Productivity has been a buzzword for years now. There are hundreds of methods, videos, TED Talks, articles, products and planners out there for every single type of mindset and place in life.

No matter if you’re a small business owner, a healthcare professional, a CEO, or a teacher, there are specific ways that these productivity gurus are reaching out to you, wanting to help you be more productive.

But no matter who you are or what your vocation is, it all comes down to your day. Specificity is key. From the moment you wake up to when you’re finally retiring to bed that night, your habits, tasks and thoughts are all contributing to how productive you are.

Over the years, you go through seasons of productivity periods. Summer is shown to be more productive to workers, while some people report feeling more productive during the evenings. Regardless, if you can learn to plan your days properly, you can be productive whenever you want, no matter the season or time of day.

Here are some tips to planning a productive day:

Get a full night's rest: Studies show that people are more productive when they have gone through their full REM cycle and properly slept.

Empty your mind: First, sit down with a piece of paper and do a brain dump (which also helps anxiety!), and then meditate for at least five minutes. Meditation is shown to improve productivity.

Plan your day: Now that you’ve got a list of stuff clogging up your brain, take a leaf out of Benjamin Franklin’s book and schedule tasks for the day. Remember to include breaks, unlike ol’ Ben.

Prioritize: Sometimes in your list of things, there are some things that can get downgraded in priority, moved to a different day, delegated to a different person or altogether deleted. Stop pushing yourself to do everything. Focus on doing the important things first.

Figure out your planning style and then your planning/productivity method. When you find out how your brain works, you can also recognize your productivity method.

These four tips can get you started towards figuring out how to be more productive and planning your day out — but these are only the beginning. Try out different things! For example, do you like planning on paper vs. digital more? Or, maybe you need some sort of reward system?

The more you think logically about how to plan your day, the more productive your days will get. And remember — it’s not just about how many tasks get done, it’s about effectively using your time and prioritizing what’s really important to you.