7 practical tips to create productivity-boosting habits and achieve great results
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” (Jim Ryun)
Productivity-boosting habits have the potential of being extremely useful because they power us forward and help us reach our goals, as stated in the quote by Jim Ryun above.
But first, let’s talk about what makes a habit.
Habits are actions or activities that we perform mechanically without even giving them a second thought. This is exactly what makes habits such powerful tools: they allow us to get things done with minimal effort.
Did you know that the percentage of routine actions in our daily lives is about 40%? That’s pretty significant. That means that 40% of all the things we do, we do without even thinking about them. We don’t need to muster up the willpower to complete these activities, we just do them.
But how can we go about creating the productivity-boosting habits that can help us achieve our goals? Well, we have some ideas below to get you started:
7 practical tips to create productivity-boosting habits and achieve great results
1 — The 30-day Challenge
I’ll use myself as an example for this first tip: I never used to be in the habit of taking a shower at the end of the day. After a few months though, my daily evening shower has become part of my bedtime routine. Now I feel like I can’t go back because I feel uncomfortable if I don’t shower at night.
Now let’s take a look at a period of 30 days during which to develop a habit (borrowing the idea of the 30-day challenge). By following the steps below, you can create a positive habit:
- Focus on a specific activity that you want to make a habit of (i.e. exercising, learning a new language, eating healthier).
- Take baby steps and follow the motto: “Make it so easy you can’t say no” (Leo Babauta). For example, you could start by scheduling a time commitment of as little as 10 minutes a day.
- Repeat this activity for 30 days, preferably at the same time every day.
2 — The Chain-Technique
Another highly effective method that is very popular for establishing productivity-boosting habits is the “chain-technique”. To begin, you have to commit to a specific activity that you want to turn into a habit (i.e. work on vocabulary for 10 minutes every day). Next, you have to get a calendar ready. For every day you successfully complete a 10 minute lesson, you mark an X on your calendar. After a few days you will have created a chain that reflects each of your regular learning sessions. It may seem too simplistic, but this action has a lot of motivational power! As it lengthens, the chain encourages you to keep going and breaking your own record of consecutive days of learning. And the longer you keep this up, the less likely you are to break the chain!
If you are using a classic calendar, make sure to place it where you will see it everyday. If you prefer to use an app to help you boost your productivity, there are several options, for example the Chains app which shares your intentions with others and lets you participate in group challenges (yet another very effective way to achieve and master your productivity habits).
3 — Work on small, achievable goals
- Break your big goals down into smaller ones -this makes them more manageable and achievable (daily mini-goals).
- Make a habit out of reaching these mini-goals - this leads you to achieving the larger goals you have set out to accomplish.
Here’s another personal example from when I was planning a trip to Brazil. I wanted to learn some Brazilian Portuguese but this is not a clearly defined goal. So I broke it down into smaller daily tasks: I decided to learn 10 new words in Portuguese every day. After a week, I had learned 70 words and after a month, I had learned 300 new words! To accomplish my goal, I knew I had to sit down and learn some new words every morning. Fortunately, the technique described above helped me reach that goal. Within a few months, I had acquired enough vocabulary to get by and reached my goal of learning Portuguese before my trip!
4 — Behavioral Chain Technique
It’s easier to develop productivity-boosting habits that last by using existing routines to help you along. You’ll notice that sometimes you find yourself working against established routines which can be a challenge in itself. The behavioral chain technique is based on environmental triggers, which make it clear that we must act according to our habit. Also known as implementing an intention, this technique includes selecting a familiar activity in your daily routine and connecting it in some way to another activity. In this way, following the chain of actions leads to forming a new habit.
What does this look like? Well, instead of saying you are going to “exercise every day”, you implement a plan t0 “lace up your running shoes each morning after getting up and going for an invigorating 15 minute walk.” Studies have proven the effectiveness of these context-based triggers compared to willpower alone. If you are trying, for example, to “eat healthier”, then you could try a plan that consists of “when I set foot in the kitchen, I will eat one portion of fresh fruit and a glass of water”.
5 — Downsize the number of options available
President Obama once said in an interview that he limited his wardrobe to gray and blue suits. His motivation for doing so was to eliminate decisions about his clothes because he had more important decisions to make.
When we reduce the number of decisions we have to make, we free up more mental energy and concentration for more important things.
Using these practical tips regarding your decisions can open up time slots and mental space for making decisions that you consider to be particularly important to your life. This habit may mean eating the same thing for breakfast every day, always going to the same restaurant for lunch, or just buying the same basic items of clothing.
6 —Tune out distractions and concentrate on important tasks
The majority of our habits and actions are a result of a particular trigger. If we have to work on something important, we should ensure that our environment is free of triggers and/or distractions.
Here are some examples of triggers to avoid:
- Emails. Get into the habit of only checking your inbox 2–3 times a day — put it in your schedule or set an alarm.
- Mobile devices. Switch your phone or device to airplane mode when you need full concentration to complete an important task.
- Reduce clutter. Too many documents and files can distract you from the essentials and lower your productivity.
- Internet. Set up a tool like StayFocusd that allows you to block or limit the time you spend on distracting websites.
7 — Use a calendar and set reminders for pending tasks
Prepare yourself by following these three steps:
- Prepare yourself to complete tasks and activities for the coming week: Get into the habit of mapping out your tasks and mini-goals for the entire week. This will help you focus on the important points on your to-do list and be more productive in the process. You can keep track of everything with apps like Wunderlist or Asana.
- Set an alarm on your phone to get reminders about time sensitive work that needs to be completed.
- Make the most of “lost time” like when you’re waiting in line, commuting to work, or sitting at your doctor’s office.
By putting the above advice into practice, you will create new and lasting productivity-boosting habits that will soon become a part of your daily routine. Before you know it, your productivity will increase and you will start achieving the goals that you set out to accomplish.
We would also love to hear what productivity-boosting tips you’ve used in the past or are currently using! What performance-enhancing habits have helped you raise the bar and achieve great results?
