Four hacks for increased productivity in 2021
No! You don’t have to set an alarm for everything & stay away from your smartphone
2020 was miserable. 2021 hasn’t been any different. There was a fire in Australia, Glacier burst in India, Earthquake in New Zealand & whatnot.
And it’s just February. 10 months to go.
I didn’t start talking negatively to discourage you. That was a hook.
So here’s what I want to say.
No matter what year it is, there’s no alternative to hard work. In fact, even hard work can be replicated but hard work without clarity is just a waste of time & energy.
To help you gain some clarity in your hard work, here are 4 ways or to make it sound cool, I’d call it hacks, that I use to stay productive during my extremely distractive day.
#1 Multi-tasking is a myth
I’ve grown up reading & a lot of hearsay that females are better at multi-tasking than males. I don’t want to comments on the righteousness of this fact, but I want to talk about multi-tasking.
Multi-tasking is technically pointless, you can’t multi-task, like literally. Even for a fraction of a second, there’s a switch in activities in your brain. Your brain can’t think in multiple directions at once.
So stop being cool & focus on one thing at a time, even if it is for a couple of minutes. Focus on one thing. Just one.
Multi-tasking is the biggest reason why you & I find it difficult to be productive.
#2 Lack of clarity
Clarity is extremely expensive. I of all people have realized it lately. I’ll tell you what, we’re not productive because of either of two reasons:
- We procrastinate
- We don’t have clarity
Procrastination is also because of a lack of clarity but that’s a different story. I’m addressing people like you & me, who struggle with productivity not because of procrastination but lack of clarity.
Here’s how I’m practicing to have clarity on subjects that matters the most to me:
- Identify & eliminate the confusions
- Exhaust all options that are slowing you down.
- Begin with the basics. Even the most advanced topics have fundamentals that anyone can understand. You just to find the right source
- Don’t forget to relax your brain & muscles. Not for clarity, but just refreshing up.
- Think in terms of outcome. What is it you want to achieve by doing what you’re planning to do? This is a highly underrated tactic that I’m not sure how many people are missing out on this point.
#3 Have the least number of tabs/windows opened
I didn’t realize this was a problem unless it occurred to me naturally. Having too many tabs opened not only distracted me but slowed down my laptop significantly.
Google Chrome treats tabs as an individual app, hence eating up the RAM significantly. Even if you have 16 gigs of RAM & high-end processors, this RAM hungry app will burn a lot of energy.
I used three browsers simultaneously (Chrome, Safari & Opera) for different purposes. So I can’t have too many tabs opened on my laptop. Though the laptop can take it, I prefer having only required tabs active.
Less distraction, more work.
#4 Go for a walk — take a break
A lot of times I have found myself more productive just by spending a couple of minutes witnessing the sunset, breathing fresh air outside & a small walk around my apartment.
Break the chain & bring back your mind to work. This can happen by moving away from the desk. It’s almost like a wake-up call — a bio restart.
It helps. It really does. A small walk actually helps me get over my writer’s block it can work for you too.
#Bonus: Decide less
Decision minimalism is going to be one of the most required soft skills for jobs in near future. There’s something called decision fatigue that affects your decision-making abilities. You can make only so many right decisions.
You can’t be right all the time. Hence you have to be mindful enough of what you spend time deciding on.
Redundant tasks like clothes, food, daily routine, checking emails & a lot of such daily chores can be decided beforehand. Set a pattern so that you don’t have to waste time deciding anything about it.
I wear contact lenses Monday to Friday & I take them off at night, Saturdays & Sundays are for glasses. This is set in stone, it doesn’t change unless an emergency. There are so many such small things you can fix & have a set pattern for this.
This really helps. Trust me. Decision fatigue drastically reduces your productivity.
So there you have it. 4+1 hacks to be more productive, especially if you have a high-performance demanding job. These work for me, it can be subjective for you depending on several factors.
I’m writing a soon-to-be-daily newsletter at Subtle Marketing & Btricks. I encourage you to join the newsletter so that you can get a condensed version of my blogs right in your inbox.
Hope this helps, I’ll see you in the next one.
