Welcome to this post, “5 Hacks To Be More Productive”!
Most people want to be successful. To be fully honest, I can’t think of a single person I know who doesn’t want to be successful in their own way or field. However, while there are a whole lot of people who want to be successful, the number of people who actually hit their goals and attain their dreams is significantly smaller than those who want to win in life.
There are hundreds of factors, large and small, that play into your individual success in life. Today I want to dive deep into one of the more broad factors, and offer a few of my personal strategies on how I tackle one of the internet’s biggest questions; “How do I become more productive?”
Before we dive into the minute details, let’s shift our mindset on what exactly “productivity” is. Unfortunately for us, productivity is more and more being measured by the quantity of work done and the time spent on aforementioned work. The idea that there should be 8, 10, 12 hour workdays is a bit extreme, and to be fully honest, not feasible for an extended period of time. This is true for both students and workers, and even more true if you are working/learning online. Productivity needs to be measured by results produced, and the quality of results, not time or energy expended on a task.
Eliminate Distractions
For the average worker or student, in their 8 hours spent working, only 2 – 4 hours of effective work is actually done. Most of the other time is spent on useless tasks like talking to other people, spending time on mobile games or Instagram, etc. The first major hack to be more productive is fairly simple and obvious: eliminate potential distractions. This could be using earbuds and music to block out other people, or removing the temptation of your phone by powering it off or leaving it somewhere else. Trust me, the world won’t burn down while you’re away from your phone.
A fantastic app for eliminating phone distractions is called “Forest”. This app simulates a growing tree, and when you open the app, you can start a productivity session. Once you start a session, the app locks you out of the rest of your phone. Rest assured, you can still access other apps, but if you do, the tree that started growing when you started your session will wither and die. The app also tracks how many productive minutes you had in a day, week, month, and year!
Create Momentum
Another major factor to productivity is momentum. Going from laying in bed to studying or grinding work is really hard, but going from a walk outside or an inspiring video is much easier! My go to method of creating momentum for my work is exercise. I’m a bit of a gym rat, so repping out 100 pushups is a surefire way to get my mind up and running!! Before I ever start working on my school work or businesses, I find some way to create momentum. Pump up music is another great method! My personal favorite artist to listen to while working is NEFFEX. I’m actually listening to them as I write this article!
Here’s my list of momentum creators:
- Listen to some epic music!
- Move around – pushups, jumping jacks, etc.
- Go for a walk outside! The fresh air helps the mind!
- Watch an inspirational video on youtube.
- Read a little bit – get your creative juices running!
- Read about the financial industry – no better way to feel useless than read about rich people!
Take Breaks
Beyond creating momentum and eliminating distractions, you also need to take breaks. One major mistake people make is trying to “tough it out” or push forward through more work. Studies have shown that the brain can only hold high level focus for so long, and after about 50 minutes of work, it becomes easier and easier to get distracted and become less productive. So when you’re working, try to take some breaks! A 5 – 10 minutes break every 50 minutes puts you in a good rhythm to work or study for a long period of time.
Take Care of Your Body
There’s another productivity hack that really irks me…
When gurus and people on YouTube or TikTok or wherever advocate for sacrificing sleep. Taking care of your body is probably the greatest productivity hack you can possibly find. You won’t be able to perform at your highest level if you’re always tired, or you eat crappy food all the time. Your work is a reflection of you, so when you feel like crap, then your work will look like crap. Don’t try to grind non-stop. Go to bed and get some sleep. There’s always tomorrow, and you can do better tomorrow. You can always wake up early, but its better to go to sleep at 10 and wake up at 4 or 5 than grind till 1 AM and wake up at 7 or 8. All the work you did past 10 was probably subpar in the first place.
Create a Plan
My final, and probably favorite, productivity hack is to create a plan for your work/study session. By creating a plan, you do a couple of things; You create momentum for your work, and you have an idea of what you’re going to do. I frequently try to start working or studying, only to realize that I don’t actually have any clue what I need to do. I then sit down for 10 or so minutes and figure out exactly what I need to make happen, based on what is most essential at that particular moment. Before you start any work at all, create a bulleted list of the top 3 things that you need to get done in the next 50 minute session. If you don’t complete all 3, then move whatever you didn’t finish onto your list for the next 50 minute work session!
The Takeaway
So my final list of productivity hacks comes down to these major ideas:
- Eliminate Distractions
- Create Momentum
- Take frequent breaks
- Take care of your body (eat healthy and sleep often)
- Create a plan of attack for your work
If you follow each of these pieces of advice, and master each individual step, then you’ll be a productivity machine!! And don’t beat yourself up too much – the modern world is built to distract you. Nobody is perfectly productive, and they shouldn’t be. Only machines are able to work nonstop with perfect productivity, and we aren’t machines.
I hope this article can offer some insight into some more ways to be productive! Have a wonderful day, and come back to the TFF site soon!
Check out more posts like this in our self improvement category!