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What's your #1 productivity hack?
Mine, is this one "Picking the right thing to work on is the most important element of productivity and usually almost ignored." from Sam Altman. I take the time each day to prioritize my tasks, meetings, etc.
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@lluis_m_ventura How about a video? :) I find think I explain it better this way. Feel free to ask me any followup questions. Thanks for asking! https://www.loom.com/share/9f202...
For meetings:
Divide meetings into:
1. Informational
2. Must Attend
3. Can do without
Attend all "Must Attend" Meetings, don't attend "Can do without" Meetings at all, if you have the free time then attend "Informational" Meetings.
You'll start noticing that your productivity goes up by 30-40%
*Design your environment for productivity* = The right environment has a huge impact on productivity levels. If your phone is visible, your brain wastes energy on whether you should check it or not. Replace phone with any form of distraction, online and offline. Therefore, spend 5 minutes making sure: 1) social media websites are blocked 2) phone is out of the way 3) work area has all the necessary tools for each of your tasks 4) energy sources nearby. The fourth point is absolutely important -- a reason a lot of us procrastinate is due to the fact we're dehydrated during the day!
Mine is to work with intent i.e. working on each task to give it a meaningful outcome.
I schedule at least 2 two-hour-sessions each day for work that stretches my cognitive limits (writing, research, learning a skill, planning a strategy etc.). Also, I batch tasks that don't demand much mind space together. For instance I schedule all my phone calls, quick email responses, and logistical work for the times when I'm exhausted from my deep work sessions.
This means that the number of tasks I complete each day are less, I make meaningful progress at each of them.
You can read more about how batching increases productivity here: https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017...
Block daily 2hours without phone. Put 3 most important tasks everyday. Prioritize tasks with one metric that matters(OMTM was taught in my 500Startups batch)
Putting a plan in the calendar previous day works amazing. + The points mentioned by others.
@himanshu00f you mean, including meetings, and tasks inside your Calendar? Or blocking time blocks to do them? Thanks!
Since I am working from home now, I have been taking a few showers a day. Time in the shower gives me lots of creativity and this change is enabling me to come up with more diverse ideas
Being 100% in-tune with my priorities. A day's theme/tasks are dictated by what's most important.
Tracking: A daily todo list with 1 TOP priority item, and 3 general/supporting items.
Timing: Using a Pomodoro timer + largely eliminating distractions is the key for me.
the get focused extension for mac (basically pomodoro technique) with a 25 min timer and 5 min break timer :)
@stockholm Interesting, you're the second person to post about this. Curious is this much different then just setting a normal timer?
Turning on "do not disturb" on my mac and phone so I don't get any notifications, and putting on noise cancelling headphones and one peppy song on repeat.
Redirect websites to 127.0.0.1 in my host file lol https://peterthaleikis.com/posts...
@spekulatius1984 Thanks for sharing this! This hack was very effective for snapping out of bad browsing habits
Mine is an extension to yours. Its picking the right thing to work and time framing it.
Whenever I pick up a task I time frame it. Otherwise the schedule goes haywire.
@kaunteya_suryawanshi totally agree. Currently looking for a way to block my hours in the day to only do specific tasks. Once the time is up, I move to the next task.
@kaunteya_suryawanshi @aisharaheem6 Hey! I almost developed a time boxing app. I feel like the aren't great options out there. Google calendars is ok, but it's a bit of a pain to manage on mobile. Toggl's pretty decent actually... still leaves a bit to be desired though.
I write a todo list everyday. I also try to focus on the items I am most passionate about and tick them off the list first.
@lluis_m_ventura yes exactly. It kind of makes me feel happy to see stuff ticked off my todo list.(: also, I can normally get more done when I am passionate about what I am doing...
Currently, I'm trying something I call the Daily Sitdown. It's like the daily standup meeting, but it's close to the end of the day. It really helps people clarify, in their minds, how productive they were that day. I find that it helps me to be mindful about what I'm working on, and it lets the rest of my team know they can count on each other to deliver.
@rossbaltimore And do you do it in a meeting? Or sharing this with the team? Or it is for you alone? Interesting!
@lluis_m_ventura we haven’t been doing it in a meeting, just because we tend to finish up at different times. But, I’d like to try that out. We’re all remote now, so any excuse to have a quick, real-time chat with my teammates (or anyone, for that matter) is a net positive!
@rossbaltimore hmm interesting. We've been running the standard morning standup, but flipping it might have some interesting results. Have you tried both?
A cup of coffee, and some sound around. Nighttime really helps since the rest of the world is off.
@andrei_popa33 Thanks, checked the product out and not sure having this over Spotify or Youtube is much more valuable. I can get the same in those locations. Just can't see paying for another service. Appreciate the send though. Interesting nonetheless!
@michaelmartinho Oh yea sorry I forgot it's not free, I've had a lifetime coupon on it or something. I can't to heavy tasks without it anymore.
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