A Gamer’s Ultimate Guide to Productivity [Greatest Hits Edition]
Note: This article is an extension of a popular productivity article I wrote on LinkedIn and The Coffeelicious, and is catered towards you: the gamer.
I take it that if you clicked on this article, you want to become a more productive gamer. So, keep on reading.
I’ll be sharing 10 productivity tips that are helping me be more efficient in my work and have allowed me to take on extra commitments; all while still enjoying what I love the most: family and friends, blogging, WWE, basketball, anime, and gaming.
When implemented, these productivity tips will benefit anybody, including you.
Before I begin, I confess that I am not perfect.
Sometimes I don’t do some of the stuff that I mention here on a regular basis. But, I do try my best to make sure I’m as consistent as I can possibly be. If I’m not consistent, I don’t do my best work.
If I don’t do my best work, I can’t provide value to you at the highest level possible. And that’s not what I want.
Alright, sit back, and enjoy a cup of coffee or a can of soda (or a glass of water)!
The Truth about Time
We can never get more time. I learned that from my distant mentor, Rory Vaden.
Well, that’s pretty obvious, right?
Though, that didn’t hit me until I actually heard Rory say it. And, if you’ve never given much thought to the concept of time, I’m sure that it just hit the majority of you.
Just think about it. There’re only 24 hours in a day; no more, no less. We all have the same amount of time to work with.
You’re losing time as you’re reading this. I’m losing time as I’m writing this.
And we can never get that time back.
Seconds are quickly passing us by, and we can’t manage it.
“There’s no such thing as time management.” — Rory Vaden
The only thing we can do is figure out how to best use our time now to create more time for ourselves in the future. In other words, we can learn how to maximize our time.
Note: I don’t mean to literally create more time, lol. I hope you get the point. Though, if Elon Musk can figure out how to create a time capsule so that we can re-do the wasted moments of our lives, I think that’d be pretty cool!
How to create more time for ourselves is a framework that we all can benefit from. I want you to think about the instances this past month, where you felt that you’ve wasted time.
How much time was that? Where could you have invested that time into instead? Would you have felt better about it?
Whether it’s to create more time for gaming, more time for our families and friends, or even more time for work: we all should make it a point to become the most productive people we could possibly be.
To put it in the gamer’s perspective, we all should become Time Mages.
Oh god, that was cheesy…
As Time Mages, we can learn how to effectively maximize our time in order to get more done, and feel more healthy and fulfilled. Let’s view time as a mob that gives us experience points. The more control we can have over time, the more experience points we earn, and the more productive we become.
As a Final Fantasy fan, I love that reference; let’s stick with it.
Note: I apologize for the awkwardness… actually I don’t, because that’s who I am. I’m an awkward guy. If you agree, tweet me @JourdanB21 #awkward :).
The Prelude
As I mentioned in my previous article, I have some great productivity tips that I learned from the experts like Rory Vaden and Peter Voogd, and I wanna share them with you; gamer to gamer :). If implemented with the growth mindset, I guarantee that you’ll start:
- Realizing the value of time
- Taking more control over your time
- Accomplishing more during the day
- Feeling more fulfilled, and thus, happy
- Allocating more time towards other things that you want to do
- Making time for bigger and better things
But before I can teach you the productivity tips I’ve learned, I need to define what productivity means to me first.
Productivity: The concept of creating an impeccable system of habits that help us maximize our time, and multiply our results so that we constantly move closer towards our personal and professional goals.
When we create a system of habits, we not only achieve more today, but we also create more time tomorrow. And eventually, it becomes effortless for us to be productive.
That’s what habits are after all, right?
Habits are things that you do regularly with little or no conscious thought. I’ll detail habits in a future article, because we must understand how to create habits in order to become the most productive people we could possibly be.
By defining productivity as a system of habits that move you closer to your goals, it’s not mistaken for “busyness.” It’s one thing to be “busy,” it’s another thing to be productive.
How to Become a Level 100 Time Mage
Alright, this is it! How can a gamer like you maximize your time, get more stuff done and take yourself closer to your goals?
Note: “I already know that” is one of the most dangerous phrases in the English language. The question you must ask yourself is “Am I doing that?” Or, “How can I constantly improve by 1% in that area?”
Thanks, Hal Elrod!
1. Turn off your phone notifications
My confession: I still struggle with this.
Let’s be honest. We don’t need to be notified every single time a friend posts on our Timeline or comments on our Instagram photo. Why not check social media at certain points of the day and get our dopamine fix in one go every few hours?
Imagine the time we’re wasting while waiting for our phones to open and load the Facebook app. Sure, it’s just a few seconds every single time we launch Facebook, but it accumulates after a while!
Though, admittedly this is a hard obstacle to overcome. Our brains are naturally wired to receive information as fast as possible.
But there are at least small improvements we can make, if we want to create more time during the day.
At the very least, push notifications on your lock screen can be turned off.
You should leave some notifications on, though. The only ones you don’t need to turn off (and shouldn’t, unless you want to become hardcore productive and want to get in trouble) are your text messages, phone calls, calendar reminders, and any other notifications that you benefit from.
2. Work in the “zone”
There’s not much that’s more fulfilling (work-wise) than when you accomplish more in a shorter amount of time.
You can do exactly that by working in the “zone”.
Studies have shown that you work 3x more effectively when you work in the zone (from what I’ve heard). When you work more effectively, you not only accomplish more in a shorter amount of time, but you also perform your highest quality work.
With no distractions (like push notifications), it takes about 17–23 minutes to get into the zone.
Do yourself a favor and try to work in the zone whenever possible.
By doing this, you can create more time for yourself later. And not only that, you don’t give yourself the opportunity to think about work when you’re at home.
It’s a situation you can’t lose in. Get more done by working in the zone, so that you can give yourself the mental capacity and physical ability to do more of what you love, and not be distracted by the thoughts of work when you’re not even at work.
3. Plan your days
“Either you run your days, or your days run you.” — Peter Voogd
Almost every morning, for a few minutes, I write down much of tasks for my day on Evernote. This is basically a “to-do” list, but I take it a step further than that and refer to it as a “success list”.
By planning my day, my intentions are set and it ensures that I increase my chances of getting things done, typically with more time left over in the day.
This is one tip especially that I think everybody should make a habit of doing. Try it, and see how much more intentional you are with your actions and what results you get from it!
For more on this productivity tip, check out my article in The Coffeelicious on planning your days here.
4. Focus on one major task at a time
Major task: a task that requires 100% of your focus and concentration.
By focusing on one major task at a time, you will not only perform your own work more effectively, but you’ll knock out your tasks more quickly.
It’s hard to write that lengthy comment on your friend’s status update while watching and listening to xChocoBARS kill it on League. So just phase her out for 30 seconds, write and post that comment, and get back to her stream.
You can, however, play video games and watch/listen to xChocoBARS (depending on what game you’re playing). Which brings me to the next productivity tip!
5. Batch minor tasks together
Minor task: a task that does not require 100% of your focus and concentration.
This is the only instance where I support “multi-tasking”, because it’s the one tip that really makes a huge difference in your productivity without (almost) negatively affecting your output.
Define your minor tasks, and see what combinations you can make in order to create more time throughout the day.
Listen to that audiobook while washing the dishes. Listen to that School of Greatness podcast while you’re in the shower. Farm those silk threads while watching a YouTube video. Watch WWE NXT while doing that commute to the train station.
The possibilities are endless, really.
6. Batch tasks that are in close proximity
Lol, what does that mean?
Here’s an example: I play video games upstairs. The laundry room and the kitchen are downstairs. By Saturday (which is chore day), the laundry and dishes tend to pile up.
Rather than making two or three trips up and down the stairs, why not make one trip downstairs by bringing down the dishes and the laundry at the same time? Then, put all the laundry into the washing machine, wash all the dishes, then transfer the laundry into the dryer.
You’ve just finished two tasks in the same amount of time as it takes to do one task: wash your laundry. And you saved the time of making several trips up and down the stairs to do those tasks.
That’s just one of countless examples. You could also do another major task (or two minor tasks) while waiting for the dryer, and then batch a minor task with the task of folding your laundry.
Wow, that’s at least four tasks done within the amount of time it takes to do all the laundry!
7. Do the hardest tasks first
I can go in a few different directions with this tip. There’s “decision fatigue”. There’s “willpower”. But the point that they all drive towards is this:
Do your hardest tasks earlier in the day.
We are at our best physically and mentally early in the day. In his book, The ‘Choose Yourself’ Guide to Wealth, James Altucher asserts that people are most effective and focused within 2–5 hours of waking up.
In simpler terms, we perform best early on in the day.
8. Take breaks
Don’t stress yourself out! And don’t overwork yourself, either.
Go out for a 30 minute walk. Stand up. Stretch. Go do some push-ups. Watch a YouTube video. Watch some cat GIFs.
Do anything that’s not work-related when you feel that you need a break. Your body will know when it needs one. And when it does, a 10–30 minute break is sufficient.
By taking regular breaks, you do yourself, your health, and your work a huge favor because you allow yourself the permission to mentally and physically recharge.
You can’t do your best and most efficient work when you’re not at the best physical, mental, and emotional states.
9. Say no
My friends and family probably hate me for this.
I don’t say no all the time because I value break time, and time with my friends and family. In fact, I want to be the best person I can be for those around me.
However, there are indeed many things you can say “no” to that eat your time and don’t take you closer to your goals.
What you say no to is entirely up to you. But when you start saying no, I guarantee that you’ll start seeing small chunks of time fly your way; time that you wouldn’t typically have.
10. Reflect
Note: I wish I could come up with a great and cheesy pun using the Final Fantasy spell ‘Reflect’, but I can’t…
When it’s time to wind down, it’s also time to think about what worked well, and what didn’t.
Which productivity tips worked well for you? How can you continue to implement those and improve on them in order to have an even better day tomorrow?
Are there any tasks that you can improve on or eliminate? What habits can you create to further maximize the time during the day?
The questions you can ask yourself are endless. As long as you ask yourself questions on how you can improve, you’ll gradually find yourself accomplishing much more throughout the day.
After you reflect, be sure to maximize on what’s working for you, and minimize on what isn’t.
These are the 10 productivity tips that have helped me take on more commitments while still enjoying the hobbies I love, such as gaming.
I’m not a “Productivity Master”, nor a level 100 Time Mage, but I’ve certainly seen a lot of great results in my life when putting these productivity tips into action as consistently as possible.
As you think about these productivity tips, be sure to think about the following:
Why do you want to become a more productive gamer?
What are some things you want to make more time for?
What more do you want to get done during the day?
How happy and fulfilled would you be if you had more time for what you love to do?
As my mentor Peter Voogd puts it: reasons come first, results come second.
The Grind to Level 100
Think about one productivity tip that you can begin implementing in your life, and share this article with your friends if you thought this was helpful.
I’m sure they’ll find it helpful as well!
Note: Affiliate links were posted in this article. Thanks!
