your career, home life, and every other sphere a boost by building habits that help you instead of ones that pull you down? In our last post in this series on maximizing your productivity, we looked at the different kinds of noise that disrupt our focus and drain our energy, like the clamor of a loud machine outside your office window or the stress of an important meeting coming up.

Your mission is to maximize your productivity – to get it all done –, but there’s a big obstacle that sits in your way. No, it’s not that there’s not enough time. The biggest threat to your productivity is that there’s too much noise.

Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you’re busy. Between your professional and personal lives, there never seems to be enough time in your days or enough gas in your tank to do it all. If that’s you, then don’t worry. You probably already know that you’re not alone in this stressful struggle, but I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to stay there either.