20 Productivity Hacks For . . . Whatever Is Important to You
BTW, having fun is productive as heck
This photo is of me and my kid in a park blowing bubbles. THIS hour was one of my more productive hours of the week. Why? Because it was important. And I had a great time doing it.
Productivity, at its core, is structuring your life in a way where you get the most out of it. Where you do the most important things as efficiently as possible so as to elicit the most pleasure and bang for your (time) buck.
Having fun is productive as heck. So is doing your taxes. It all lies in where you put your priorities. You can’t be productive unless you know what you want to produce.
Having said that, here are 20 of my top 40 productivity hacks. May they help you get whatever is important to you done as efficiently as possible.
1. Listen to music . . . but without lyrics. Lyrics distract you whether you know it or not. I like 528 hz “music”. Here’s an example on YouTube.
2. Create deadlines that are hard to miss. Set a time to send in a project or get an accountability partner. Infinite time is death to productivity.
3. Start with your hardest task of the day. Get it done, take a short break, and move on. Eat the frog.
4. Don’t waste your waiting time. Do something while the microwave is running, send emails in the Starbucks line, and brainstorm at stoplights.
5. Don’t answer all of your emails first thing in the morning. I know, it’s hard and you want that quick hit of dopamine. But, don’t do it. You’re wasting the hours during which you’re most alert.
6. Schedule time for your personal crap. Don’t respond to every text message from your friends about such-and-such’s birthday Zoom. Batch these answers into sessions once or twice per day.
7. Step away from the social media. Turn it off while you’re working. You don’t have to respond to every heart or comment immediately. This is the kiss of productivity death.
8. Batch your time. Set a timer for the amount of time that works best for you, put your nose into the study carrel, and focus. Then, allow yourself a well-deserved break.
9. When you take said breaks, move your body. As much as possible. Get your blood pumping, do some squats, grab some water. The more active your body, the more active your brain when you go back to work.
10. Track your progress. It’s very hard to improve something you don’t measure. Decide what your criteria are (number of words, pounds lifted, emails sent, measure it, and then work to improve it.
11. Find your app or program. USE technology. I like to use Trello for my Medium articles, but there are SO many different apps and productivity aids out there in the world. Find the one that works for you and use it.
12. Trick out your space. Wherever you’re working these days, it should feel good. Clean your space, light a candle, drape a brightly colored piece of fabric over your desk. Your work space should be a happy place.
13. Turn off your notifications. It takes a hot second, but it’s beyond worth it. The world will not end if you don’t find out immediately that Nordstrom’s Half Yearly Sale starts in two days.
14. Hydrate. This sounds like a health tip, but it’s directly correlated to your productivity. According to the National Institute of Health, just a small drop in your body’s hydration can significantly decrease your productivity.
15. Batch and automate. This is slightly related to the other things in this article, but if you post regularly to blogs, social media, or send newsletters, batch creating those into one space of time, automate it (through something like Hootsuite), and forget about it!
16. Figure out when you’re most and least productive and schedule your tasks around that. If you completely zone out around 2pm, schedule mundane tasks like responding to email during that time. (Or even schedule your workout!)
17. Hit the save button! Often! If you’re writing on Medium, it does it for you, but my computer has shut down many a time and I lost a significant amount of work.
18. Stop trying to be so dang perfect. There are times to be perfect (i.e. your email to the CEO of your company). 95% of the rest of the time, being perfect is getting in the way of your productivity.
19. Plan your day. On paper. Not in your head. Be realistic about what you can accomplish and ambitious at the same time.
20. Get a chair that doesn’t suck. If you’re thinking about your back hurting, you’re not thinking about how to take over the world.
Stay tuned for 20 more hacks next week. I hope you have a fantastic seven days before I email you next.
If you’d like to read a few of my most recent articles for free, here are links:
How To Change Your Brain to Get More Done
How to Reorganize Your ‘To Do’ List for Maximum Productivity
Love,
Michelle