15 Top Productivity Hacks To Boost Your Efficiency
Being unproductive is not an option!
Be it your personal or professional life, it is essential to be productive to utilize your time in the best way possible.
Nobody can deny that we face unprecedented pressure to be productive. With technological advancements and an expanding global economy, our time and energy demands can be exhausting. However, several productivity hacks might assist us in achieving balance and efficiency.
This article will explore some of the best productivity hacks to streamline your work better!
What Does It Really Mean To Be Productive?
One of the biggest misconceptions about productivity is that it's about doing more things quickly. Many people also equate it with working harder and for longer hours, straining the last piece of effort or even more than that, multitasking to get everything done faster. However, these views are tainted.
You can’t achieve productivity by sacrificing your personal life or, the most crucial still underrated, your mental health.
Rather, productivity is a smarter yet healthier approach towards completing your work. It's about using your precious time and energy in the most efficient way possible. Further, it revolves around recognizing your own limits and taking frequent breaks whenever needed.
Why Should We Opt For Productivity Techniques?
You may wonder, “What kind of differences can productivity techniques make?” or “Will it really be beneficial, or is this just a FAD?”
Below mentioned are some of the benefits that come with opting for productivity techniques:
- They help us become more focused and organized, leading us to minimize the waste of our time.
- These techniques reduce stress which eventually improves our work-life balance.
- They assist us in becoming more creative and innovative as we eventually get enough space and time to think.
- They improve our decision-making ability leading us to take more effective decisions.
In short, these techniques create small changes but are effective enough to create a big change in an individual’s life. However, you must remember to apply them in ways that align with your behavioural and physical patterns.
15 Best Productivity Hacks That Will Help You!
Below are some of the best productivity hacks to provide fruitful results.
Check them out!
1. Start your day with exercises
Let's start with the basics, physical exercises can help strengthen our foundation enough to be productive in different circumstances.
We often overlook and neglect our health and disagree with the fact that being healthy is a crucial productivity hack. When we feel our physical best, we can concentrate for a longer period of time. It helps us to complete our tasks with less mental exertion successfully.
For taking proper care of our health, we can include certain basic habits like:
- Getting sound sleep.
- Healthy breakfast.
- Daily exercises (yoga, meditation, etc.).
These all are like fodder to the body, making us more energetic and helping us avoid distractions.
2. Don’t overlook mental health
“Mental health” is a strong pillar for your success. A popular yet often overlooked and a taboo topic.
We all have those days when we feel anxious or stressed. Consequently, it becomes extremely hard to concentrate on even our basic tasks. Hence, our productivity is often deteriorated by this extremely crucial factor. Not only for us, but if we are working as a team, and one member is struggling with mental health issues, it can significantly impact productivity and decrease the output quality of the whole team.
To strengthen your mental health, you can start with simple tasks such as:
- Practising mindfulness
- Meditating regularly.
- Doing breathing exercises.
- Giving yourself enough breaks while working.
- Saving yourself from burnout.
Further, in extreme cases, counselling from experts is the best option.
3. Remember Pareto's 80/20 rule
Pareto's 80/20 rule method helps us in increasing our overall productivity!
Don't worry, it's not a mathematical equation, just a rule that says 20% of our effort will produce 80% of the results. To make it easier, we can often achieve a lot more just by focusing on a few selective tasks instead of trying to do everything we see.
4. Keep objects in their designated place
David Allen, the author of the bestselling book "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" says, “Anything that does not belong where it is, the way it is, is an ‘open loop,’ which will be pulling on your attention if it’s not appropriately managed.”
We should keep our desks and workspace organized. It sounds simple, but believe me, it is a very effective method. We often observe that when our desk is cluttered and disorganized, it becomes hard to focus on our work and more difficult to stay on task.
You can start by removing unnecessary items from your tables, like paper, unnecessary office supplies and more. By doing this, you reduce distractions and eventually increase productivity.
5. Do one thing well rather than doing five things poorly
Tim Ferris, the author of The 4-Hour Work Week, says, “The key is to keep the list limited to what’s most important and to keep the descriptions suitably high-level.”
We often feel overwhelmed after taking on tasks that are beyond our capacity. Additionally, we have commonly felt that doing too many things simultaneously decreases the quality of the work as the intensity of our focus is divided.
So the next time you choose tasks, acknowledge your capacity first.
6. Fodder to be productive is deep work
Cal Newport calls deep work “The superpower of the 21st century.”
Deep work is especially important for tasks that require a lot of intense focus. For instance, tasks like writing, coding, or any creative work. We can achieve a smooth flow when we eliminate distractions and focus all our attention on the task at hand. With that, it is easier to make significant progress in a short amount of time.
7. Avoid distractions
“To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction.” by Cal Newport.
In this digital age, one of the major reasons behind the lack of productivity can be using gadgets whilst working on existing tasks. It might be possible that while you are reading this article, you are getting a few notifications, social media updates, etc.
Nobody can deny that gadgets, especially smartphones, are a major distraction in today's era.
Start by turning off the notifications and only enabling the essential ones while working.
8. Have clarity on what matters
Cal Newport says, “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”
Staying motivated becomes easier when we know what we want to achieve and why it matters. Clarity helps us stay organized and be more productive. You can try the following tips to declutter your work schedule:
- Make a list of goals that really matter.
- Create a schedule/to-do list.
- Assign tasks to yourself every day.
- Analyze your accomplished work daily.
9. Avoid multitasking
We all do it regularly, and we must avoid it.
It becomes a challenge for our brains to handle more than one task simultaneously. When we do two things simultaneously, we constantly switch between two tasks, which leads to decreased focus. At the same time increased errors and decreased productivity.
Avoiding multitasking is a great productivity booster that can help us get more done quickly with less stress.
10. Delegate when necessary
We should delegate non-essential tasks to focus on the more important ones when necessary.
When we try to handle everything, it hampers our productivity. Delegating work benefits us and becomes a skill development for our subordinates to whom we delegate our tasks.
11. Add blue and orange at your workplace
It might sound a bit strange to you, but yes! There are studies to prove that adding colours like blue and orange can have a positive impact on our productivity.
Blue is a calming colour often associated with productivity and concentration. On the other hand, orange is an energizing colour that helps boost our mood and energy levels.
So give these colours a try and see how these affect your productivity.
12. Mann’s (10+2) x 5 method
Mann's (10+2) x 5 method might look tricky, but it is a simple and effective productivity booster. It can help you in staying focused.
To simplify, it asks you to work on a task for 10 minutes, then take a 2-minute break. And after five cycles of this, take a longer break of around 15 to 20 minutes. This helps in maintaining focus. At the same time, it gives your brain a chance to rest and recharge.
This proven method prompts you to break down work into smaller fragments and accomplish them.
13. Divide your activities
We have observed that mornings are often considered the best time for doing the complex activities demanding intense focus. On the other hand, the afternoon is considered best for our routine and regular tasks that require less effort and can be done with less mental exertion.
When we segregate our tasks this way, we utilize the available time most efficiently. Try it out!
14. Beat Parkinson’s law
Parkinson’s law says that giving ourselves a week to complete a task will surely take our full week even though the task was not that hard and could have been completed in a shorter time.
Instead of focusing on, ‘How much time do I have?’, focus more on, ‘In how much time can I complete this task?’.
15. Take breaks and permit yourself to relax
A break is very important!
After working for an extended period of time, we start to make mistakes and become easily fatigued. Consequently, our productivity starts to decline. This is the perfect time when we must take a break and relax.
You can simply take a nap or go for a walk. This will make you feel renewed and better focused on your tasks.
Conclusion
Productivity comes from discipline and smart work! You may be walking in the wrong direction if you only focus on working hard. It could lead to burnout and decrease efficiency and the will to work. Hence, focus on taking smart approaches and significant breaks to accomplish tasks.
Try using the productivity hacks mentioned in this article to see how this can positively impact your daily life.
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