Checking off to-do lists can be helpful. As can setting guidelines to avoid slacking off. But the fact of the matter is that the structure of your day has a lot to do with your success. In fact, very successful people tend to structure their days similarly because the brain tends to function better at certain points during the day, no matter what you’re working on.

Here’s a closer look at how to structure your day for success.

1. Include some routine, but don’t over schedule.

You don’t have to plan out every inch of your day, but it is helpful to start your day with a daily routine so your brain doesn’t have to waste energy figuring out what to do during every portion of the day. For example, starting your day with meditation, exercise, and a good breakfast is not only inherently good for focusing your mind, it also means that your mind can run on auto-pilot instead of dissecting how you’ll most productively spend your morning.

2. Don’t put off the most difficult tasks.

The first three hours of the workday are considered the most productive. That’s when you should be doing tasks that require the most focus and fine tuning. It’s not a good time to answer emails, look at social media, or scroll through Twitter because you end up wasting these golden hours.

“Typically, we have a window of about three hours where we’re really, really focused. We’re able to have some strong contributions in terms of planning, in terms of thinking, in terms of speaking well,” Ron Friedman, Ph.D., author of The Best Place to Work said to the Harvard Review. “And if we end up squandering those first three hours reacting to other people’s priorities for us, which is ultimately what voice mail, or email is, is a list of other people’s requests for our time, that ends up using up our best hours and we’re not quite as effective as we could be.”

3. Take breaks.

In the afternoon especially, we typically have around 90 to 120 minutes of focus before we start to lag. It’s best to take breaks every few hours to ensure you’re not wasting your focus. Get up and walk around, grab a snack, or sneak a little shut-eye. Breaks aren’t about laziness, rather, they’re about ensuring that you’re always putting your best foot forward.

4. Be aware of the 3 p.m. energy drop off.

So yeah, it’s a real thing. Our energy does begin to drop off around 3 p.m. because the hormone melatonin is naturally released into the brain. You can’t help it. It’s just what happens. So instead of judging yourself for being lazy everyday in the late afternoon, this is a great time to schedule easier, less important tasks. Respond to emails, catch up on social media, layout your calendar, play administrative catch-up. Whatever has to be done but doesn’t take loads of brain power, is a good fit during the 3 p.m. drop off.

5. Learn to shut it off.

Have you ever had one of those days that was so busy that the next day you just couldn’t recover? It’s not all in your head. In order to return to work refreshed and ready to go each day, you really need to learn to shut it off. According to the Harvard Business Review, it’s all about managing your energy correctly. It’s a finite resource and once you’ve gone past it, your work has diminishing returns. Leave your smart phone in another room and force yourself to avoid checking emails and responding to coworkers until your workday resumes.

6. Structure your day to avoid self-destructive habits.

If you have one too many beers when you go out with your buddies on a Wednesday night, this can take away from your productivity the next day. Maybe you’d rather schedule a Wednesday night yoga class or group run to blow off some steam. If you end up staying up too late on work nights because you’re addicted to “Game of Thrones”, it might be worth getting rid of HBO so you can’t watch it. We all have habits that take away from our productivity and by taking an aerial view of what these habits are, you can begin to change the root of the problem.

What’s your secret to success? We want to know. Drop us a line via Twitter @EcoSalon.

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You know a ton of successful people… and you’re not one of them. Here’s the 411 on how to turn things around.

I spent my twenties building an “almost” successful life: My career was “almost” going somewhere. I was “almost” a girlfriend. I felt “almost” happy. But I was always “almost” there, I was never exactly where I wanted to be.

I’d climb the hill of success, get close to the top, lose my footing and slide right back to the bottom. On a subconscious level, I probably sabotaged myself on purpose because all I’d ever known was “almost.” Screwed up, but true.

Does this sound like you?

The same used to be true for Jeff Olson, self-proclaimed beach-bum-turned-millionaire and author of “The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success & Happiness.” Like us, he was constantly working his ass off yet spinning his tires, exhausted and getting nowhere. Now, he’s insanely successful, and you’re not going to believe what he changed to make it happen:

Absolutely nothing.

I know, right? What was happening to him is what’s happening to most of us: The things he was doing to go from “Failure” to “Survival” were the exact same things that would’ve taken him from “Survival” to “Success” – if he had kept doing them. Like me, the second he hit the survival line the urgency to become successful faded… until he was on the verge of failure again and had no choice but to haul ass.

Successful people become successful because they keep doing what they were doing all along. (Face palm, anyone?)

Here’s the thing successful people know that we don’t:

Success is boring.

We assume success is exciting (like, “The Wolf of Wall Street” exciting), but it’s actually insanely boring.

It doesn’t help that all we know of successful people are highlight reels they choose to share with us. We’re not there with them during the years leading up to their success – we’re only there for the good stuff. It also doesn’t help that success tips are packaged to sound like it’s possible to succeed at the speed of light.

Even if there was an exact formula for success though, you’d probably still fail. As Jeff says in his book, “It’s not the hows that do it, it’s how you do the hows.” His slight edge philosophy can be summed up in three words: Plant. Cultivate. Harvest.

It’s the little things that add up to the big things. The tiny decisions you make daily have a ripple effect. You’ll either skyrocket… or plummet.

Five percent of the population is succeeding and 95 percent are failing. In order to join the ranks of the 5 percent, you have to change how you think about the little things. For example:

You have the option of eating a salad or a burger. You might think choosing the burger is no biggie, and it’s not a big deal right now… but it will be to your tomorrow, since all of those burgers will eventually add up to an unhealthy body. Heart attacks just don’t decide to happen – they happen because of every small health decision you made leading up to it.

The same goes for success: The decisions you make today will have a ripple effect on your tomorrow. But if these decisions are so small and so easy, why aren’t more people successful?

Because it’s just as easy to do it as it is not to.

It’s just as easy to choose a burger as it is a salad. It’s just as easy to watch a TV show instead of go for a walk. It’s just as easy to sleep in as it is to get up earlier and work on your passion project. And for most of us, we make the small, easy decision… to not.

Every decision you make will either elevate you toward success or downgrade you toward failure, and there’s no confusion over which is which. As you’re about to cave and make the crappy choice, repeat to yourself: It’s just as easy to do it as it is not to. I guarantee you’ll put down the remote.

The first small step you should take? Buying Jeff’s book. Once you’re done reading it, you’ll never look back. I know I haven’t!

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Image: Amy Humphries

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