5 easy to use productivity hacks
We’re working in a SaaS first era these days. All of our content is spread across a number of applications, and tracking down the right piece of info takes time. Time spent toggling between apps, searching in multiple places for disorganized information slows our ability to be productive at work.
Let’s be honest, we all want to make the most of our day, it’s just that sometimes stuff gets in the way. Mini distractions, bouts of procrastination, and multitasking make it hard to produce meaningful output day in day out.
Incredibly productive days feel great with a strong sense of accomplishment whereas not-so-productive days make us feel behind and overwhelmed. Our goal is to help you have more days in the first bucket!
We hear the word productivity a lot, so let’s start by defining what we mean by productivity.
What is Productivity?
Output/Time for the math-minded folks! Productivity is the work that gets done during the time spent working on that particular activity.
Ex: I closed $2,000 of new business this past Wednesday or I finished 30% of the content and prework needed for a presentation on Friday.
These examples could be certain ways to slice how you might measure productivity. Sometimes being able to quantify productivity is not as crystal clear though. When it comes to items such as research, initial leg-work, or training others, it’s harder to tie a number to it. Benchmarking the work and tasks completed as progress towards an overall goal always helps to highlight productivity.
Here are 5 productivity hacks that help our team. See which ones you can incorporate to stay more focused and productive at work!
1) Batch your emails
Having Gmail and Outlook open is a constant source of distraction. It’s super easy to spend a lot of time shuffling through emails, prioritizing your inbox over the tasks you're working on. One or two email notifications are all it takes to get distracted, and all of a sudden you get down an email rabbit hole.
Choosing to scan through email at specified intervals is a great way to batch this activity without the anxiety of constantly feeling like you need to be glued to your inbox. First thing in the morning and mid-afternoon work for our team, setting aside blocks of time to check in on email, knowing that if something is truly urgent, we’ll find out about it through other means.
2) Pomodoro Techniques
Breaking down what’s in front of you into more manageable chunks helps make progress more attainable. As opposed to seeing a larger task as singular and insurmountable, chipping away at progress can make a big difference. We use Pomodoro Techniques for this. Pomodoros are an easy way to maintain focus for a specified interval of time.
Pomodoros train your brain to focus for short periods of time and help you stay on top of your to-do list. Pomodoros are cyclical, you work in short sprints, followed by regular breaks that keep you motivated and creative.
Sample Pomodoro Routine (Free online Pomodoro timer here):
Start a Pomodoro cycle, working for 25 minutes
Work on the task until the Pomodoro is complete
Take a short break (~5 minutes)
Repeat 4x
Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break
3) Use templates/Don’t reinvent the wheel
Instead of starting from scratch, realistically your company has produced some kind of asset that could be reused and applied to what you’re working on. Whether that be a template, certain design, or similar document, using content that you’re team has already worked on helps you get a headstart to accelerate work. This is where a tool like Giraffe can really come in handy. When teams curate content in Giraffe, other team members can self-service this information all with a single search. So if you’re looking for a template or a particular spreadsheet, you can find it in Giraffe without having to search in a dozen different apps/ask your team to send over a URL via Slack.
4) List out the 3 main tasks for the day and ensure those get priority over all other tasks
Michael Hyatt has a really good planner out there called Full Focus Planner. In this planner, there are many opportunities to build habits of listing out 3 main tasks for the day/month/year etc. Writing out 3 main tasks helps to crystallize the focus for any particular time period.
Just pick 3 — A big mistake people make is trying to add a laundry list of tasks into any one day. Pick 3 main tasks and dedicate yourself to completing them no matter what happens in your day. This is where you should focus your energy because the tasks were important enough to make it on your list!
Get them out of the way — If they're on this list of 3, then they’re your most important items. Complete these early on to feel like you’re making good progress. If possible, these should be completed before shifting focus to other items with lesser priority. Inevitably things pop up throughout the day, so trying to cross these important tasks off early will help make sure you’re able to complete them before other items start piling up.
5) 2-minute rule to filter items from procrastination
Small tasks pop up all the time. “Hey can you help me with this?” We’ve all heard that dozens of times. These intermittent asks can start to pile up if you don’t act on them. If they’re bigger items, prioritize them for another period of time relative to what else you have on your plate. If they’re small and can be completed in just a couple of minutes, just get them out of the way. If you can get it off of your list in 2 minutes or less, go for it now!
Whether you start using any or all of the hacks above, these are some easy practical ways to save back some time at work and get more done all the while.
Let us know if there are some other productivity hacks you use and swear by, we’d love to hear from you!
Join Giraffe’s waitlist and start being more productive at work with a unified search experience across all of your favorite apps: app.getgiraffe.io/waitlist
👋 The Giraffe Team
