You can learn a lot about life and success from an Italian sandwich. While many across the world find joy and variety in throwing as many different flavor and ingredient combinations onto one piece of bread as possible, a rustic Italian sandwich, hearty and delicious, is often comprised of a few delicious, rustic ingredients.

The bread will often be freshly baked and warm, the mozzarella will be creamy and delicious, perhaps lightly salted and peppered, and the cold cuts of meat will be delicious and cured correctly. Perhaps you’ll enjoy some basil or other herbs. Maybe a drizzle of olive oil. That’s about it.

Yet while this is so simple, it tastes utterly delicious and leaves you with a feeling of having eaten something appropriate, how it was meant to be. For this reason, simplifying our daily lives with that same kind of motivation can be a fantastic habit for many to get into. This is especially true if you’re tying yourself in knots trying to be a more capable, active, and attentive person.

In this post, we’ll discuss the real, simple secrets behind productivity, and why if you hit these markers, you don’t have to torment yourself about not being superhuman. Perhaps instead, you can be more like a sandwich:

Deliberate Daily Scheduling & Notes

If you can, be deliberate about how you plan your day. Try not to remember everything you need to do, and instead stop ruminating by writing it down. Some people prefer a digital tool or a simple notebook depending on their uses and how many appointments they have that day, but jotting down tasks as they come up helps keep you organized and frees your mind from trying to keep track of everything at once. Investing in a great planner can be a fantastic idea as this article, The Secret Ingredient to a Successful Life: Unveiling the Power of Planners, tells us.

Focusing On Less Things More Intently

Many people, especially those new to the professional feel, equate productivity to having several plates spinning at once, but more often than not, you’re just stretching yourself too thin if you allow this to happen. If you’re constantly bouncing between projects, it’s hard to make meaningful progress on any of them. Take the time to concentrate on fewer things, and you’ll often feel more focused and level headed, and you’ll do your best work. As a new business owner it might not feel prudent to spend your entire day on your marketing plan, but when that’s been fully rounded off, you automatically have more energy to invest elsewhere, armed with your knew knowledge of where you stand.

Using Collaborative Support, Aids, Guides & Reliable Formats

The real secret behind productivity is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel yourself. This article wasn’t written by hand, scanned, and digitized, it was written in a word processor.  Using collaborative support, and templates, seeking advice from others, or simply leaning on tools that help you organize your workflow can help you think about your preferred approach more clearly and benefit from that outlook. Returning to this sandwich metaphor, think of this as the bread—structural, supportive, but not getting in the way of the important elements. A guide, a checklist, an online tutorial, even asking AI tools to provide you the background before you research further, it’s all a good way to start getting into your momentum.

With this advice, you’ll be certain to achieve productivity in the best possible sense.