Most of us long to be more productive every day whether at home or work or school and are always on the look out for an all-singing, all-dancing time management technique or productivity app that will help us get stuff done fast.
The truth is these fancy theories and pricey products rarely work. We still end up running around exhausted on the proverbial hamster wheel as we juggle dozens of different demands and get little done in the chaos.
But there are a bunch of very simple time management hacks that truly can transform our productivity and I have 25 of the very best of them here.
I do hope these productivity hacks help, let me know what works best for you.
Best Time Management Hacks
Time Blocks
There have been whole books written on time blocking but simply focusing our energy on one area of work for a set period of time against the clock - without multi-tasking - helps us get stuff done. We all know it is true - we just need to remember to do it.
Balance
We obviously need to block out time for different areas of work but we also need to block out time for home life including rest. Deep diving into one project at the expense of the rest of our life isn't a sustainable way to be productive. We need balance.
Micro Habits
We can very often achieve more by consistently repeating tiny activities daily than by chasing the latest bandwagon project.
Rhythm
We can rarely stick to tight schedules in the real world but regular daily, weekly and monthly time blocks get us into a rhythm and it is through that rhythm we make real progress.
Looping
Looping is to rhythms what planning is to projects but much more efficient. A simple meal loop helps us cycle through meals we love easily with no need to handover our free to time to meal planning.
Practise
Repeated micro habits and regular rhythms let us practise skills. Every day practice helps us be more productive every day ...
In The Zone
... and together balance and habits and rhythm and practice can take us "into the zone" where our productivity sky rockets.
The Right Habits
We just need to be careful to stick to the right habits (sending endless emails is not one) ...
Slack
... and leave slack in every day and every week and every month both to take the hit of the unexpected and to give us time to reflect.
Keep An Eye On Our Shadow
We all do strange things for strange reasons under stress and we can work very hard wasting our time. We need to use slack to stand back and ask - honestly - why am I doing this?
Energise Ourselves
... and build time into our time blocks to energise ourselves. That could be exercise. It could be a chatting with a friend. Or hiding away from the world with a book. Whatever works for us.
Swallow Frogs
Facing up to that thing we're putting off is a well known tip for being more productive. Avoiding stuff drains our energy and time.
Swallow Tadpoles
But it's even more productive to gulp those problems down as tadpoles before they've grown in frogs. To get into the habit of facing up to our fears & we need to practise it in the rhythm of our days.
A Stitch In Time
Because it is true, a stitch in time does save nine.
Ditch ... Don't Delegate
However sometimes we do need to stand back, recognise the problems are unimportant and ditch them. And if they are unimportant we don't want to waste someone else's time delegating!
Don't Dive Too deep ... At First
Deep skills and deep knowledge are intensely valuable but it's too easy to waste months of our time on the unimportant if we dive in too deep at first ...
Come Up For Air
... or if we never come up for air to ask why am I doing this? Is it really important? Could I let it go? Or do it differently?
Clear Clutter
It's impossible to see the wood for the trees in our work and home life when we're drowning in clutter, so gently practise decluttering daily and watch your productivity soar.
Reuse
Our obsession with everything new steals too much precious time for reinventing the wheel rather than reusing what we have.
Patterns & Templates
Reusable patterns and templates can sky rocket productivity but we need to be patient and practice hard first. Doing the wrong thing quicker doesn't help us, it's still the wrong thing.
Walk Away
Sticking to something and patiently realising the productivity that comes from practise and sinking too much time into the wrong thing is a balancing act. Sometimes we need to walk away.
Walk On It
... but sometimes we just need to step away and go for a walk and mull it over as we stroll along or stride out and come back with fresh eyes.
Accept Good Enough
... and sometimes that means accepting that something is good enough and that if we're going to keep that balance in our lives that helps us be more productive in the long term we need to do the best we can in the time we've got ...
Rest
... and then we need to rest because real rest - not just sleep - as part of our daily habits and weekly rhythms is the final big secret to being more productive every day and to reclaiming our lives.
And there you go, 25 simple productivity hacks that help us break the tyranny of the to do list and actually make progress in the things that matter most to us.
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