5 Ways To Get More Done in Less Time

Productivity hacks to get things done like a boss

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

That one notification on our phone can easily distract us. We touch our phones more than 100 times everyday. Dopamine!!

In our most crucial professional moments, we tend to lose focus from our important priorities, be it people or the task at hand. As a result, staying productive is increasingly difficult for most of us unless we consciously make an effort to be effective.

Mobile phones and Social Media usage is alarmingly on the rise as well: According to Facebook’s quarterly report Q1'2021 -

Facebook daily active users were 1.88 billion on average for March 2021, and Facebook monthly active users were 2.85 billion as of March 31, 2021, an increase of 10% year-over-year.

95 percent of American adults own a phone of some kind, according to the Pew Research Center.

So how do we change the way we operate, avoid so many distractions?

Following are five productivity hacks from highly productive people that have resonated with me — and that I believe will work for you too.

1. Plan your tasks

No one plans to fail, but most people fail to plan. Writing down the list of things to do with the timeline increases our propensity to complete the tasks. Sometimes we are so motivated to get things done that we may lose sight of the top priorities and allocate the optimal amount of time for the tasks at hand. My most productive days are when I have a clear line of sight into what jobs I need to complete on a particular day.

Plan your tasks [Image Designed by the Author]

2. Budget time for your tasks

According to Parkinson’s law — “Work expands to fill the time allocated”. This law gives compelling insight into how we can consciously bring back our focus on the actual time we are taking to complete a task. Ideally, we should be starting with the time allocation for the jobs in the first place.

Budget time for your tasks [Image Designed by the Author]

3. Align your high priority jobs with your natural body clock

According to Dr Amantha Imber — “Everyone has a unique chronotype (natural body clock) and it influences the peaks and troughs of energy we feel throughout our days.”

We should align our most complex or high priority tasks with the time when we do our best work. I prefer finishing most complex pieces in the first few hours of the day.

4. Do not bite off more than you can chew

Usually, we are stressed out when we take a lot on our plate, assuming it won’t be too much, and you will be able to get it done efficiently. But, always remember, less is more when it comes to productivity.

One of the traits of highly effective people is doing fewer things and doing them well. After all, most of the time, only 20% of our work leads to 80% of the results.

Do not bite off more than you can chew [Image Designed by the Author]

5. Practice Meditation or Yoga

In many ancient cultures, they emphasize a lot the power of concentration.

We are always asked to focus, but we are never told how to focus. On the contrary, we have trained ourselves well in how to get distracted. You can meditate regularly to practice bringing awareness back to a desired thought or place. Concentration is not a destination; it’s a journey.

Concentration is not destination, It’s a journey [Image Designed by the Author]

Pro Tip: Make your calendar as open as possible; being over-booked gives a pseudo sense of accomplishment, but in reality, more meetings mean less quality work in most cases. It’s a good idea to keep some buffer slots on the calendar to potentially finish tasks that you did not expect will come your way.

Thanks for reading this article!