If you are like me, you love to get as much done as quickly and efficiently as possible. If I get something done, I am always looking at how I can do it quicker next time and what I can eliminate.
So you won’t see me tossing junk mail out in my house, because it didn’t get delivered to my house in the first place, thanks to a carefully placed ‘No Junk Mail Sticker’.
You also won’t see me sitting down paying my bills four times a month because most bills are set to direct debit.
Tax time you won’t see man scrambling to scan a years worth of receipts (at least not any more) because I now scan receipts as I go rather than waiting for a 12 month stash to tackle.
The less I have to worry about and physically set time aside for the better.
Everyone has the same 24 hours and it seems to never be enough. So don’t waste your precious time working inefficiently. There are always things you can implement to speed up tasks such as laundry or your finances. Check out these 10 Productivity Hacks for a More Efficient Day that you can implement in your life to save you time and get you back to doing more valuable things!
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10 Productivity Hacks for a More Efficient Day
- Utilise Organisation Tools
If paper to do list just aren’t cutting it for you these day, check out some different organisational tools to get all your to dos in one place. In order to be productive you need to know what you need to get done and these organisational tools are there to help you jot down any To Dos or ideas as they come to you, whereever you are.
Some of my favourites are:
- Trello is essentially a digital post-it-note, without the need to worry about them losing their stickiness! You can set up as many boards as you need and as many To Do items. Once you are done simply move the task to your completed list, or drag it to the top of bottom of the screen to archive it so you never have to see that To Do again! Good riddance!
I have many boards set up including: To Dos, To Buy, Meal Planning (where I list tried and tested recipes as well as ingredients), Gift Ideas and you name it! And the awesome thing is you can chose custom designs for each board to personalise it!
- Google Keep is another great organisation option that gives you the satisfaction of ticking off a To Do Item. This used to be my main organisation tool before I moved across to Trello. Again here, you can make notes or checklists and it can be synced to your Google Account so it can be handy whenever you need.
- Colour Note is similar to Google Keep, it’s a digital note pad where you can type out various notes or check lists under a topic category. It also can sync to back up your lists.
- Google To Do List Template – If you want a digital organisation tool and are as obsessed with spreadsheets as I am, Google To Do List can do just the trick. Open up their Excel To Do List Template and add in the due dates and tasks. You can separate each section into categories i.e. Home Projects, Car Related, Daily Tasks and so on. When you tick off a task it will strike-through the item on your list, providing an ever-so-satisfying line through your to do item. To create your own, simply go to Google Drive, select the + New and Google Sheets, From a Template and select the To Do List Template.
2. Set a timer
One of my all time productivity hacks has been to set a timer. I’ve been using this productivity hack for over ten years, back in my uni days #memories, in order to get shit done, I would lock myself in my bedroom, put a timer on and not allow myself to exit the room until that timer went off. It made for a fairly productive 1 or 2 hour work or study session and meant that I could reward myself with a break after some hard work.
No matter what it is, setting a timer can help you get what you need done. If you need to clean up your mess of a house, set a timer and speed clean as quickly as possible. If you need to study, set a timer for an agreed period of time and only when it goes off, can you leave your books. Need to write a blog post? Get that timer on and don’t move your butt out of that chair until it goes off.
Sometimes a short timer is all you need to motivate yourself. Once that two minute timer goes off, you might find you are a lot more motivated to continue with the task you are on. And if not you can always stop.
3. Time blocking
You may feel like you have no time in the day to get anything done, but I can assure you that you do, even if only a small window in the day. Whenever that may be, the key is to think of your time in blocks and allocated periods of time to a particular task.
My personal routine on a regular work day looks a little like this;
- Morning – stretch and 2 minute quick tidy
- Commute – Listen to Audiobook
- Morning Tea – read daily news
- Lunch – depends on the day but it can include a Duolingo lesson or two, a short walk, time to catch up with some YT videos, read, get something I need from the shops (to save time on the weekend)
- Afternoon Tea – read/free time/make any important calls
- Commute – Pimsleur language lesson, vocal practice, listen to radio or podcast
- After work – quick speed clean (10-15 mins max)
- After dinner – bass practice, go to the gym, blog and free time
A lot of my daily activities area squeezed into 10-15 minute periods of free time. And I don’t manage to fit the above into every single day, every single week. I certainly don’t achieve everything in the above list. But some really good days I might come close 🙂
But if I can get a few of the above done here and there, it means I am being a lot more productive than I would be if I just waited until I got home to get things done when I am more than likely exhausted from the day.
Now I want you to look at your schedule and see what you can time block in your schedule. Make your blocks whatever time they need to be to suit your schedule. I work full-time so a lot of my time blocks are small, but fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes and you’d be surprised what you can get done in that time! If you have more free time, your blocks might be bigger sections of time where you can fit more things in.
So can you squeeze a ten minute walk into your morning before you leave for work?
Or load the dishwasher before you walk out the door?
Could you do a quick Speed Clean for 10 minutes as soon as you get home to get onto of the housework?
Sometimes just a quick review of our weeks and time blocks can reveal free time we had been wasting on Facebook or watching TV which could be more productively spent time.
4. Prioritise
A super important productivity hack is to prioritise! If we don’t prioritise we will never get what we need done. Procrastination isn’t always a bad thing when you are putting off less important tasks in order to do the things that really matter.
Work out what are your Must Dos and what can be put off.
Do you feel committed to going to the gym 3 days a week for 45 minutes? Okay great. Now think about what are you willing to give up to meet that commitment. Maybe you could cancel one social outing a week and rearrange your cleaning schedule so you free up some time.
Is your house sheer chaos and you only have 30 minutes before your friends are dropping by? Figure out what is the most pressing items to clean and leave the rest. For me, I hate really obvious visual clutter so I can live with a few crumbs on the floors or some dust that I will get to when I can, but if there are cushions and shoes and dirty laundry everywhere it drives me insane and has to be moved.
An import lesson I learnt from ‘Eat that Frog‘, is that you should tackle the most important task first thing in your day. Don’t leave the most pressing items on your to do list to get to at the end of your productivity sesh where they are most likely to not get done.
5. Break up tasks into smaller tasks
If you get overwhelmed by long To Do Lists, set yourself a more realistic goal by creating a 3 Item Task List. Here instead of writing a long list of To Dos that you will attempt to knock over in a day, only to be frustrated by your lack of success, we try something a little less stressful. Think of the 3 most important tasks that you need to complete today and write those down on your day in the rows 1, 2 and 3.
If you don’t get to them today, that’s okay you can move them over to the following day.
This organisation method helps you to prioritise your tasks without overwhelming you with a long list of To Dos, to tackle today. And also gives you the chance to tackle 21 tasks in the space of a week. Imagine how much progress you would make if you could complete just three tasks a day! Even if they are super quick tasks you will feel like a winner at the end of the week with the progress you have made!
6. Put your phone on airplane mode
There is nothing that diminishes your productivity streak more than a phone call or notifications. The next time you are sitting down to get your productivity on, set your phone to flight mode. Silent is not good enough, that little irritating flashing notification light will get to you soon enough, even if you can’t hear your phone go off. It is unrelenting and no task’s pull is so strong to make you ignore it. At least that is what I’ve found.
When you are done with your work you can turn your phone off airplane mode and get to any missed notifications. But they can and need to wait whilst you get your To Dos done.
7. Stay motivated and track your progress
If you are someone that likes to tick off your goals and see your progress utilising Habit Trackers can help motivate you to keep going!
My husband currently has a 40 day Duolingo streak for Japanese for our upcoming trip to Japan and he is determined to maintain it. This is a genius feature of the Duolingo app. It goes a step future by showing your proficiency score and ranking in the leader boards so you feel the pull to keep up with other learners!
If you want to stick to a goal, like going to the gym or paying off debt, having someone as an accountability partner can go a long way to helping you stay motivated and productive.
You could set up a debt pay off chart in your bullet journal or print off one like these from Debt Free Charts to track your progress. We currently have one for our mortgage and love colouring a line in whenever we cross that dollar threshold! Who knew colouring in lines could be so motivating 😉
There are also great habit tracking Apps like Habit Tracker, where you can mark down your daily goals ie. Drink 1L of water, go for a walk, read for 10 mins, buy no lunch day and so on and then you get the satisfaction of ticking off your achieved goals each day.
8. Utilise Your Commute
If you have a fairly distant commute to make to work or uni, or wherever you need to be each day, take advantage of that lost time however you can, and get productive!
Here are some ideas of how to utilise your commute time whether you drive to work, take public transport or walk or cycle:
- Listen to an Audiobook – this is a great way to get some reading in, and maybe learn something new!
- Listen to your favourite podcast – Mine are the Dave Ramsey Show, Joe Rogan Show and The Minimalists Podcast! (please let me know your fave Podcasts in the comments below! I could use some newbies!)
- Sing along to your favourite songs (not on public transport of course hehe)
- Catch up on your New Release Radar on Spotify
- Call a friend or family member to say hi
9. Reduce Decision Fatigue
We make hundreds of decisions every single day. This is sure to wear on us and make us less inclined to be productive. In order to take away some of that mental burden we need to think smarter, not harder and implement some habits and new routines to give our minds a break so we can focus on more important things.
- Create a Capsule Wardrobe and make mornings less stressful by eliminating difficult fashion decisions
- Start Meal Planning so deciding what to make for dinner is less of a chore
- Consider adopting a Minimalist Lifestyle where you keep only what you love, use and need and can eliminate the excess.
10. Limit Distractions
We are all prone to distractions when we are trying to be productive. This is why we need to create some Intentional Friction like Anthony from Break The Twitch discusses in his video, where he suggests to put up a small barrier between you and any sources of distraction. Some ways to limit distraction so you can get back to being productive are:
- Delete social media off your phone. You can delete the apps from your phone completely and set yourself a rule that you can only access those social media sites from your Laptop or PC.
- Set your phone Social Media apps to inactive by holding down your app and selecting the Inactivate option when it appears. In order to use the apps again, you will need to find the app in your Settings/App folder in order to reactivate it. Next time you go to click on the app mindlessly you’ll have to stop and think if you really should be using the app or could be spending your time on more productive pursuits.
- Download the Self Control Mac or Windows plugin on your phone or PC to set times when you cannot access particular websites
- Do a No Spend Month, so you aren’t distracted by online shopping. It’s a great way to reset when you are feeling that consumer pull.
- Put your phone away temporarily. Lock it in a drawer, leave it in your bag. Just keep it out of your reach so you can avoid being distracted by it so you can get stuff done!
Photo by Nicole Wolf on Unsplash
This weeks comment question: I’ve love to know what productivity hacks you’ve implemented in your life, and for your family and what has been the most effective. Let me know in the comments!
If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂
