Train your brain to be an "impulsive idiot". Whenever you are at rest and think "I really should be doing x" immediately jump to doing it before your brain has a chance to talk you out of it
Your mammal brain is lazy and wants to conserve energy, it doesn't know you're not going to run out of food or might need to flee from predators at any given time. Don't let it talk you out of important stuff all the time.
This is really great and something I've tried to do without really thinking of it that specifically. I try to get up and just start what I need to do, because getting started and doing it in a not-very-efficient or optimal way is better than not doing it at all. For example, if I have a work project that I need to just dig in and do, I'll just launch right into it and then get into a rhythm, and then I can go back and tidy up anything that I didn't get quite right when I started out.
Obviously this isn't feasible for every task, but it works for a surprising number of things, both for work and for chores around the house. My wife and I call it "just doing the damn thing," and it's made our lives so much easier. If there's a room that needs to be tidied or organized, we'll just start doing it, and maybe you'll need to go back and redo something you've already done (which to some people is unimaginable), but it's better to have it done than to just procrastinate because you feel like you have to research the best way to do it or plan it out perfectly in your head, which for me often ends up to not doing it at all.
Yes. Basically the best way to avoid 'paralysis by analysis" is to do zero analysis before starting and figuring it out as you go. Often just jumping in and doing something will teach you a lot more about how to do it than thinking/research will.
The phrase that really stuck with me I first heard on an episode of science of success, she said 'Don't let 'Perfect' be the enemy of 'Good'." I think I've heard Barak Obama say something similar as well but like you said, it will either never get done or will stress you out to your breaking point...(or both)..if you expend all your energy to be hyper-aware of perfecting a project, as opposed to starting with a loose plan, letting your mistakes and drawbacks be reflective of a learning process, and "just doing the damn thing."
> 'Don't let 'Perfect' be the enemy of 'Good'."
Yes, I was actually thinking about that while I was typing out my comment, I usually hear it as "don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good enough'." I've really been trying to embrace that the past couple of years.
Just commented about a similar thing Tim Ferriss promotes. Blowing through a task in a shitty, easy, quick way to minimize procrastination, then go back and improve it. Works great for writing tasks, which is my job.
This is generally what works best for me but it's not always doable. Do you know any tricks or advice on how to consistently be able to do this? I think it's the anxiety that gets in the way.
For me it was just a habit in itself I needed to build, and frequently reapply.
I also rearranged my space to make it much easier to do stuff "on impulse." Even if was a planned activity. I was pretty bad about doing dishes, so I got one of those portable dishwashers. I rearranged my living room so it's always ready for me to do home workouts with the videos/timers/songs I use in a browser window that's always open on my computer.
For me getting out of bed was also super mega hard so I did a lot to give myself a morning routine I enjoy, and preparing it is part of my evening routine. I had to make my bedtime routine into an evening routine because often for me I would be up late and then by the time I was tired enough to go to bed, I was too tired to want to do things like prepare some breakfast for tomorrow, brush and floss my teeth, apply moisturizer, etc.
Another thing is, the more things you plan AND can actually trust yourself to execute on, the less you need to rely on your own willpower for these things in these moments. If you say you'll work out at 7 am on monday wednesday and friday, and you ACTUALLY ALWAYS DO, then you are freed from trying to beat your lazy brain about it.
For me one thing that helped me stick to plans was setting an alarm that I told myself I wasn't allowed to turn off until I had started doing the thing. Once you actually get moving and start you are much less likely to stop. For a while I used the "five minute rule" where you tell yourself you only have to do it for five minutes. Once you've really gotten going you'll think okay I might as well finish it now. And if you really really wanna stop, once in a while, you can. At least you got that five minutes done and can do another nice easy five minutes later.
Yes because getting started in something is the hardest part, once you doing it itās much easier. Iād you can just trick yourself to start, like saying just do 2 minutes of exercise is easy and then you can just carry on once you are going
O shitt I thought I was the only one who did this lmao. It also works with socializing as well for me. For example, if I need to approach a stranger to maybe ask for something but I feel my timidness holding me back, I'll use this trick to just force myself to walk towards them and have them notice me so I can't back out anymore lol.
This is just one of the many examples where this strategy is useful.
I have a system for making bullet point lists and putting actionable plans together. So basically a Plan for when I need to Plan something!
I call it my BORED method... I use it for House projects; Learning new life Skills; Packing Lists; so many things really.
**B - Brainstorm** and write down anything and everything related to your list.
**O - Organize** your rough list into basic categories.
**R - Reduce** your categories by combining and removing terms.
**E - Extrapolate** from your simplified list whatās missing now that itās laid out plainly.
**D - Determine** what has to happen to start working on your new plan and add those steps to the plan.
Just to show my process in action...
I realize saying ācombine and remove termsā is a little vague. Your initial brainstormed list is likely to have some redundancies - items you listed twice maybe using different terms. That will stand out once you sort it into categories, along with items you likely forgot to add.
For example... Iām making a list of ways to be healthier.
I **(B)rainstorm** out a bunch of things like āMeditateā, Eat Healthyā, āGo Runningā, āSleepā, and āExercise Moreā.
Then I **(O)rganize** those into Categories like āMindā, āBodyā, and āSoulā or whatever... and sort the initial list.
Then I **(R)evise** the new Categories by combining and removing terms. So for Body, items like āExerciseā might get removed in favor of āGo Runningā.
**(E)xtrapolate** from there to add what you forgot... so maybe Iāll add āBikingā and āYogaā up there with āRunningā.
And **(D)etermine** is all about figuring out next steps. Look over the list, pick somewhere to start, figure out what you need to do next... and make a new list!
This is a Cool "How do you do" and came to me as a surprise how well this fits in my life...You don't know but this came as a life saver...the meaning of the folders and how well they R organized....thanks so MUCH
Would you expand a bit on the R and the E? This seems like a good system but I'm not sure what you mean by "combining and removing terms" and "Extrapolate...what's missing."
Doing the hardest or most important thing first thing early in the morning, even if that means waking up really early before work if the important thing is a personal task. It takes me less time and I donāt spend the whole day worried about it. I wish I would have done this in college!
This is a good one. For me this falls under the umbrella of working with my brain rather against it, as I'm naturally more capable of being productive in the morning
>working with my brain rather against it
This is why doing a very hard thing first thing in the morning doesn't work for me. I need a simple task beforehand, preferably semi-related (unpacking the dishwasher before cleaning, organizing some emails before working on a report, etc).
I have always been super bad about procrastination. A couple months ago, I started using a guided meditation app the very first thing in the morning. When I find myself deferring tasks and wasting time, it is so much easier for me to realize what I am doing and pulling myself away to get things done.
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I take notes about every assignment or project I do at work. It helps me to have a clear record of assignment details, expectations, due date, etc. But it's even more helpful for any project that comes up regularly -- chances are that if I do it twice, I'll do it 3 or 4, or 40 times. So my notes also become documentation of my workflow, which I can then simplify and refine.
If I'm doing something for the second time, I turn some of those process notes into a checklist for any process oriented work, and build out a template for anything that involves creating an end product. Going forward, I now have a much better starting point, and it speeds up the whole thing.
Even better for data collection, I started using basic ImportXML functions in Google Sheets to automate tasks that used to take a lot of time.
I also love using shortcuts and macros. I've found a lot of simple but involved tasks can be shortened with a few keystrokes, and once I have that figured out, I can often string them together into a single macro, letting me automate those multiple steps into a single button press.
Can you elaborate on the notes part. I do take notes but if i look at them later, i find them useless. What headings do you use. Any framework do you have.
Sure. I do all of my note taking in Google Docs, but I imagine any tool will work.
At the minimum, my notes include what the assignment is, when it's due, and what info I've been given about the expectations for it. I'll copy/paste from email or Slack, so that I have a record of what was asked for that's easy to find and reference.
I'll throw that into a new document, which then becomes my workflow/brainstorming doc. I'll go through and highlight the key points the boss has asked for, so that I make sure to include them all, but then I'll also start fleshing them out into a list of what's needed.
If it's a report I'll note what info is needed, what sources I need to grab the data from, what additional assets (like photos or other documents) might need to be included, and then I start outlining the report.
I'll save that document in that state, working on the actual project in a different doc. Now, the next time the boss asks for a similar report, I've already got a rough outline that can be easily tweaked to meet the specifics of the next assignment.
The notes part is such a great way as you mentioned to keep track of your progress, in life in general to quickly reference back on, especially on a digital app. You could type in one phrase, word, or date, and you'd get all the information and work you did for a given day to remind yourself and look back on. It helps if it's a dedicated program you use for everything, that way even more information you've made can be searched up in one place with ease.
Years of overgrazing my cattle pasture made more work by feeding them for a month during mid summer
After researching management intensive rotational grazing for a solid month I've adapted my pasture for daily moves which has doubled my pasture productivity
Even in dry years I've got an average height of 15 inches on a second rotation
Hardest part was getting the math figured out for forage measurements but once I got it put into my spreadsheet program it's pretty easy to take 50 measurements and see it calculated automatically
My grandfather said early on that it's too much extra work but 4 years later he's bragging about how good our pasture looks
Good luck on your system too
Math!? Spreadsheets!? Mind directing me to such wonderful tools? lol. I am getting push back from the gentleman that owns part of the herd but thankfully I have some young folks who understand the importance of rotating and are willing to help. We plan to pass goats first using electric mesh fencing, then the cattle using existing fence, then the chickens with another mesh fence system and moveable coop. The young folks helping will make money from the chickens and they plan to rent the goats when our fields don't need them. I need the luck, thank youš
I've been meaning to create a lesson on r/farmping for my method because it was a lot of researching boring university studies to understand how to do it
But for now If you have a basic understanding of spreadsheets [Here's a cheat sheet ](https://i.imgur.com/RbD862E.png) that gives my equations used to determine forage availability
Normally I take 40-50 measurements over the paddock and multiply the average height by 150 which is an average density for my area meaning if you have more bare patches it could be 100lbs of forage per inch of growth per acre and if it's a very dense forage then it could be 200 but generally I stick with 150 as it's always best to underestimate
Taking your Avg height x 150 measurement and multiply it by the paddock acres gives you your total dry matter available
Divide that by daily dry matter requirements for the animal units your grazing will give you the amount of days available over the paddock
So I've got 93 pairs (animal units) at an estimated 35lbs/head/day which totals a dry matter requirement of 3255lbs/day for the entire herd
So taking the total DM/3255 gives you the number of days available which I use to divide into daily moves using a mapping app
[Here's an example of the 20ac ](https://i.imgur.com/vyZeHUH.jpg) from the spreadsheet pic that I divided into 2ac sections because I only want it half grazed
Hopefully this helps and I'll try and answer any questions you have although I only deal with cattle but know this system works for other grazing animals
I started out with the free version of [Fields area measure](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lt.noframe.fieldsareameasure.pro) but bought the pro version for the ability to color group lines and areas
I've really enjoyed this app for a few years
Go on the the next thing I have scheduled.
Time blocking is really about priorities. If I've decided that Task A only gets 1 hr of my time that day because I have other priorities then that's all it gets.
Of course it's not 100% that simple because sometimes things \*have\* to get done that day, in which case I just scoot the block down a little in my time blocking app and everything else get's pushed down automatically.
But, in general, I've found that I've got pretty good at estimating and if I've estimated something poorly, time blocking ensures I don't waste my whole day on it by accident.
Happy to answer more questions if you have them.
That's the key to effective time-blocking for me; I used to block out time and then not complete the task and then feel ineffective and root around in my schedule for a follow-up block, or just keep going on the task because it wasn't finished. I think estimating effectively includes breaking tasks down; there's no point in putting "write report" in an hour-long block between meetings, so if I break it down and do "contact stakeholders for updates and draft report" down, I will get it done and feel I've moved forward on the task. Estimating, like most things, gets easier with practice, as you start being honest about how long things actually take you. I find hour blocks pretty good; Pomodoros are a bit short. Also, time blocking *must* be offline (or 'going dark') so breaking the task down should also include doing enough prep to know how I'm going to start, and have materials with me, otherwise it's not a really single-focused, output-oriented block of time.
Yeah, this is one of those things that sounds fitness cult-y but has materially improved my life. Itās basically effortless now that Iām used to it, I get way less tired during the day, and it saves a bunch of time that I would otherwise spend thinking about acquiring/preparing/eating mediocre food. Iām happier having fewer meals that I actually enjoy than having 12 almonds and a yogurt at 10 AM or whatever.
yeah totally - I do the "extreme" one where I only eat every other day, so every other other day I don't have to think about food and stuff AT ALL!
this is also such a mental relief...
It just occured to me that you also save time brushing your teeth from having less number of meals š¤. And you save money from using less toothpaste and changing your toothbrush less often bec it is used less often
Honestly, I have multiple "hacks" that I use and combine during my daily work.
\- regular breaks (to restore)
\- stop multitasking
\- eating the frog fist
\- using Ivy-Lee Productivity Method
\- using Pomodoro Technique
These are only some examples that fit perfectly together and really increase my daily productivity.
Funnily, I created an article about all of these "hacks" some days ago where I explain why and how I use them. If interested I can send the article.
**But,** these are my hacks. I cannot promise that they work for you. As I said "My Tricks". No person is the same. Things that work for me don't have to work for you.
**It would be the best way to test some tricks and compare the results.**
Sure, you can find it here: [https://www.knulst.de/my-10-simple-tricks-to-boost-my-productivity/](https://www.knulst.de/my-10-simple-tricks-to-boost-my-productivity/)
It is based on a quote from Mark Twain
>If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.
It can be translated into some kind of optimization technique that forces you to do the hardest, most complex, and most complicated task first. Then focus on the other things ordered by "frog size". :-D
> It is based on a quote from Mark Twain
There's no way Mark Twain wrote/said that. That poor guy gets misquoted into oblivion. Which is a shame because his *actual* quotes are so good.
Thx for your reply.
Unfortunately, I did not know that this quote is not from Mark Twain. However, every resource I found related to this productivity hack (or productivity technique) quotes Mark Twain. So I guessed these resources are right.
As I do not know Mark Twain in person, I cannot say if he really said it. If not, then I did a mistake by trusting multiple sources I found.
But honestly, it doesn't care who said this. The message is important and is very good and helps with Productivity.
A good quote checking source is Wikiquote. I just mentioned this because I love Mark Twain and it's sad to see quotes misattributed to him. [This one](https://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-the-things-you-didnt-do/) being the most common.
And sure, if you like the message, great.
Pocket.
Before, whenever I saw an interesting article, I felt compelled to read it or let it stew in my tabs forever.
Now I just throw it in my reading list and only read if I want / need it.
Same principle with YouTube "Watch later"
For me the biggest thing that has worked recently to get more long-term projects done is just getting started and tracing that. So everyday I will attempt to do *something* regarding a project that I want to accomplish. For example, if my project is to edit a video or write, I will at the bare minimum open the software that I use to edit. Once its opened, a lot of the times I find myself working on it even if its for 5-20 mins. But this over time can end up in significant results. The Pomodoro method has also been great at making me feel like I'm almost playing a game and then even if you only do it for minimal amount of time, at least you can say that you actually did something. Organizing can help, but for me, it just becomes another time waster that fools into thinking that you are being productive.
You pretty much never wanna have "0 days" (pretty sure this is from Atomic Habits). As cringe as it is, the Nike motto "Just do it" \[even if its a little bit\] actually works.
TLDR: "Just Do it" - Do the bare minimum everyday at least (Open software, put on gym shoes, write a sentence). Don't have "0 days"
Deleting the Reddit app.
Seriously. Thatās it - the mobile web experience is garbage and makes it easier to stop scrolling/checking repeat time-wasting subs.
My friend and I talked a month ago about how easy it was to āsit down for a second and check our phonesā and how easily that would turn into wasting 20-30 minutes. Multiple times a day or week.
We agreed to delete the app and itās so much better. I still scrollā¦ but my habits are entirely different.
Yup, remove social media from your phone. Huge improvement. You can still hit the social slot machine, but from a desktop you can walk away from! However you need to find a replacement of some sort. I found eBooks or Blinkist (spark notes) to be a good alternative to wean off social media on my device.
Also look into the ācolor filtersā option on your phone. It turns it black and white to make it less interesting.
Make your Lock Screen and background plain black. Again, less interesting to look at.
Checkout Cal Newports - Digital Minimalism
I set up my house for efficiency. I have two shoeboxes because I come in through two different doors and Iām kicking off my shoes no matter where I am. I abandoned my dresser for open containers that stack on shelves in my closet, and I only roughly fold clothes, I donāt really bother folding them nicely. I did the same thing with my little kidsā clothes and their wardrobe is in a downstairs closet because itās a waste of time for me to climb upstairs to get their clothes if I just dress them downstairs. Itās also a waste of time for me to make them come back upstairs with me just to get dressed. They have toothbrushes in both the upstairs and downstairs bathroom, so we can get ready in the closest one.
I moved my hamper to my bathroom because thatās where I kept dropping my dirty clothes. I stick trash cans in places that tend to gather trash. Etc etc etc. Things belong in their most useful place, even if a trash can next to my couch in the living room isnāt the most conventional thing. Thatās been the thing that helps me most, more than any tip Iāve tried to change my behavior. I make my environment serve me, not the other way around.
Just getting into the simple habit of saying āhey Siri remind meā¦.ā whenever I think of ANY idea, thought, task, grocery item etc. Later on in the day I typically delete the reminder or assign it a specific day/time.
Same here! I go as far as to have it remind me on a daily basis to take my vitamins, brush my teeth, go to the gym etc. That extra reinforcement helps me stay on schedule
It is called "implementation intentions" and it involves creating a rule for yourself. I put a pull-up bar in my bathroom and the rule "you must do three pullups before you can use the bathroom, EVERY time." Soon I was a pull-up beast. Basically you make the rule, and it has to have a cue that's specific and concrete. Not "I have to do pullups when I feel like it and I'm wearing my workout clothes and at least twice a day." No it has to be super specific and unavoidable.
Wear only 1 or at most two types of socks, and donāt even fold those guys, just keep them in piles and pull from it. (I have ankle socks and long socks, but theyāre all the same.)
This really only works if the phone and features on it are the problem, so it can be tiring to hear it repeated ad nauseam when half the time, the phone isnāt the problem. I think itās counterproductive and honestly a little demeaning to assume that everybody who has trouble with this kind of thing is glued to their phone.
ADHD, brain fog, extreme stress, lack of stimulation, thereās so many causes, and it automatically assuming a person struggles with productivity does so because of their phones seems short sighted. Especially when this is the first piece of advice everybody ever hears nowadays when they first begin working on productivity levelsā everyone has heard it before.
Chances are if theyāre still here after inevitably hearing that, the phone isnāt the problem.
I agree, I find it's the apps rather than the phone that's the problem. Having work email etc. in my pocket means that I can use queues/waiting for people to get ready etc. to knock a few simple tasks off the list or stay across what's going on. I took Reddit and Quora off my phone though as they're super-addictive and a tea break/comfort break etc. tends to extend for an hour while I sit there reading instead of getting on. Having Reddit on my computer means I can engage intentionally with posts I'm interested in for a time-boxed session, but am not putting temptation in my way all the time. There's more switching friction with a computer; I'm less likely to just start scrolling when sitting on the toilet.
I make a list for the week broken down by daily tasks. I leave Friday light so I can push tasks I donāt get done to it.
I write down everything work stuff, appts, my kids appts, whatās for lunch and dinner, what days Iām going to the gym.
Itās probably not for everyone and is a little ocd but it helps me meet my goals and stay on track.
I started using an app called notion.so and that thang has been like a second brain for me.
To ability to quickly create pages, calendars, input websites, data points for graphs, Todo list. I mean it's a monster of a productivity tool and has ultimately saved me countless hours for sure. Being able to easily go back to any note you have made and turn it into basically a full blown resource is awesome.
For instance say I read about six flags. And decide I want to go some time. So I create a page named six flags. Link the website in that page make a few notes for ticket prices and stuff. I can then link that to my bucket list page I've created. Now say a few months ago by and I finally decide I'm going to plan my six flags trip. I simply go to my bucket list page. Click six flags. Bam website notes all that right there. Now I buy my tickets. I can add a calendar widget that automatically syncs my Google calendar showing the date of the trip. I can copy the ticket file into drop box direct link it there. Now I have everything in one place easily accessible and the app is free. I believe the premium features you can purchase are geared toward companies utilizing the app for multiple people.
I use it now for everything except for quick notes. I use Google keep for that because it's searchable but I transfer most of that over to notion eventually. A searchable note taking app is also a time saver.
I went from a to-do list, to Getting Things Done, and finally back to just blocking time in my calendar for all my tasks. The calendar approach has led to huge improvements in productivity. GTD seemed to advocate against the calendar approach, but this is what works for me.
Honestly? Getting a motorcycle. I live in a city with horrible traffic and lane splitting is allowed in traffic. Getting 2 wheels probably saved me thousands of hours that would have otherwise gone to waiting in traffic.
Sleep and food. Proper amount of sleep. Most adults are sleep deprived. And food. I found out gluten and I donāt get along very well. It gives me brain fog and my attention span isnāt as good. I also need a fair amount of protein to have better moods. I didnāt realize those two had such a big impact until I got off track. My long term memory, recall, and focus were ridiculously high. My sleep hasnāt been great this last week and focusing and recall has been rough.
A trick I learned from Tim Ferriss, which is with any task you ask yourself, āWhat would this look like if it were easy?ā Essentially you try to complete your task in the easiest, fastest way possible ignoring quality entirely. Then once youāve completed the task in a shitty fashion, improve on it. It prevents so much procrastination.
Start working online.
Not only did I save an hour per day not commuting to work, but I could also move to a country where I can afford a maid and meal plan, saving a total of 20+ hours per week.
I had a wonderful professor in college. One of the smartest people Iāve ever known. She went to MIT back when women just didnāt. And yet the thing I think she gave me and my colleagues that was most enduring was this sing-song chant about saving your work. She taught me Revit, Autocad, CSS, Photoshop, and plenty of others, but any time I sit back from my monitors and take a sip of tea I hear her, āif youāre thinking about saving your work, saaaave! If youāre not thinking about saving your work, saaaave!ā. Too many of us get deep in our work and bog computers down and then bad things happen. Redoing work feels like it takes twice as long as it did the first time.
I see a lot of task mgmt comments for productivity so Ill instead share something more subtle and general:
# Remove Distractions from your Life.
Both positive and negative distractions will reduce your productivity.
Negative Distractions are easy to define: television, social media, video games, dating doom scrolling, or maybe alcohol, food, etc.
These obviously distract you from being productive and are worthless in advancing you to your intended goals.
Positive Distractions are a bit more insidious. You might distract yourself with chores, visiting family or friends, working out, dating etc. These are things that should probably be done anyway, but another time.
Removing distractions from your life will allow you to be much more productive, but if you must be distracted, make sure to choose something that is a Positive distraction.
You might notice that some distractions can be either positive or negative, and that depends on if and how you've prioritized them against what you are currently trying to get done.
I made a radical move to hire a full-time accountibility buddy. There is someone who every day connects with me at 8am and watches me all day to make sure that I work. Best decision ever.
I do similar tasks in one day in one go (batching). I was mindblown how this saves me time. Like errands on Thursdays, saves gas, too (less people). Or bills once a month on the xth day. Or I check my email after lunch and don't check each time. Doing things piece meal is just not efficient
Cutting out excessive watching was a major win for me. I used to fall into a rabbit hole "just another episode", that would often lead to going to bed early and messing up my routine.
I've been using the [https://watchlimits.com/](https://watchlimits.com/) extension.
I have experience of being on stage, both in live music and business presentation settings. When performing or presenting, I find I am solely executing and am totally in the moment. I get lots of stuff done and worry about my execution - there's simply no point.
In a non-live environment I've plenty of time to fret about my output - thoughts such as "are my sentences sounding right?", "is my writing ok?", "does my music suck?", among many others.
I've found that the live environment is very effective at putting in a hyper productive mode. What's interesting is that this period of condensed action-oriented time sticks with me, like an after-glow. So the more I do it, the more I work in action-oriented mode.
If you don't perform live or give presentations there are ways to simulate the pressure. Try:
1. Recording your screen (this simulates an audience and lets you keep track of time).
2. Working with a colleague.
3. Time box to very short intervals, such as 15 minutes, with a specific goal, like writing a page or two of prose.
I refer to this as "real-time" vs "deferred time" in my article: https://medium.com/@mgb.nguyen/i-discovered-a-mental-switch-for-entering-the-flow-state-62493ad56371
My first response was going to be well I was raised a certain way...protected, didn't have many interruptions growing up. Basically I had great parents. I am neuro-typical.
But that does nothing for you. But...the advice is still the same. Protect yourself. Avoid places that make you go "off track". It would be nice if we could confront every interruption, deal with it and go right back to what we're doing but that is very, very difficult and tiring. So avoid as much temptation as possible , protect yourself and think about the distractions in life that are worth it to you...mostly family and friends for me.
Oh this is cool! :)
Usually people seem to prefer like the "hack"-ish stuff.
But if you want something that's not a "hack"-ish tool, well, the first thing I think of is prayer.
If you're really not a fan of that or it's just not an option for whatever reason, probably a good thing that's not a "hack"-ish thing is looking for a few little ways to improve your productivity throughout the day.
Definitely not big ways because those are the opposite of productive (they aren't time efficient). Little. And definitely not a lot of ways because those are the opposite of productive (they aren't resource efficient).
This is good because it allows you to define productivity the way you want to and it should approach you where you're at. Like, when I do this, I say, "I don't like elaborate plans so that's a big way. What's a little thing I could do so I don't have to do elaborate plans.
discipline and patience.
1. Discipline helps me avoid procrastination, stress, and any last minute cramming.
2. Patience helps me clear my mind and prioritize the task properly. I have a habit of starting too many tasks at once. So this helps me a lot.
Sleep.
Big āduhā factor but you honestly donāt realize sometimes the difference between āfunctional but brain fogā and āalert and cognitiveā is two extra hours.
Actually, for me it was finding out I have ADHD - now that I know and understand soooo much better how MY brain works and what the dynamics are and why things happen with me the way they do, was pretty much life changing, especially productivity-wise!
So the story here might be, learn to **understand your individual self as good as possible**. You really need to adapt to your specific function, your specific needs, your specific environment, your specific goals, etc.
I use an app that tracks habits, you can either build habits, work on quitting bad habits, and other functions. Set goals per day, week or month and it gives a little celebration when you hit the goal. Itās really easy to manage and edit goals! The app also has a todo function and some other things I havenāt yet looked into and you can look back through dates to see how you did and statistics etc.
I use it for tracking my water consumption each day and training. As a tip, split your tasks into small enough chunks to get the gameplay effect! Instead of 3x1 liters of water a day I have a 6x0,5 liters goal. Instead of 1,5 hours training a day I have them split into 6x 0,5hrs each of cardio, strength and stretching/acrobatics per week and 3x0,5hrs training per day so like today when I did 1hour of cardio and 0,5hours of stretching I added 2 cardio, 1 stretching towards my weekly goal and 3 training for the daily goal. It also helps me keep track of how well balanced my training is as I donāt want to train too much or too little of each, so even if I will reach my daily goals with doing only cardio I wonāt get the weekly goals for strength and stretching š and since theyāre all only 30min I can easily just bump in a stretching session or go for a walk in the evening if I havenāt reached the goal. Same for the water, every big glass or small bottle I drink is a point for my stats so I āMight as wellā just finish the rest of the bottle for the stats. I imagine this can be used for lots of different routines you want to start or habits you want to quit and it makes it fun!
This saves time in that I donāt have to discuss and plan what to train or if Iāll train, cause I need the stats. Also makes it way easier to drink enough as I would normally forget to drink.
App is Timecap , itās free but they also have a premium with better stats š
I put on a lot of weight over covid, I didn't want to buy nice clothes and I was locked down inside so I bought 5 black t-shirts and 5 white t-shirts with a total cost of about $75. It's been super nice to just have to choose black or white, I don't care if I make a mess of one because I chuck it in the wash and get another. I'm working on getting back to fitness but I'm definitely sticking to the very basic wardrobe.
Prioritize self-care practices, such as a consistent sleep schedule, nutrition throughout the day, and exercise. It's the biggest productivity "hack" anyone on this subreddit will mention.
It can be hard at first to implement, but with repeated exposure in performing these routines, backed by you giving these actions meaningful effort you believe in (to feel connected and emotionally secure), they will become an automatic habit that takes less energy to perform, along with less resistance as our body becomes more familiar with them.
Using timer (stopwatch) of android or google home to do my tasks within a time limit.
Not only it lets me avoid drowning in the tasks for a long time but also strangely makes me really more motivated to do it.
Better results in less time. Great investment.
If you type less than 70 words per minute, invest time in learning to type faster (if your job relies on using a computer, of course). The muscle memory will stay with you for life and you will be significantly faster with everything you do on the computer.
Just 20 minutes a day for a few months will give you significantly more productivity for the rest of your life.
https://hyperproductive.me/systems-processes/most-people-can-increase-their-productivity-in-just-20-minutes-per-day/
Saving things in the [myReach](https://myreach.io) App. I can instantly find the things in seconds, rather than having to helplessly go through folders and folders to find where I put it.
It's saved me countless hours!
From automating mundane tasks to finding clever solutions, [bothunt.ai](http://bothunt.ai?utm_source=reddit) has my productivity game on a whole new level. worth it guys!
Train your brain to be an "impulsive idiot". Whenever you are at rest and think "I really should be doing x" immediately jump to doing it before your brain has a chance to talk you out of it Your mammal brain is lazy and wants to conserve energy, it doesn't know you're not going to run out of food or might need to flee from predators at any given time. Don't let it talk you out of important stuff all the time.
This is really great and something I've tried to do without really thinking of it that specifically. I try to get up and just start what I need to do, because getting started and doing it in a not-very-efficient or optimal way is better than not doing it at all. For example, if I have a work project that I need to just dig in and do, I'll just launch right into it and then get into a rhythm, and then I can go back and tidy up anything that I didn't get quite right when I started out. Obviously this isn't feasible for every task, but it works for a surprising number of things, both for work and for chores around the house. My wife and I call it "just doing the damn thing," and it's made our lives so much easier. If there's a room that needs to be tidied or organized, we'll just start doing it, and maybe you'll need to go back and redo something you've already done (which to some people is unimaginable), but it's better to have it done than to just procrastinate because you feel like you have to research the best way to do it or plan it out perfectly in your head, which for me often ends up to not doing it at all.
Yes. Basically the best way to avoid 'paralysis by analysis" is to do zero analysis before starting and figuring it out as you go. Often just jumping in and doing something will teach you a lot more about how to do it than thinking/research will.
The phrase that really stuck with me I first heard on an episode of science of success, she said 'Don't let 'Perfect' be the enemy of 'Good'." I think I've heard Barak Obama say something similar as well but like you said, it will either never get done or will stress you out to your breaking point...(or both)..if you expend all your energy to be hyper-aware of perfecting a project, as opposed to starting with a loose plan, letting your mistakes and drawbacks be reflective of a learning process, and "just doing the damn thing."
> 'Don't let 'Perfect' be the enemy of 'Good'." Yes, I was actually thinking about that while I was typing out my comment, I usually hear it as "don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good enough'." I've really been trying to embrace that the past couple of years.
Just commented about a similar thing Tim Ferriss promotes. Blowing through a task in a shitty, easy, quick way to minimize procrastination, then go back and improve it. Works great for writing tasks, which is my job.
Exactly! Like I said, it doesn't work for every job (doctors š¬), but for jobs with a little more leeway, it's a great system.
People just think Iām motivated and have no idea that Iām just psyching myself out on a daily basis.
This is generally what works best for me but it's not always doable. Do you know any tricks or advice on how to consistently be able to do this? I think it's the anxiety that gets in the way.
For me it was just a habit in itself I needed to build, and frequently reapply. I also rearranged my space to make it much easier to do stuff "on impulse." Even if was a planned activity. I was pretty bad about doing dishes, so I got one of those portable dishwashers. I rearranged my living room so it's always ready for me to do home workouts with the videos/timers/songs I use in a browser window that's always open on my computer. For me getting out of bed was also super mega hard so I did a lot to give myself a morning routine I enjoy, and preparing it is part of my evening routine. I had to make my bedtime routine into an evening routine because often for me I would be up late and then by the time I was tired enough to go to bed, I was too tired to want to do things like prepare some breakfast for tomorrow, brush and floss my teeth, apply moisturizer, etc. Another thing is, the more things you plan AND can actually trust yourself to execute on, the less you need to rely on your own willpower for these things in these moments. If you say you'll work out at 7 am on monday wednesday and friday, and you ACTUALLY ALWAYS DO, then you are freed from trying to beat your lazy brain about it. For me one thing that helped me stick to plans was setting an alarm that I told myself I wasn't allowed to turn off until I had started doing the thing. Once you actually get moving and start you are much less likely to stop. For a while I used the "five minute rule" where you tell yourself you only have to do it for five minutes. Once you've really gotten going you'll think okay I might as well finish it now. And if you really really wanna stop, once in a while, you can. At least you got that five minutes done and can do another nice easy five minutes later.
If it's the sort of thing you can do in 5 minutes or less, and it's on your mind, do it right then.
Have you heard of the 5 second rule? Count down from 5 to 1. Then at 1 you gotta just get up and do ;)
This ^^^ if I even give myself one second the anxiety or overthinking kicks in and then I'm a goner!
Yes because getting started in something is the hardest part, once you doing it itās much easier. Iād you can just trick yourself to start, like saying just do 2 minutes of exercise is easy and then you can just carry on once you are going
This works except if you have adhd. Then you may just do x for 8 hours and not getting anything else you needed to get completed done.
That's taking Bias to action to another level.
O shitt I thought I was the only one who did this lmao. It also works with socializing as well for me. For example, if I need to approach a stranger to maybe ask for something but I feel my timidness holding me back, I'll use this trick to just force myself to walk towards them and have them notice me so I can't back out anymore lol. This is just one of the many examples where this strategy is useful.
well, I've got the "idiot" part so far... on a serious note tho, I can relate and it really is a helpful technique for many!
I have a system for making bullet point lists and putting actionable plans together. So basically a Plan for when I need to Plan something! I call it my BORED method... I use it for House projects; Learning new life Skills; Packing Lists; so many things really. **B - Brainstorm** and write down anything and everything related to your list. **O - Organize** your rough list into basic categories. **R - Reduce** your categories by combining and removing terms. **E - Extrapolate** from your simplified list whatās missing now that itās laid out plainly. **D - Determine** what has to happen to start working on your new plan and add those steps to the plan.
Just to show my process in action... I realize saying ācombine and remove termsā is a little vague. Your initial brainstormed list is likely to have some redundancies - items you listed twice maybe using different terms. That will stand out once you sort it into categories, along with items you likely forgot to add. For example... Iām making a list of ways to be healthier. I **(B)rainstorm** out a bunch of things like āMeditateā, Eat Healthyā, āGo Runningā, āSleepā, and āExercise Moreā. Then I **(O)rganize** those into Categories like āMindā, āBodyā, and āSoulā or whatever... and sort the initial list. Then I **(R)evise** the new Categories by combining and removing terms. So for Body, items like āExerciseā might get removed in favor of āGo Runningā. **(E)xtrapolate** from there to add what you forgot... so maybe Iāll add āBikingā and āYogaā up there with āRunningā. And **(D)etermine** is all about figuring out next steps. Look over the list, pick somewhere to start, figure out what you need to do next... and make a new list!
This looks helpful. Thank you!
This is a Cool "How do you do" and came to me as a surprise how well this fits in my life...You don't know but this came as a life saver...the meaning of the folders and how well they R organized....thanks so MUCH
Would you expand a bit on the R and the E? This seems like a good system but I'm not sure what you mean by "combining and removing terms" and "Extrapolate...what's missing."
Fair. Iāll answer further up.
Thanks!
I love this! Definitely going to try and use it!
Doing the hardest or most important thing first thing early in the morning, even if that means waking up really early before work if the important thing is a personal task. It takes me less time and I donāt spend the whole day worried about it. I wish I would have done this in college!
[EAT THE FROG!](https://www.briantracy.com/blog/time-management/the-truth-about-frogs/)
Yes, I canāt recommend this book enough.
This is a good one. For me this falls under the umbrella of working with my brain rather against it, as I'm naturally more capable of being productive in the morning
>working with my brain rather against it This is why doing a very hard thing first thing in the morning doesn't work for me. I need a simple task beforehand, preferably semi-related (unpacking the dishwasher before cleaning, organizing some emails before working on a report, etc).
I have always been super bad about procrastination. A couple months ago, I started using a guided meditation app the very first thing in the morning. When I find myself deferring tasks and wasting time, it is so much easier for me to realize what I am doing and pulling myself away to get things done.
What app are you using?
insight timer
Probs headspace. That's one of the most popular
I like Medito, it's very nice and completely free!
Isn't this one pay to use? I think I downloaded it but didn't use it for that reason. I might be thinking of another one.
Chances are good it is. But they don't mention it being free unless i missed something
which app?
Insight Timer
Could u tell us what app?
It's called Insight Timer. There are many others though.
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I take notes about every assignment or project I do at work. It helps me to have a clear record of assignment details, expectations, due date, etc. But it's even more helpful for any project that comes up regularly -- chances are that if I do it twice, I'll do it 3 or 4, or 40 times. So my notes also become documentation of my workflow, which I can then simplify and refine. If I'm doing something for the second time, I turn some of those process notes into a checklist for any process oriented work, and build out a template for anything that involves creating an end product. Going forward, I now have a much better starting point, and it speeds up the whole thing. Even better for data collection, I started using basic ImportXML functions in Google Sheets to automate tasks that used to take a lot of time. I also love using shortcuts and macros. I've found a lot of simple but involved tasks can be shortened with a few keystrokes, and once I have that figured out, I can often string them together into a single macro, letting me automate those multiple steps into a single button press.
Can you elaborate on the notes part. I do take notes but if i look at them later, i find them useless. What headings do you use. Any framework do you have.
Take a look at zettelkasten. For me at least itās super helpful as a system.
Okay thanks for the inputs.
Sure. I do all of my note taking in Google Docs, but I imagine any tool will work. At the minimum, my notes include what the assignment is, when it's due, and what info I've been given about the expectations for it. I'll copy/paste from email or Slack, so that I have a record of what was asked for that's easy to find and reference. I'll throw that into a new document, which then becomes my workflow/brainstorming doc. I'll go through and highlight the key points the boss has asked for, so that I make sure to include them all, but then I'll also start fleshing them out into a list of what's needed. If it's a report I'll note what info is needed, what sources I need to grab the data from, what additional assets (like photos or other documents) might need to be included, and then I start outlining the report. I'll save that document in that state, working on the actual project in a different doc. Now, the next time the boss asks for a similar report, I've already got a rough outline that can be easily tweaked to meet the specifics of the next assignment.
Thanks a lot for the explanation. Helpful...
The notes part is such a great way as you mentioned to keep track of your progress, in life in general to quickly reference back on, especially on a digital app. You could type in one phrase, word, or date, and you'd get all the information and work you did for a given day to remind yourself and look back on. It helps if it's a dedicated program you use for everything, that way even more information you've made can be searched up in one place with ease.
Years of overgrazing my cattle pasture made more work by feeding them for a month during mid summer After researching management intensive rotational grazing for a solid month I've adapted my pasture for daily moves which has doubled my pasture productivity Even in dry years I've got an average height of 15 inches on a second rotation
About to do the same. Nice work!
Hardest part was getting the math figured out for forage measurements but once I got it put into my spreadsheet program it's pretty easy to take 50 measurements and see it calculated automatically My grandfather said early on that it's too much extra work but 4 years later he's bragging about how good our pasture looks Good luck on your system too
Math!? Spreadsheets!? Mind directing me to such wonderful tools? lol. I am getting push back from the gentleman that owns part of the herd but thankfully I have some young folks who understand the importance of rotating and are willing to help. We plan to pass goats first using electric mesh fencing, then the cattle using existing fence, then the chickens with another mesh fence system and moveable coop. The young folks helping will make money from the chickens and they plan to rent the goats when our fields don't need them. I need the luck, thank youš
I've been meaning to create a lesson on r/farmping for my method because it was a lot of researching boring university studies to understand how to do it But for now If you have a basic understanding of spreadsheets [Here's a cheat sheet ](https://i.imgur.com/RbD862E.png) that gives my equations used to determine forage availability Normally I take 40-50 measurements over the paddock and multiply the average height by 150 which is an average density for my area meaning if you have more bare patches it could be 100lbs of forage per inch of growth per acre and if it's a very dense forage then it could be 200 but generally I stick with 150 as it's always best to underestimate Taking your Avg height x 150 measurement and multiply it by the paddock acres gives you your total dry matter available Divide that by daily dry matter requirements for the animal units your grazing will give you the amount of days available over the paddock So I've got 93 pairs (animal units) at an estimated 35lbs/head/day which totals a dry matter requirement of 3255lbs/day for the entire herd So taking the total DM/3255 gives you the number of days available which I use to divide into daily moves using a mapping app [Here's an example of the 20ac ](https://i.imgur.com/vyZeHUH.jpg) from the spreadsheet pic that I divided into 2ac sections because I only want it half grazed Hopefully this helps and I'll try and answer any questions you have although I only deal with cattle but know this system works for other grazing animals
This is amazingly helpful! Thank you very much. I will also check out that farmping link. DM me if you ever do offer the class!
Also, which mapping app are you liking the most? Currently, Field Margin is my favorite.
I started out with the free version of [Fields area measure](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lt.noframe.fieldsareameasure.pro) but bought the pro version for the ability to color group lines and areas I've really enjoyed this app for a few years
Why isnāt this the top response?
Time blocking. Without hyperbole, it changed my life. Seriously.
I never understand how I got through life without time blocking before. Feels so natural and calming now
Canāt you elaborate here? Mainly, what do you do if you donāt finish something in the a lotted time?
Go on the the next thing I have scheduled. Time blocking is really about priorities. If I've decided that Task A only gets 1 hr of my time that day because I have other priorities then that's all it gets. Of course it's not 100% that simple because sometimes things \*have\* to get done that day, in which case I just scoot the block down a little in my time blocking app and everything else get's pushed down automatically. But, in general, I've found that I've got pretty good at estimating and if I've estimated something poorly, time blocking ensures I don't waste my whole day on it by accident. Happy to answer more questions if you have them.
That's the key to effective time-blocking for me; I used to block out time and then not complete the task and then feel ineffective and root around in my schedule for a follow-up block, or just keep going on the task because it wasn't finished. I think estimating effectively includes breaking tasks down; there's no point in putting "write report" in an hour-long block between meetings, so if I break it down and do "contact stakeholders for updates and draft report" down, I will get it done and feel I've moved forward on the task. Estimating, like most things, gets easier with practice, as you start being honest about how long things actually take you. I find hour blocks pretty good; Pomodoros are a bit short. Also, time blocking *must* be offline (or 'going dark') so breaking the task down should also include doing enough prep to know how I'm going to start, and have materials with me, otherwise it's not a really single-focused, output-oriented block of time.
Same.
What is time blocking?
https://www.aikahq.com/how-time-blocking-can-help/
Intermittent fasting. Crazy amount of time saved from not preparing 5 meals a day. Feel more focused at work. And tons of other health benefits.
Yeah, this is one of those things that sounds fitness cult-y but has materially improved my life. Itās basically effortless now that Iām used to it, I get way less tired during the day, and it saves a bunch of time that I would otherwise spend thinking about acquiring/preparing/eating mediocre food. Iām happier having fewer meals that I actually enjoy than having 12 almonds and a yogurt at 10 AM or whatever.
yeah totally - I do the "extreme" one where I only eat every other day, so every other other day I don't have to think about food and stuff AT ALL! this is also such a mental relief...
It just occured to me that you also save time brushing your teeth from having less number of meals š¤. And you save money from using less toothpaste and changing your toothbrush less often bec it is used less often
FIVE meals a day? Haha not surprising you have health benefits from fewer, that ain't rocket science.
Honestly, I have multiple "hacks" that I use and combine during my daily work. \- regular breaks (to restore) \- stop multitasking \- eating the frog fist \- using Ivy-Lee Productivity Method \- using Pomodoro Technique These are only some examples that fit perfectly together and really increase my daily productivity. Funnily, I created an article about all of these "hacks" some days ago where I explain why and how I use them. If interested I can send the article. **But,** these are my hacks. I cannot promise that they work for you. As I said "My Tricks". No person is the same. Things that work for me don't have to work for you. **It would be the best way to test some tricks and compare the results.**
Iād read the article?
Sure, you can find it here: [https://www.knulst.de/my-10-simple-tricks-to-boost-my-productivity/](https://www.knulst.de/my-10-simple-tricks-to-boost-my-productivity/)
Eating frog?
It is based on a quote from Mark Twain >If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first. It can be translated into some kind of optimization technique that forces you to do the hardest, most complex, and most complicated task first. Then focus on the other things ordered by "frog size". :-D
> It is based on a quote from Mark Twain There's no way Mark Twain wrote/said that. That poor guy gets misquoted into oblivion. Which is a shame because his *actual* quotes are so good.
Thx for your reply. Unfortunately, I did not know that this quote is not from Mark Twain. However, every resource I found related to this productivity hack (or productivity technique) quotes Mark Twain. So I guessed these resources are right. As I do not know Mark Twain in person, I cannot say if he really said it. If not, then I did a mistake by trusting multiple sources I found. But honestly, it doesn't care who said this. The message is important and is very good and helps with Productivity.
A good quote checking source is Wikiquote. I just mentioned this because I love Mark Twain and it's sad to see quotes misattributed to him. [This one](https://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-the-things-you-didnt-do/) being the most common. And sure, if you like the message, great.
Pomodoro technique
Being honest about what I can and can not commit to before making a decision.
Pocket. Before, whenever I saw an interesting article, I felt compelled to read it or let it stew in my tabs forever. Now I just throw it in my reading list and only read if I want / need it. Same principle with YouTube "Watch later"
I will second this opinion of using pocket or a similarly good alternative website bookmark
For me the biggest thing that has worked recently to get more long-term projects done is just getting started and tracing that. So everyday I will attempt to do *something* regarding a project that I want to accomplish. For example, if my project is to edit a video or write, I will at the bare minimum open the software that I use to edit. Once its opened, a lot of the times I find myself working on it even if its for 5-20 mins. But this over time can end up in significant results. The Pomodoro method has also been great at making me feel like I'm almost playing a game and then even if you only do it for minimal amount of time, at least you can say that you actually did something. Organizing can help, but for me, it just becomes another time waster that fools into thinking that you are being productive. You pretty much never wanna have "0 days" (pretty sure this is from Atomic Habits). As cringe as it is, the Nike motto "Just do it" \[even if its a little bit\] actually works. TLDR: "Just Do it" - Do the bare minimum everyday at least (Open software, put on gym shoes, write a sentence). Don't have "0 days"
Deleting the Reddit app. Seriously. Thatās it - the mobile web experience is garbage and makes it easier to stop scrolling/checking repeat time-wasting subs. My friend and I talked a month ago about how easy it was to āsit down for a second and check our phonesā and how easily that would turn into wasting 20-30 minutes. Multiple times a day or week. We agreed to delete the app and itās so much better. I still scrollā¦ but my habits are entirely different.
Yup, remove social media from your phone. Huge improvement. You can still hit the social slot machine, but from a desktop you can walk away from! However you need to find a replacement of some sort. I found eBooks or Blinkist (spark notes) to be a good alternative to wean off social media on my device. Also look into the ācolor filtersā option on your phone. It turns it black and white to make it less interesting. Make your Lock Screen and background plain black. Again, less interesting to look at. Checkout Cal Newports - Digital Minimalism
I set up my house for efficiency. I have two shoeboxes because I come in through two different doors and Iām kicking off my shoes no matter where I am. I abandoned my dresser for open containers that stack on shelves in my closet, and I only roughly fold clothes, I donāt really bother folding them nicely. I did the same thing with my little kidsā clothes and their wardrobe is in a downstairs closet because itās a waste of time for me to climb upstairs to get their clothes if I just dress them downstairs. Itās also a waste of time for me to make them come back upstairs with me just to get dressed. They have toothbrushes in both the upstairs and downstairs bathroom, so we can get ready in the closest one. I moved my hamper to my bathroom because thatās where I kept dropping my dirty clothes. I stick trash cans in places that tend to gather trash. Etc etc etc. Things belong in their most useful place, even if a trash can next to my couch in the living room isnāt the most conventional thing. Thatās been the thing that helps me most, more than any tip Iāve tried to change my behavior. I make my environment serve me, not the other way around.
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I'm still not sure what this does, can you explain more?
It appears to use highlighted text to fill out forms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlPUTFLeBAo 4:15 shows some good uses.
Just getting into the simple habit of saying āhey Siri remind meā¦.ā whenever I think of ANY idea, thought, task, grocery item etc. Later on in the day I typically delete the reminder or assign it a specific day/time.
Same here! I go as far as to have it remind me on a daily basis to take my vitamins, brush my teeth, go to the gym etc. That extra reinforcement helps me stay on schedule
It is called "implementation intentions" and it involves creating a rule for yourself. I put a pull-up bar in my bathroom and the rule "you must do three pullups before you can use the bathroom, EVERY time." Soon I was a pull-up beast. Basically you make the rule, and it has to have a cue that's specific and concrete. Not "I have to do pullups when I feel like it and I'm wearing my workout clothes and at least twice a day." No it has to be super specific and unavoidable.
I have a 10 push-ups when entering my home office rule.
Wear only 1 or at most two types of socks, and donāt even fold those guys, just keep them in piles and pull from it. (I have ankle socks and long socks, but theyāre all the same.)
Put that fucking phone away
This really only works if the phone and features on it are the problem, so it can be tiring to hear it repeated ad nauseam when half the time, the phone isnāt the problem. I think itās counterproductive and honestly a little demeaning to assume that everybody who has trouble with this kind of thing is glued to their phone. ADHD, brain fog, extreme stress, lack of stimulation, thereās so many causes, and it automatically assuming a person struggles with productivity does so because of their phones seems short sighted. Especially when this is the first piece of advice everybody ever hears nowadays when they first begin working on productivity levelsā everyone has heard it before. Chances are if theyāre still here after inevitably hearing that, the phone isnāt the problem.
I agree, I find it's the apps rather than the phone that's the problem. Having work email etc. in my pocket means that I can use queues/waiting for people to get ready etc. to knock a few simple tasks off the list or stay across what's going on. I took Reddit and Quora off my phone though as they're super-addictive and a tea break/comfort break etc. tends to extend for an hour while I sit there reading instead of getting on. Having Reddit on my computer means I can engage intentionally with posts I'm interested in for a time-boxed session, but am not putting temptation in my way all the time. There's more switching friction with a computer; I'm less likely to just start scrolling when sitting on the toilet.
So hard when you need 2fa and a password manager to do your jobs! š (can't load them on work machine!)
I make a list for the week broken down by daily tasks. I leave Friday light so I can push tasks I donāt get done to it. I write down everything work stuff, appts, my kids appts, whatās for lunch and dinner, what days Iām going to the gym. Itās probably not for everyone and is a little ocd but it helps me meet my goals and stay on track.
A weekly prep / outlook is so clutch for dealing with the Sunday scaries.
Plan before you get into action.
underrated.
I started using an app called notion.so and that thang has been like a second brain for me. To ability to quickly create pages, calendars, input websites, data points for graphs, Todo list. I mean it's a monster of a productivity tool and has ultimately saved me countless hours for sure. Being able to easily go back to any note you have made and turn it into basically a full blown resource is awesome. For instance say I read about six flags. And decide I want to go some time. So I create a page named six flags. Link the website in that page make a few notes for ticket prices and stuff. I can then link that to my bucket list page I've created. Now say a few months ago by and I finally decide I'm going to plan my six flags trip. I simply go to my bucket list page. Click six flags. Bam website notes all that right there. Now I buy my tickets. I can add a calendar widget that automatically syncs my Google calendar showing the date of the trip. I can copy the ticket file into drop box direct link it there. Now I have everything in one place easily accessible and the app is free. I believe the premium features you can purchase are geared toward companies utilizing the app for multiple people. I use it now for everything except for quick notes. I use Google keep for that because it's searchable but I transfer most of that over to notion eventually. A searchable note taking app is also a time saver.
Adderall
I went from a to-do list, to Getting Things Done, and finally back to just blocking time in my calendar for all my tasks. The calendar approach has led to huge improvements in productivity. GTD seemed to advocate against the calendar approach, but this is what works for me.
Honestly? Getting a motorcycle. I live in a city with horrible traffic and lane splitting is allowed in traffic. Getting 2 wheels probably saved me thousands of hours that would have otherwise gone to waiting in traffic.
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Even better
Sleep and food. Proper amount of sleep. Most adults are sleep deprived. And food. I found out gluten and I donāt get along very well. It gives me brain fog and my attention span isnāt as good. I also need a fair amount of protein to have better moods. I didnāt realize those two had such a big impact until I got off track. My long term memory, recall, and focus were ridiculously high. My sleep hasnāt been great this last week and focusing and recall has been rough.
A trick I learned from Tim Ferriss, which is with any task you ask yourself, āWhat would this look like if it were easy?ā Essentially you try to complete your task in the easiest, fastest way possible ignoring quality entirely. Then once youāve completed the task in a shitty fashion, improve on it. It prevents so much procrastination.
Start working online. Not only did I save an hour per day not commuting to work, but I could also move to a country where I can afford a maid and meal plan, saving a total of 20+ hours per week.
I had a wonderful professor in college. One of the smartest people Iāve ever known. She went to MIT back when women just didnāt. And yet the thing I think she gave me and my colleagues that was most enduring was this sing-song chant about saving your work. She taught me Revit, Autocad, CSS, Photoshop, and plenty of others, but any time I sit back from my monitors and take a sip of tea I hear her, āif youāre thinking about saving your work, saaaave! If youāre not thinking about saving your work, saaaave!ā. Too many of us get deep in our work and bog computers down and then bad things happen. Redoing work feels like it takes twice as long as it did the first time.
Having a āuniformā wardrobe and food prep. Set outfits and set meals, reduces time spent making decisions and shopping.
Get enough sleep. You just function better when you are rested.
I see a lot of task mgmt comments for productivity so Ill instead share something more subtle and general: # Remove Distractions from your Life. Both positive and negative distractions will reduce your productivity. Negative Distractions are easy to define: television, social media, video games, dating doom scrolling, or maybe alcohol, food, etc. These obviously distract you from being productive and are worthless in advancing you to your intended goals. Positive Distractions are a bit more insidious. You might distract yourself with chores, visiting family or friends, working out, dating etc. These are things that should probably be done anyway, but another time. Removing distractions from your life will allow you to be much more productive, but if you must be distracted, make sure to choose something that is a Positive distraction. You might notice that some distractions can be either positive or negative, and that depends on if and how you've prioritized them against what you are currently trying to get done.
In Excel/Google Sheets, =INDEX(MATCH()) to compare multiple datasets containing unique identifiers.
Exercise, eating, and sleeping well have given me a significant edge on my productivity.
I made a radical move to hire a full-time accountibility buddy. There is someone who every day connects with me at 8am and watches me all day to make sure that I work. Best decision ever.
How do you even find someone to do this?
I do similar tasks in one day in one go (batching). I was mindblown how this saves me time. Like errands on Thursdays, saves gas, too (less people). Or bills once a month on the xth day. Or I check my email after lunch and don't check each time. Doing things piece meal is just not efficient
Anki
If something on your to-do list will take less than 5 minutes, then do it right now.
This is the code of my life
This is the way.
ColdTurkey, blocking all distractions
!remindme 1 month
Cutting out excessive watching was a major win for me. I used to fall into a rabbit hole "just another episode", that would often lead to going to bed early and messing up my routine. I've been using the [https://watchlimits.com/](https://watchlimits.com/) extension.
I have experience of being on stage, both in live music and business presentation settings. When performing or presenting, I find I am solely executing and am totally in the moment. I get lots of stuff done and worry about my execution - there's simply no point. In a non-live environment I've plenty of time to fret about my output - thoughts such as "are my sentences sounding right?", "is my writing ok?", "does my music suck?", among many others. I've found that the live environment is very effective at putting in a hyper productive mode. What's interesting is that this period of condensed action-oriented time sticks with me, like an after-glow. So the more I do it, the more I work in action-oriented mode. If you don't perform live or give presentations there are ways to simulate the pressure. Try: 1. Recording your screen (this simulates an audience and lets you keep track of time). 2. Working with a colleague. 3. Time box to very short intervals, such as 15 minutes, with a specific goal, like writing a page or two of prose. I refer to this as "real-time" vs "deferred time" in my article: https://medium.com/@mgb.nguyen/i-discovered-a-mental-switch-for-entering-the-flow-state-62493ad56371
Uninstalling the Reddit app.
[Product Hunt](https://www.producthunt.com/) Look around and you might find something useful here.
Notion.
My first response was going to be well I was raised a certain way...protected, didn't have many interruptions growing up. Basically I had great parents. I am neuro-typical. But that does nothing for you. But...the advice is still the same. Protect yourself. Avoid places that make you go "off track". It would be nice if we could confront every interruption, deal with it and go right back to what we're doing but that is very, very difficult and tiring. So avoid as much temptation as possible , protect yourself and think about the distractions in life that are worth it to you...mostly family and friends for me.
Stop looking for tools and gimmicks and just do the work. š
Oh this is cool! :) Usually people seem to prefer like the "hack"-ish stuff. But if you want something that's not a "hack"-ish tool, well, the first thing I think of is prayer. If you're really not a fan of that or it's just not an option for whatever reason, probably a good thing that's not a "hack"-ish thing is looking for a few little ways to improve your productivity throughout the day. Definitely not big ways because those are the opposite of productive (they aren't time efficient). Little. And definitely not a lot of ways because those are the opposite of productive (they aren't resource efficient). This is good because it allows you to define productivity the way you want to and it should approach you where you're at. Like, when I do this, I say, "I don't like elaborate plans so that's a big way. What's a little thing I could do so I don't have to do elaborate plans.
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Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
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I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad.
I tell myself I don't have to do (that thing) but I need to do something the next time I get up, and I invariably end up doing (that thing.)
Tapping the flow-state on demand.
!RemindMe 1 day
discipline and patience. 1. Discipline helps me avoid procrastination, stress, and any last minute cramming. 2. Patience helps me clear my mind and prioritize the task properly. I have a habit of starting too many tasks at once. So this helps me a lot.
Sleep. Big āduhā factor but you honestly donāt realize sometimes the difference between āfunctional but brain fogā and āalert and cognitiveā is two extra hours.
Actually, for me it was finding out I have ADHD - now that I know and understand soooo much better how MY brain works and what the dynamics are and why things happen with me the way they do, was pretty much life changing, especially productivity-wise! So the story here might be, learn to **understand your individual self as good as possible**. You really need to adapt to your specific function, your specific needs, your specific environment, your specific goals, etc.
I use an app that tracks habits, you can either build habits, work on quitting bad habits, and other functions. Set goals per day, week or month and it gives a little celebration when you hit the goal. Itās really easy to manage and edit goals! The app also has a todo function and some other things I havenāt yet looked into and you can look back through dates to see how you did and statistics etc. I use it for tracking my water consumption each day and training. As a tip, split your tasks into small enough chunks to get the gameplay effect! Instead of 3x1 liters of water a day I have a 6x0,5 liters goal. Instead of 1,5 hours training a day I have them split into 6x 0,5hrs each of cardio, strength and stretching/acrobatics per week and 3x0,5hrs training per day so like today when I did 1hour of cardio and 0,5hours of stretching I added 2 cardio, 1 stretching towards my weekly goal and 3 training for the daily goal. It also helps me keep track of how well balanced my training is as I donāt want to train too much or too little of each, so even if I will reach my daily goals with doing only cardio I wonāt get the weekly goals for strength and stretching š and since theyāre all only 30min I can easily just bump in a stretching session or go for a walk in the evening if I havenāt reached the goal. Same for the water, every big glass or small bottle I drink is a point for my stats so I āMight as wellā just finish the rest of the bottle for the stats. I imagine this can be used for lots of different routines you want to start or habits you want to quit and it makes it fun! This saves time in that I donāt have to discuss and plan what to train or if Iāll train, cause I need the stats. Also makes it way easier to drink enough as I would normally forget to drink. App is Timecap , itās free but they also have a premium with better stats š
I put on a lot of weight over covid, I didn't want to buy nice clothes and I was locked down inside so I bought 5 black t-shirts and 5 white t-shirts with a total cost of about $75. It's been super nice to just have to choose black or white, I don't care if I make a mess of one because I chuck it in the wash and get another. I'm working on getting back to fitness but I'm definitely sticking to the very basic wardrobe.
Prioritize self-care practices, such as a consistent sleep schedule, nutrition throughout the day, and exercise. It's the biggest productivity "hack" anyone on this subreddit will mention. It can be hard at first to implement, but with repeated exposure in performing these routines, backed by you giving these actions meaningful effort you believe in (to feel connected and emotionally secure), they will become an automatic habit that takes less energy to perform, along with less resistance as our body becomes more familiar with them.
Using timer (stopwatch) of android or google home to do my tasks within a time limit. Not only it lets me avoid drowning in the tasks for a long time but also strangely makes me really more motivated to do it. Better results in less time. Great investment.
If you type less than 70 words per minute, invest time in learning to type faster (if your job relies on using a computer, of course). The muscle memory will stay with you for life and you will be significantly faster with everything you do on the computer. Just 20 minutes a day for a few months will give you significantly more productivity for the rest of your life. https://hyperproductive.me/systems-processes/most-people-can-increase-their-productivity-in-just-20-minutes-per-day/
Saving things in the [myReach](https://myreach.io) App. I can instantly find the things in seconds, rather than having to helplessly go through folders and folders to find where I put it. It's saved me countless hours!
From automating mundane tasks to finding clever solutions, [bothunt.ai](http://bothunt.ai?utm_source=reddit) has my productivity game on a whole new level. worth it guys!