5 Productivity tips that worked for me & 5 that didn’t!
Some productivity hacks work and some are just ‘concepts’.
In this post, I will share what worked for me and what didn’t.
It was first Monday of January.
And, perhaps the best time to look back at previous year to assess what worked and what didn’t.
I read quite a few books productivity and implementing those concepts since many years.
Problem with books is that the author talks only about one concept that he or she is obsessed about, ignoring work of other authors.
I really liked YouTubers like Ali Abdal, Joey Schweitzer (Better Ideas), and Matt d’avella who actually practice these concepts and then share the results.
Anyway, I also tried few methods and some of those turned into a habit for me.
Here are 5 Productivity Tips That Worked For Me:
Tip #1: Have only 3 items in the task list
As a co-founder of ProfitBooks, I have to wear many hats. I look after sales and marketing activities apart from working on strategic initiatives.
My task list is usually flooded with tasks and it used to get overwhelming to even look at it.
Do you know what happens when you have a lot on your plate?
You start procrastinating.
To overcome this, I started using a simple app called Weekplan. It was a one-person company back then. Founder got inspired by the book — ‘7 Habits of highly effective people’ and created that tool.
In that app, you have buckets for every day, plus an additional bucket for ‘some day’.
I used to put only 3 tasks in day and move all other pending ones to the next day.
When those tasks are completed, I would move next 3 from the next day to the current day.
Nowadays, I use a simple notebook and a pen to do this.
I put a date on blank page and add just 3 tasks there. Nothing else.
It looks clean and manageable.
I’ve been following this method since 2012 and working out to be best for me.
Tip #2: Eat that frog
This method was first introduced by Brian Tracy in the book by the same name.
You need to identify that ONE task, which if done, will give you a sense of accomplishment for that day.
It could be a small task that you’ve been ignoring for a while. If you keep it incomplete, it eats up your mindshare.
For example, you need to book tickets for the movie for tonight. It’s a morning and you don’t want to do it as your first task, maybe because it’s not that important.
But by afternoon, that task, which takes just 10 mins to complete will start making you uneasy.
Another example can be of an important task that takes around 2 hours to complete. You keep that as a last thing so that you can work on it with full focus.
But then it’s afternoon and you start to panic.
So, identify that ONE task and do it as a first thing.
This productivity hack really worked for me. Before starting my day, I identify my top thing to do for that day and do it immediately.
It takes away the burden and then I focus on other things, and it feels nice to tick that item off from the list.
Tip #3: Delegation
I was very bad at delegation.
During early days of ProfitBooks, I used to do the keyword research, blog writing, creating cover image, SEO, promotion, all on my own. It used to take me 2 and half days to come up with a blog post.
It was exhausting. I enjoyed research part and the writing part but hated all other parts of the process.
I realised my mistake late. But when I did, I delegated all the tasks that I didn’t enjoy doing.
Then there were other things where I was not very good at. Like creating a cover image. It made a lot of sense to delegate those tasks too.
Nowadays, we engage a lot of freelancers at ProfitBooks to work on various activities that can be easily outsourced.
It not only saves time, it saves money too ;-)
So the message is simple — delegate the tasks that drain you and boost your productivity by doing things you enjoy doing.
Tip #4: Find out, protect & make most of your ‘productive period’
This one is the most important productivity tip.
We all have our ‘zones’ or time periods in a day when we are most productive. Some people call it a ‘flow state’.
In my case, I’m most productive between 9am to 12pm and then between 5pm to 7pm.
How do I know?
Well, I observe myself :-)
When I discovered my productive period in a day, I started managing my tasks accordingly.
I work on important things such as strategy, planning or some execution during my productive zone.
All my client meetings, team calls, are scheduled between 1pm to 5pm.
It’s important to identify our productive time but even more important is to protect it.
During my productive period, I don’t attend calls. My mobile is on silent mode. I don’t check mails.
Pro tip: I use Calendly to schedule meetings. It lets you specify the available time slots. In my case, I make only afternoon slots available.
During my down time, I read news, watch YouTube, hang out on Quora and do all the non-essentials stuff.
It helps me achieve more in less time.
Tip #5: Time blocking
There are a lot of things that I always wanted to work on but just couldn’t find time for those things.
Like writing this blog post, or reviewing my finances for a month.
Things related to my businesses always took priority and filled up my tasks for a day. All other things, mostly personal projects, were always left out.
Then I read the concept of ‘Time Blocking’ in one of the books by Robin Sharma.
This essentially means that you need to schedule a meeting with yourself for accomplishing a certain task.
Now, I have blocked 30 mins on Saturday to review my finances. When it’s on my calendar, I get notifications.
It’s a simple tip but works well.
— — — -
Alright, let me quickly share what didn’t work for me:
- Tight deadlines
I just can’t handle the pressure. I stare at screen and find ways to proteinate :-) - Multiple to-do lists
I used to have my tasks scattered over Reminders (Mac), Trello, Clickup and even in Gmail Tasks. Now, I trust my notebook. - Very long term goals
Things hardly go as planned. Long term goals are waste of energy. It’s best to plan for 3 months. I plan for 2 weeks. - 20 Min rule
There are a couple of variations of this method, like 5 min rule, 30 min rule, etc. I can’t tell how much time my important task will take. This rule didn’t work for me. - Pushing personal projects to weekends
I thought, I would work on business during week-days and allocate time for my personal projects like writing, podcasting (still haven’t kicked off), etc on week-ends.
But that doesn’t work. I don’t want to put myself under pressure to accomplish something during weekends.
That’s it folks.
I have seen people turning into robots in the name of being ‘productive’.
Please don’t do that. Productivity is a tool.
Try out different things and then continue with what works for you.
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See you in the next one ;-)
P.S. — I’ve shared over 40 learnings that learned in last 40 years. Check out the post.
