The ultimate 195 tips to boost your productivity, projects, and planning

David Kim
David Kim

AI Engineer

 
June 27, 2020 4 min read

There's a ton of stuff online about how to be more productive, manage your time better, and get projects done.

We stumbled upon this really good article from planless.io that basically rounded up a bunch of productivity articles. They put together a neat list with most of the methods, tips, and tricks you'd find out there, all in one spot.

Now, you probably won't need to do everything they mention, but looking through it, you can totally spot the key things you might want to try right away to get more done, make your team more efficient, and just handle your work, projects, and time better.

We're sharing a few of these tips to help you hack your productivity.

1. Focus on what matters

Out of all the things we gotta do, most of 'em don't really help us reach our goals. Focusing on the stuff that actually moves the needle – the things that make progress happen – will help you get more done.

Figure out what's most important and tackle those things first. These are the tasks that'll bring the most value to your goal or unblock other tasks that are key to getting there. If something isn't really adding value, just ditch it or put it off.

Ask yourself, "Is this really necessary?" as much as you can. You'll find out most of the time the answer is: NO. So why bother with stuff that doesn't really matter?

2. Keep track of your ideas and thoughts

Our brains can only remember so much. And keeping things in your head takes up brainpower that could be used for other stuff. If you wanna be really effective at what you're doing right now, you should get all those thoughts out of your head.

It's kinda like a computer – when the disk or memory gets full, it slows down. We work the same way.

So, write down your thoughts and ideas to free up that mental space and easily come back to them later. planless.io's private todo list on your dashboard is a pretty sweet way to manage that stuff easily and never lose track of it.

3. Say “NO” more often

This is a classic tip, but we often forget about it. It's way easier to say YES. Saying NO makes us feel a bit awkward, but we too often say yes to things we don't really want to do.

There are plenty of opportunities out there, and only saying yes to things that are truly worth our time is a massive time-saver.

Want to read more on this? Check out The art of saying no.

4. Take a break

When we're deep in work, we often forget to step back and ask ourselves the right questions. Am I doing the right thing right now? Does this really matter?

Taking a break lets you think about what you're doing and reset yourself. Plus, you need to manage your energy, and breaks are super important for that.

Another cool thing about breaks is when you take them with others. Look at FIKA, this Swedish coffee break thing, and how it can boost your productivity.

5. Ditch your phone the 1st hour of your day

Don't let calls, messages, or apps mess with you during the first hour of your day. Use this time to think about what's coming up, read a book, or just enjoy your breakfast and your family.

6. Plan the next day

Before you clock out for the day, make it a habit to spend a few minutes planning your next day. Set your priorities and map out your schedule. This way, you can start the next day knowing exactly where to begin and how to move forward with what you want to accomplish. Don't just "go with the flow" – preparation is half the battle.

7. The Pomodoro Technique

Nobody can stay focused for a really long time. Our attention span is actually pretty short, and if you want to stay super focused and be really productive, breaks are crucial.

The Pomodoro technique is pretty powerful for this.

The idea is simple: Work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. After four work sessions, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. This way of working helps you stay totally focused during your work periods and keeps that focus and energy going all day.

Read the full article here: click here.

David Kim
David Kim

AI Engineer

 

Full-stack developer building AI-powered social media tools that generate platform-specific content at scale. Expert in machine learning and natural language processing.

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