What better time than September to get your goals straight, right? Fall somehow always feels like a clean slate, a fresh start and gives me a surge of motivation.

If you’re ready to make the most of your fall productivity and crush your September, here’s four tips to make it happen.

Productivity Hack #1: Meditate

Legend has it, that the most important time of day to consume meaningful content is right before you wake up and right before you fall asleep.

The reason for this is because your mind is operating off of beta and theta brain waves, which are conducive to learning, formulating new ideas, thoughts and creativity.

Sounds like a great time to fill yourself with positive, goal-oriented information that would serve your success, right? Which is why starting your day with a quick 10-15-minute meditation eases you into your day, rather than “shocks” you into it.

Meditation is great first thing in the morning because it gives you a sense of grounding and peacefulness that you can come back to throughout the day. Trust me, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Sitting in silence trying not to think, takes practice. It’s uncomfortable at first, but over time you’ll get better at it.

Tackle your most important task at the start of the day

Starting your day with your most important task is a recipe for success.

The reason why is probably pretty obvious.

The amount of time that we can sometimes waste procrastinating on a task far outweighs the length of time it probably would have taken us if we had just done the task in the moment, right away.

By starting your day with the things that you’re putting off the most, you’ve increased your efficiency or potential time loss two-fold.

Look, we’ve all done it. In fact, we’re often using procrastination or perfectionism as a way to delay positive actions instead. Starting a morning success practice or routine  with meditation has benefits because it allows us to practice the habits required to move easily towards our goals.

Over time, you’ll get so good at this that your goals will operate on autopilot and simply become a part of your daily habitual actions.

Whether it’s making sure that you get your morning workout done or tackling that client contract you still need to review. Getting your most important task at the end of the day means you can move through the rest of your day strategically and stress-free.

Productivity Hack #2: Minimize distractions

While Steve Jobs did a fantastic job at saving us all from eternal boredom for the rest of our lives, being connected to the digital world definitely adds an attention-deficit element to the mix.

“Bzz... bzz”

See. You can’t not look.

The reality is, technology can sometimes feel distracting.

Which is why when it comes to being productive this September, make a concerted effort to minimize distractions – especially when you have important work to get done.

Remember, sometimes distractions can come in the form of procrastination like tidying up around the house, tinkering with your motorcycle, organizing the garage or whatever other menial tasks you sometimes might use to avoid getting your tasks done.

The point is, technology and tinkering are all distractions. They’re excuses that you’re putting in the way of crushing your goals. So, put your iPhone away, tell Alexa to the lower the volume, and close out all your Internet tabs. Practice focusing on one task at a time.

Productivity Hack #3: Make time for yourself

While it might not feel like you’re being very productive, not making time for ourselves means we can’t show up fully for the ones we care about.

When we’re being productive with our time, we’re better able to manage self-care tasks such as fitting in a workout, cooking dinner with your spouse, taking an afternoon off or hey, maybe even that vacation to Bali you’ve been talking about for years.

Being productive with your time can have long-term benefits to where you invest your time in the future.

Productivity Hack #4: Make time for people

When you’re managing your time effectively and being as productive as possible, you’ll realize that you have a plethora of time leftover to make the most with friends and family. Which is what really matters most here.

Regardless of what you’re building, either personally or at home, at the core of every success story, it’s our relationships with people that make what we’re working towards meaningful and worthwhile.

Being more productive lends itself to a number of positive qualities including greater efficiency at work, more time with friends and family, higher levels of accomplishment, self-motivation and more.

I don’t know about you but I’m always game for any of the above and feel good about working to improve myself and my own habits each and every day.