Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2018. The companies and roles of the experts are as of 2018. Microsoft shut down Wunderlist in 2020, and Stephane Kasriel stepped down as CEO of Upwork in 2019.
Not even the strongest intention can beat the ability to carry out the most important actions day after day. That’s why we’re returning to the subject of productivity, with advice from experts who share some tricks for being more productive in our daily lives.
It’s all about simplifying our lives as much as possible and putting certain processes or habits on autopilot. Once a habit is automatic, it no longer drains mental energy. If we create a routine that speeds up certain processes, we’ll save more energy for getting more done.
In a previous article we looked at 5 routines you should do before bed so you wake up with less weighing on you in the morning, and we also published 4 steps to being more productive.
What are the experts’ tricks for being more productive?
1. Build your day around the hardest tasks
There’s a mistaken belief that we should start the day with the easiest tasks, as a kind of warm-up before moving on to what really matters (which is usually the hardest part). But we now know that it wears you out just as much, even if you spend the first hour answering emails.
Strategist Adunola Adeshola applies this productivity hack every day. She starts by identifying the main tasks she has to do that day. Once you’ve knocked the most important thing off your to-do list, you’ll immediately feel you’ve got the better of the day. So start by tackling the most critical thing first, and that way you’ll find it much easier to avoid distractions.
For more tech-minded people, an app that can help is Wunderlist, which lets you create to-do lists both per client and for your personal life. In other words, it helps you put what you need to do in order of priority.
Remember that having things in writing is much more useful and motivating than keeping your to-do list in your head: writing it down and crossing things off as you go builds willpower in a similar way to Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain” method.
2. Overload your to-do list
Although this advice may sound counterintuitive, Arianna O’Dell, founder of Airlink Marketing, says it is one of the methods that has paid off most for her. Here’s why.
If you create a huge to-do list that might seem impossible to finish, and you also give it a deadline, you create the “shoot for the stars, and if you fall short you might reach the moon” effect. Clearly, if you only aim for the third floor, you’re hardly going to reach the moon.
“Having an impossible challenge spurs me into action and often lets me get twice as much done as I would on a normal working day,” says Arianna.
Of course, Arianna is comfortable working under pressure. But even if you’re not as comfortable as she is working under pressure with a very long task list and a deadline, the truth is that, from a neuroscientific point of view, doing this can help your brain be more productive.
Still, apply the first productivity trick here too: prioritise what matters most and do the hardest things first.
See also: Warren Buffett’s strategy for prioritising his goals and his time
3. Reread that book
Jason Shen, founder of Headlight, says that when he feels stuck or overwhelmed, he turns to a book he has already read, reminding himself of what it taught him and internalising its lessons even more. With this habit, Jason also strengthens his long-term memory.
“Instead of killing time on Facebook or Twitter, try to draw more wisdom from something you know is high quality,” Jason recommends.
See also: 8 books to open your mind and make you smarter
4. Schedule time blocks
Time blocking has become very popular among people who want to be more productive. It means scheduling sessions of intense work with no distractions of any kind for a set period, which might be half an hour or an hour.
During that time, nothing else in the world can distract you. No emails, no calls, no social media. The idea is to honour the minutes you’ve set aside for that task.
Kristi Dosh, founder of Guide My Brand, is a stickler for this method. Every day she schedules the tasks she has to do in specific time blocks for each one, no matter how small the task. It’s a way of being 100% productive, because every hour of the day is filled and you never have to ask yourself, “What do I do now?”
And just as she does at work, she also blocks out the time she’ll spend with her children and family. That way she manages to be productive at work and to balance her family life perfectly.
5. Stop forcing your brain
This is probably one of the best pieces of productivity advice. When your brain needs a break, just rest. If you feel stuck on a particular problem, or feel you’re not getting anything done because your own mind won’t let you, don’t fight it. Simply rest.
The brain is like a muscle, and at times it locks up to tell you it needs a rest. A muscle can waste away from lack of use or be injured by overloading it. The same thing happens to your brain. Your brain also has its ways of telling you to let it rest, and one of them is getting stuck. If you fight the block, you’ll only make it worse. Rest.
Psychologist Art Markman fully agrees, saying that downtime for the brain is an excellent way to become more productive: after resting, recovery takes place and we’re mentally ready to get past the sticking point.
It goes without saying that once you leave the office, you should forget about office work. If you manage to enjoy your day once you finish work, you’ll be much better at work tomorrow. If you don’t switch off from work in your personal life, it’s only a matter of time before something not very good happens to your brain in the long term, while in the short term you’re being less productive.
6. Delegate that task
People have trouble delegating to others, and not knowing how to delegate is one of the reasons businesses fail.
Remember that, as a rule of thumb, 80% of results come from 20% of tasks, which means 80% of tasks are of little importance and often even a monkey could do them. If we learn to delegate, we can focus on what really matters.
Sometimes we spend hours on tasks that a virtual assistant or someone you hire on Fiverr could do for a few euros. Think about what an hour of your time is worth and the mental strain that certain unimportant tasks put on you. Stephane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork, relies on virtual assistants for a large number of tasks and has noticed a rise in his productivity that has translated into more money in his pocket.
Featured image: Andy Roberts, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
