Three Crucial Concepts for Achieving Your Highest Productivity Level

Since leaving the constraints of a 9–5, I’ve been exploring different ways to have my best, most productive days. While I don’t have my exact routine nailed down just yet, I’ve been learning a lot about how to stay focused, and I thought I’d share my findings with you:
Take regular breaks to keep your mind sharp.
For most people, deadlines are motivating. If I have something due at the end of the week, I might start to work on it on Monday or Tuesday, but I’ll usually get the bulk of my work done closer to the deadline. So, I’ve found that setting little deadlines throughout my day pushes me to do more, better work. I’ll make a commitment to myself: “If I can get this part of the analysis done by 10:45am, I can take a well-deserved, 15 minute break.”
To start, I’ve been following The Pomodoro Technique: Do 25 minutes of work, then take a 3–5 minute break. After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes). This has been working wonders.
Transform distractions into rewards.
How much time do you waste browsing your social media feeds? For me, it used to be a huge method of procrastination (it still sometimes is!), but by allowing myself to browse it after only a good chunk of work, I’ve turned social media into an incentive to make me more productive.
I’ve also eliminated the endless-scrolling-in-bed wormhole by only allowing myself to fully look at my phone after I’ve eaten a good breakfast, and by not allowing electronics before bedtime. Oh, and I’ve also deleted the Facebook app from my phone (because why do you even need that shiz on your phone anyway?)
Take whatever vice you consider your personal distraction, and use it to reward yourself after a productive pomodoro. That strong urge you feel to surf the internet? It’ll still be there—but leverage that internal motivation to your advantage. If your distraction is something that exists on a screen, I’d highly recommend keeping a mix of non-screen related rewards as well. Try taking a walk, petting some puppies, eating a nourishing snack, or treating your body to some ooey gooey stretches.
Productivity is personal.
Earlier this year, I read Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans. It teaches you how to use design thinking to create a life plan. One of the exercises entails keeping track of every activity you do throughout the day, and jotting down your engagement and energy levels. After filling out the “Good Time Journal — Activity Log” for two weeks, I garnered key insights like: I’m most productive in the morning, the early afternoon workout really energizes me, and meetings absolutely drain my energy.
Structuring my schedule around these learnings is an instant formula for an amazing day. And the key here is that your schedule is unique to you. For example, there are hundreds of blogs out there preaching how great it is to exercise first thing in the morning. Personally, if I do a 6am workout, I feel fatigued much earlier in the day. If I do an 7 or 8am workout, I start my work around 10am and end up losing much of my prime brainpower time. So imma do me (and you should too)!
Do you have any personal productivity tips? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below or tweet me at @katerinajeng.
This was first published on my mailing list, where I share what I’m learning about product, technology, and productivity.
