In this article, I have hunted the internet for some of the best productivity hacks available. I have personally used these hacks for myself. So be sure to save this article as this will be your go-to guide to everything productivity-related. Keep reading.
Why Productivity is Important?
Work is an essential component of our existence since it provides us with meaning and fulfillment, as well as a sense of belonging in the world. It is also our source of income to raise our family. However, if done inefficiently, it might be the most significant source of dissatisfaction in our lives.
This is why productivity is so essential. Being productive allows us to prioritize our tasks, be efficient with our time and resources, and free up time for personal goals and development.
To assist you save time and really be productive at work, I have narrowed down to my 13 best productivity hacks of all time. Without further delay, let's start with hack number one.
#1. Plan Your Day Ahead of Time
Google the habits of highly successful people, you'll notice a common theme: they all plan their days ahead of time. Being productive implies that you know exactly what you're doing at any one moment and for how long.
If you don't have a schedule, you risk missing out on important work and wondering where the day went! Making a timetable for the day and dividing it into 30-minute increments is an excellent technique to be productive.
You may do this at any time of day. Begin by making a list of your daily activities (shower, breakfast, exercise, and so on) and work from there to complete your to-do list.
Make a list of everything you need to accomplish for the day, and keep track of your progress. This eliminates any guesswork from the procedure and prevents you from losing focus because you have no clue what to focus on next!
#2. Set a Theme For Each Day
If you're managing a lot of projects or activities, it may be useful to set aside one day for each area of your job. Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, is also the founder and CEO of Square.
Dorsey has an unusual trick to ensure everything gets done to its maximum potential. He sets themes for each day of the week. For example, Mondays to manage and run the companies, Tuesdays for focusing on product, while Wednesdays are dedicated to marketing, communications, and growth.
Look at your area of work, how can you divide them into themes? Work it out and it will help you to tackle that area with full focus.
#3. Determine Your Top Three Tasks of the Day
When it comes to executing your plan of action, the first thing you need to do is be specific. Make a list of three most essential things you need to accomplish in the day and in that order. If you use a digital tool like Notion or Evernote for planning or task management, write those down in your application.
Since we have a limited amount of time and energy each day, we should always prioritize our tasks so that we can finish the most important ones. Make sure you describe these activities in detail to ensure there are no questions.
Instead of writing, "finish the video script," say "write a 1000 word script on productivity hacks and review it by 3pm." This will ensure you stay focused on the job at hand and don't get sidetracked by distractions.
#4. Make Commute Productive
The majority of individuals spend a significant amount of time travelling to and from work every day. If your average commute time is 30min to 1 hour, it's critical to figure out how to make the most of your time and discover chances to be even more productive..
You can make the most of your commute with a number of things including using Pocket to curate off-line news, carry a book, clear your inbox, make a call, write two paragraphs of a blog, listen to podcasts and more. Plan ahead and make your commute more productive.
#5. Do the Easiest or Most Challenging Task First? You Decide
What you do in the morning will most likely influence how you spend your day. If you're having trouble getting started, try starting with the simplest things first. This way, you can finish some items off of your to-do list and gain momentum. You may then proceed to the more difficult tasks bit by bit.
The opposite approach is also effective. The rest of the day may appear to be a walk in the park if you perform something you dread early in the morning. You could utilize the early hours (when people are naturally more focused and motivated) to start your day with the most challenging task.
Brian Tracy explains this method in the book: Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.
He said, "If it's your responsibility to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if you have to consume two frogs, eat the biggest one first.”
When you break things down, it all boils down to individual characteristics and traits. For me, I prefer the Brian Tracy’s method of eating the big ugly frog first and the rest of the day will be a breeze. If you prefer getting rid of the most essential yet inconvenient task first, go ahead. However, if you'd rather do a simple activity first and score some early victories in the day, there's nothing wrong with that! You just have to decide.
#6. Avoid Multitasking
While it may appear to be a good idea to do two things at the same time because it makes sense, multitasking does more harm than good. According to studies, just 2% of people can multitask effectively. Yep, that's right: only 2%. This implies that the other 98 percent of us are impeding our productivity by attempting to do more than one thing at a time.
Multitasking leads to as much as a 40% drop in productivity and a loss of 10 IQ points! Multitasking sounds good in theory but ends up hurting us when implemented.
It’s even more frightening to realize that multitaskers work less effectively than those who seldom attempt to multitask, according to a Stanford study. This is so true. When I try to work on a piece of document that should take me 15 minutes and have a conversation with a colleague, I realize that about 30 minutes, the document is still not done. It is difficult to get into the flow and complete the work.
So forget about multitasking and focus on one thing at a time if you want to be more productive.
#7: Use the Pomodoro Technique To Improve Focus
Surprisingly, the Pomodoro Technique does not appear to be much discussed among the greatest productivity hacks. This "hack" is completely free and doesn't necessitate the use of any software. It may be used on a daily basis in your life.
So what is this technique about?
The Pomodoro technique is a time management method that advocates dividing your job into several parts, with short breaks in between. This keeps your ideas flowing and you don't get as tired or bored.
What you need to do is break down a task into time periods divided by short rests (typically 5 minutes). Most people recommend 25 minutes of work followed by a 5 minutes break. This is one cycle. You can take a longer break after four back-to-back Pomodoros (around 20 or 30 minutes).
As said earlier, this technique is completely free, you only need a timer from your watch or phone to keep track of the time. I strongly encourage you to try this technique and vary the timing according to your preference. For me, I prefer to work for 40 minutes followed by a 7 minutes break. I found that 25 minutes is a little short as I tend to get into the zone after 10-15 minutes. So I adjusted the ratio to 40:7.
This method works like a charm. There is no harm trying. Go for it.
#8. Use Suitable Music To Help You Improve Concentration
Music has also been found in research to help people focus. A level of ambient noise similar to that present in a bustling coffee shop can help to improve performance, according to researchers.
However, the key is to play around with different types and genres of music to see what kinds and genres help you focus. You can try this application called Focus At Will. They have a fantastic quiz that will aid you in determining which sort of music helps you stay focused best. They have a free as well as paid version.
A word of caution here: Do not listen to your favorite pop songs when you are working. You may end up singing along and waste more time on your tasks.
The best music are usually classical music, nature music, ambient sound tracks or epic music. You got to experiment and find out what suits you best.
So lug on your headphones now and be a productivity warrior with your best music.
#9. Use the Important / Urgent Matrix for Your Decisions
A great time management tool called the Important/Urgent matrix or Eisenhower matrix was invented by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. Eisenhower understood the distinction between important and urgent tasks and knew that many urgent tasks we have are actually not that important while the important ones are never urgent.
The Eisenhower Matrix is implemented by dividing your tasks into 4 different quadrants, namely:
Important & urgent
Important & not urgent
Not important & urgent
Not important & not urgent
The first quadrant is called Do first as it involves tasks that are important and need to be done by today or tomorrow at the latest.
The second quadrant is called the Schedule. This quadrant involves tasks that are important but less urgent hence, they need to be put on your calendar.
The third quadrant is called delegate as the tasks added here are less important to you than others but still are still pretty urgent, hence, should be delegated.
The fourth and last quadrant is called Don’t Do because these tasks are neither important nor urgent.
With your tasks divided, you have a clear view of their level of importance and urgency. This technique is a proven tactic to spend your time more effectively as well as efficiently.
#10. Learn to Say ‘No’
Hey, want to attend this conference? Hey I need your help with this…More often than not, we feel compelled or obliged to accept every request or favor that is put before us. While being helpful and being everywhere is nice, it's critical to have a clear sense of your priorities so you can stay on track with your own objectives.
According to Marc Chernoff, co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, Getting Back to Happy:
He said, “Don’t be afraid to say “no” to unnecessary obligations. In a world with so much noise and clutter, you must make room for what matters. That means pruning nonessential commitments and eliminating as many distractions as you possibly can.
Quote continues… No wasted time, no fluff, no regrets. When you’re crystal clear about your priorities, you can painlessly arrange them in the right order and discard the activities and commitments that do not support the ones at the top of your list.”
So start learning to say ‘No’ to requests that don’t meet your objectives. One bonus tip, giving a clear ‘No’ is better than ‘Maybe’. You wouldn’t want these requests to keep coming back and you got to think of reasons to reject them. It is better for you and the requester.
#11. Design Your Environment for Efficiency
Your environment plays an important part in assisting you in completing your tasks. Even though we may not be aware of it, our surroundings have an impact on our productivity and attention levels. The more crowded our environment is, the less productive we become.
In the study by the National Association of Professional Organizations, the researchers found that an average employee wastes 4.3 hours every week looking for things. When your desk is full of documents and files, finding the right document becomes much more difficult.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your work environment:
Clean your desk and make it clutter-free as it boosts mood and creativity.
Buy a bigger monitor so that you don’t have to squint your eyes at the small screen. This is especially so if your job requires you to put in long hours in front of a screen. (put an affiliate link for monitors)
Put your phone inside a drawer, or in the other room, or somewhere where you cannot access it while working
Put on a headphone to signal to people that you are focusing on something important
If necessary, get out of the office to work and avoid distractions.
#12. Use Website Blockers to Stay Away From Distractions
Speaking of distractions, according to research, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain focus on a given activity if you are distracted from it. The most prevalent form of diversion is checking up social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as watching YouTube videos.
So what can we do? In such situations, website blocking services like Stay focused and Freedom can be of great help. These applications may be used to block time-wasting websites for a certain amount of time, forcing you to pay attention at work by reducing distractions.
#13. Make Time for a Nap
Our final tip. Lucky 13. Make time for a power nap. In addition to having a good night’s sleep, a daily nap can do wonders to recharge your body so that you have the energy to tackle the rest of the day.
Best selling author and speaker, Michael Hyatt, is a proponent of taking naps. Here is a quote from him about his practice.
“I typically take a twenty-minute nap right after lunch. If I can’t do it then, I try to squeeze it in before 4:00 p.m.
While working in a motor shop in college, I would eat lunch in my car and then lie down in the back seat. When I was CEO at Thomas Nelson, I napped in a zero gravity chair that reclined to a horizontal position. Since I now work from my home, I retreat to my bedroom and lie down in my bed.”
Therefore, if your work environment allows, try taking a 20-minute nap to recharge. You can shift your own thinking about naps. People who take them are not lazy. They might just be the smartest, most productive people you know.
Conclusion
Wrapping up, I shared 13 powerful productivity hacks to help you achieve your objectives efficiently.
What productivity hacks are your go to hacks to get things done?
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