Translator's note
: The translation of the first article from the blog “A Year of Productivity” was favorably received by the Habra community, and I was asked to translate several more articles from this blog.
The article below is the largest and closest to practice; its translation took me several months. Like last time, I recommend reading in comfortable portions, writing down (or copying somewhere) tips that you want to try to put into practice. Near the end of a year of studying productivity, I realized that every article I wrote could be classified into one of three categories: how to better manage time, energy, or attention.
Time management is a good source of your productivity, but all three ingredients are absolutely essential if you want to be more productive on a daily basis. That is why in this article you will find a set of techniques from all three areas. To get started, here are a few of my favorite tricks for how to: - get more time; - spend time on the right things.
How to get more time?
1. Plan less time for more important tasks.
This seems counterintuitive, but it really isn't. When you limit the amount of time you can spend on a task, you force yourself to expend more energy on the task over a shorter period of time, allowing you to achieve results faster.
2. Stop watching TV.
The average person spends 13.6 years of their life watching TV - you could spend that time on more meaningful tasks.
3. Keep a “time diary.”
If you track how you spend your time, you will be able to see how much time is wasted. This will help you cope with wasted time and understand how you can spend your time more efficiently.
4. Say no to commitments that drain your resources of time, energy and attention.
The best way to have more time is to not start doing unproductive things. Resist taking on unproductive shit.
5. Remember that “the best is the enemy of the good.”
Your apartment will never be 100% tidy - something will always be out of place. Know where to stop - especially for tasks that are not very useful.
6. Schedule a “housekeeping day.”
Group all your household chores (laundry, shopping, cleaning, watering flowers, etc.) together on one day of the week - then you will have more time for important tasks on other days.
7. Don't work more than 35 hours a week.
Research shows that to be more productive and creative, you shouldn't work more than 35 hours a week. Rework can lead to greater productivity, but only in the very short term.
8. Don't write emails longer than five sentences, and mention this in your signature.
I go through my inbox like crazy using this hack, and most people don't mind at all when you keep it short and to the point.
9. Tame your inbox with
“The email game” if you use Gmail.
“The email game” is a completely free web application that integrates into your Gmail account and gamifies the process of answering emails.
10. Register with
unroll.me if you use Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook.com.
Unroll.me collects all your regular subscriptions into one convenient, daily email.
I highly recommend this service ( Translator's note: I tried it, and in five minutes I unsubscribed from 80 mailings. Cool!
)
11. Stop sorting your emails into folders.
Searching for emails in your email client has been proven to be much faster than searching through organized folders.
12. Learn touch typing.
Average typing speed is about 40 words per minute;
touch typing can increase it to 60-80 words per minute, which is an increase of 50-100%. You will notice the time saved very quickly. ( Translator’s note: I fully support and recommend the online or offline version of “Solo on the Keyboard” , there is both an online and offline version
)
13. Track how you spend your time on your computer.
using the free RescueTime app (for Mac, PC or Android). You may be surprised at how much time you waste.
14. Save a larger portion of your income.
This could save you several decades of your working life if you decide to work less and retire earlier doing more rewarding things.
Advantages
If you master time management skills, you will be surprised how much easier your life will become. Those who constantly lack free time simply do not know how to distribute it. Such people are constantly busy with something, but their activities bring practically no results. Let's list just some of the positive aspects that effective time management will bring to your life:
- you will begin to achieve most of your goals;
- you will become successful, regardless of your type of activity;
- you will complete tasks faster than others;
- free up time for relaxation and hobbies;
- complete many more activities in a day than before;
- increase your income;
- improve your health and stop feeling constant fatigue;
- reduce the amount of stress;
- start devoting more time to your development;
- you will feel more free;
- You will be in complete control of your life.
The art of using time effectively is indispensable for achieving the main goals of life: prosperity, well-being and health.
How to spend time on more useful things?
15. Determine the most significant tasks for yourself.
Make a list of all the tasks you are responsible for at work, then ask yourself, “If I could only do three of them all day, which would I choose?” You should invest 80-90% of your time in these three tasks.
16. Reduce the amount of time you spend on something until you feel like you are doing it without stress.
This is a great way to introduce new habits into your life. “Can I meditate for 15 minutes? No, it's too difficult, I won't do it. Okay, how about ten? Still too long. Maybe five? Yes, I can do it without stress. I can sit for five minutes.” Boom.
( Translator’s note:
the author is referring to things that you need to force yourself to do to form useful habits. The idea is that you don’t have to force yourself to do a lot at once - regularity is much more important
).
17. Work on important but not urgent tasks.
Do at least one important and non-urgent task every day - then you will be sure that you are moving forward, and not just putting out fires every day.
18. Work using the Pomodoro method.
The Pomodoro Method is a time management technique in which you work on one task for exactly 25 minutes, followed by a five-minute break. She is extremely effective.
19. Make a to-do list for procrastination.
Make a list of useful things to do when you procrastinate.
This will allow you to remain productive even when your brain is rejecting the things that need to be done. ( Translator’s note: the author proposes to separate “constructive” and “destructive” procrastination. As “constructive” he gives examples such as dismantling a table or attending an aerobics class, and as “destructive” - toys on mobile phones and looking at photos of girls on Facebook. For For those interested in the topic, he offers the site “Structured Procrastination”
).
20. Live by the “two-minute rule.”
The two-minute rule (from David Allen's book Getting Things Done) says that if a task takes you less than two minutes, instead of writing it down on your to-do list, you should just do it.
21. Plan your free time.
This may sound like something you don't want to do, but adding structure to your free time has been proven to make you happier and more motivated.
22. Choose your next task
, focusing on four things: the context in which you are (work, home, cottage, etc.), the amount of free time, energy level and what important tasks are now facing you.
23. Spend your time mindfully
.
Constantly track and reflect on how you spend your time (and energy and attention) throughout the day.
I usually do this by setting an alarm on my phone once an hour. 24. Plan your time by completely disconnecting from work.
When you are completely disconnected from work, your brain continues to work on work tasks, but in the background - while you can do other things.
25. Spend more time planning.
Every minute of planning costs five minutes of execution.
If you just do things
without looking back to work with the plan, it will be difficult for you to work smarter.
26. Understand what people mean when they say, “I don’t have time for this.”
If someone says they don't have time for something, what they're really saying is that the task isn't very important to them.
27. Wait a little before sending letters or SMS.
Give your brain time to complete and formalize your thoughts.
Then you will make what you write more complete, meaningful and creative. The world won't fall apart and you'll be able to get your message across more powerfully. Energy is the fuel you burn throughout the day to get things done.
There are a large number of factors that affect the amount of your daily energy, but any factor that affects energy either affects your body or your brain. Here are some tactics for getting more physical and mental energy.
Review of books on time management (corporate time management) from the world's leading experts
Time management is a popular field because time is one of the few non-renewable resources in our lives. Therefore, it is natural that, without exaggeration, tens of thousands of books on this topic have been published. Alas, only a few of them are really useful; the best of the best are discussed below.
If you are really interested in this area, if you need real practical information dictated by the life experience of people with a name, then start with the following works - Dan Kennedy “Hard Time Management”, Lucy Paladino “Maximum Concentration”, Stefan Noethenberg “Time Management by Pomodoro” " These books are highly rated by businessmen and independent experts and are worth reading.
Let us single out Brian Tracy as the leader of the direction . He is an American businessman, investor and writer, whose books have been translated into almost all languages of the world. “Focus Point”, “Million Dollar Habits”, “Time Master”, “Achieving the Maximum” are just some of his bestsellers. Tracy was involved in time management from the age of 8, although at that time such a concept did not even exist. Now he is 77, and as before, he is strict with his time. Tracy's books reveal top-level methods for ordinary specialists and managers of all echelons.
Body hacks
28. Exercise.
From my point of view, exercise is the best way to get more energy. Plus, they just give you energy—they help fight disease, improve your mood, and help you sleep better.
29. Eat right.
The way you eat has a big impact on your energy levels. The worse you eat, the faster you burn out, and the less energy you have to work.
30. Stop drinking coffee out of habit.
Caffeine begins to lose its effects when you drink it out of habit, but it is extremely effective when you drink it strategically (for example, when you need a powerful boost of energy or attention to focus).
31. Use caffeine wisely.
Drink coffee longer; drink coffee with water; avoid energy drinks with sugar; eat well when you consume caffeine; do not drink coffee on an empty stomach; wait before drinking a second coffee or tea.
32. Stop drinking caffeine 4-6 hours before bed.
According to the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), caffeine typically reaches its peak effects within an hour and lasts four to six hours after that.
( Translator's note
: remember that caffeine is not only coffee, but also tea.
)
33. Drink more water.
Water boosts your energy, boosts your metabolism, helps you think, suppresses your appetite, helps your body flush out toxins, reduces the risk of many diseases, improves your complexion, and even saves you money!
34. Drink half a liter of water immediately after waking up.
Immediately after you wake up, drink at least 500 ml. water. Your body has just gone 8 hours without food and is likely dehydrated.
35. Keep a food diary.
People who write down what they eat usually don't overeat, and typically eat up to 30% less than those who don't keep a diary.
36. Get enough sleep, even if it means sleeping longer.
Sleep improves your concentration, attention, decision-making skills, creativity, social skills and health; reduces mood swings, stress, anger and impulsivity. There is also no difference in socio-economic status between early risers and night owls.
37. Say no to the nightcap.
Drinking alcohol before bed impairs the quality of your sleep, so you'll have less energy the next morning. Drink something else or drink alcohol earlier in the evening.
38. Set the air conditioner in your office to 21-22ºC.
This is the temperature that makes you most productive.
39. Set the air conditioner to 18.5ºC overnight.
Most studies recommend setting the thermostat to 18.5ºC while you sleep. Think of your bedroom as a cave—cold, dark, and quiet.
40. Take a nap.
If you feel like your energy is fading, or that it regularly drops at the same time of day, get some sleep. Short naps improve your memory, make you more alert and attentive, prevent burnout, and improve your creativity.
41. Constantly monitor how much energy you have and act accordingly.
If you're constantly asking yourself how much energy you have, you can make adjustments—either recharging when you're low on energy, or taking on bigger, more challenging tasks when you have a lot of energy. After a while, you will also begin to notice patterns.
42. Determine your “biological best time”
(time of day when you are most productive) by charting your energy levels throughout the week.
43. Smile!
Smiling boosts your immunity, makes you happier, helps you cope with stress and focus on the bigger picture, increases the level of trust in others, and generally makes you feel better.
44. Paint your office the right colors.
Science says you should paint your room blue to stimulate your brain, yellow to stimulate your emotions, and green to stimulate a sense of balance.
45. Avoid exposing yourself to blue light before bed.
Too much blue light (from a smartphone, tablet or computer) before bed is harmful.
46. Get more natural light.
Natural light helps you sleep better, reduces stress, increases energy levels and allows you to focus better.
47. Download f.lux.
f.lux redshifts your computer's colors after the sun sets where you live.
This allows your body to release more melatonin, improving the quality of your sleep. (
Translator's note: it turned out to be quite difficult for me to read from the reddish screen, so I quickly turned off this application)
Eliminate distractions
If you were once distracted by checking notifications on your smartphone, it would take you an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain your concentration on the task you were previously performing. At least that's what a University of California study says. We waste many hours of our lives looking at our smartphones for seconds or empty conversations with colleagues. The following tips will help you avoid distractions and focus fully on your task:
- Turn off all notifications on your phone, computer and tablet;
- Also turn off Wi-Fi if the Internet is not needed directly for work;
- Hide your phone in a place that is difficult for you to reach from your desk;
- Wear headphones - other people will be less likely to come over to disturb you;
- Log out of social media accounts and don't view them while working. If this is absolutely necessary, set aside a special time for this.
- If you have an office, just lock yourself in it.
9
Haki of the mind
48. Make changes automatic through habits.
I believe that the automaticity of new behavior patterns is the key to their persistence. Here's my interview with Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, about how to form new habits.
49. Invest in stress reduction strategies that actually work.
eg: exercise, reading, listening to music, time spent with friends and family, massage, walking in nature, meditation and time spent on a creative hobby.
50. Take more breaks.
Breaks allow you to take a break from work, recharge, and come up with new ideas; stop, think about your work, and ultimately make you more productive.
51. Start small.
I think one of the keys to being more productive is to make one small change at a time. The smaller the change you are trying to make in your life, the more likely you are to actually make it.
52. Recognize when you are being needlessly cruel to yourself.
David Allen, who wrote Getting Things Done, says that 80% of what you think about yourself is negative. Try to recognize when you're being cruel to yourself is pointless, so you can make your journey to greater productivity more joyful.
53. Make more friends at the office.
Making friends in the office increases your job satisfaction by an average of 50%, increases your engagement by 7 times, and increases your likelihood of getting a promotion by 40% (link in English).
54. Review your calendar for the last couple of months.
to understand who you were dating. Which of these encounters gave you the most happiness, energy and drive? Organize more meetings with these people.
55. Lower your expectations.
It may sound a little strange, but lowering your expectations gives you more confidence, allows you to relax, have more fun and not worry about proving something to others.
56. Realize that others don't care.
When you realize that most people don't care about your success, money, clothes, house and car, you will find that you are much freer than you previously thought. You can take more risks because your life is not predetermined, and you will be much more free to do what you like.
57. Eat mindfully.
Mindful eating tells your brain that you will soon be full and satisfied, and prevents overeating, which depletes your energy supply.
58. Use visualization techniques.
My favorite visualization is to imagine that you just received an urgent message and tomorrow you have to leave town for a month. What will help you make sure you've done everything you need to do before you leave? No matter how you answer, start working on this task.
59. Strive for conflict rather than avoid it.
You are most productive when you have moderate levels of conflict and stress—not too little, not too much.
60. Download
Coffitivity
(online, Android, iPhone, iPad, Mac). The background noise of a coffee shop has been proven to increase your productivity and creativity. Coffitivity simulates the same atmosphere on your computer.
61. Every day, remember three things for which you are grateful.
This trains your brain to look for the positive rather than the negative in the world, making you more energized, happier, and more productive.
62. Every day, write down one of the most successful experiences you have had.
Writing down positive experiences you had in the last 24 hours allows your brain to relive them - making you more positive and happier.
63. Sometimes let yourself relax.
Nobody is a robot, and you shouldn't take the task of increasing productivity too seriously.
You may even find that when you relax, you are more productive. The final piece of our puzzle is managing our attention.
This is one of my favorite productivity hacks, and it has two parts: 1. How you manage your attention 2. Where you actually spend your attention Here are a few tactics to help you with both:
Background
For the first time, people started talking about the need to manage one’s own time in Ancient Rome. The philosopher and thinker Seneca proposed dividing the time lived into good and bad. He classified hours spent usefully in the first category, and hours spent in vain in the second category. Seneca wrote down every day he lived and taught it to others. Much later, his ideas formed the basis of the concept of “personal effectiveness.”
Later, in the 15th century, the scientist Alberti wrote about how important it is to manage time. He argued that people who have this skill are more successful than others. It was Alberti who first proposed making a list of things to do and doing them in order of decreasing importance.
In practice, the teachings of time began to be used only in the 80s of the 20th century. Initially, time management was used by businessmen, politicians, and top managers. But subsequently, more and more ordinary people began to introduce ideas about time management into their lives. And they achieved amazing results.
Control your attention
64. Meditate.
Meditation is the art of continually bringing your attention back to one thing, which in my opinion works your attention muscles better than anything else. Meditation also relaxes your mind, increases blood flow to the brain, increases the amount of gray matter in the brain, makes it easier to enter a flow state, fights procrastination, and has even (proven!) improved exam scores. Here I wrote instructions on how to start meditating.
65. Stop multitasking.
Multitasking is bad for focus and productivity, it also increases the likelihood of mistakes, affects your memory and increases stress.
66. Write down everything you need to remember.
: things you need to do, things you're waiting for, and other ideas and promises that burden you. This will give you more mental space to think about bigger and better things.
67. Keep a list of everything you're looking forward to.
– this will give you confidence that nothing will be forgotten, and you will worry much less about the things you need to control.
68. Use a “brain recording ritual.”
Turn off all devices, set a timer for 15 minutes, and lie down with an empty notepad and pen. Write down all your unwritten tasks to reduce your mental clutter.
69. Consume foods that help improve concentration.
My nine favorites are: blueberries, green tea, avocado, green salad, oily fish, water, dark chocolate, flax seeds and nuts.
70. Do “clean up to original condition.”
When you finish doing something, clean up to reduce resistance to starting the same thing next time. For example: Clean up the kitchen after cooking, or neatly put away the running gear you'll need tomorrow morning.
71. Slow down.
It's quite easy to put your brain on autopilot and rush from one stimulus to another. Pause and do things consciously to better manage your attention and become more productive.
72. Turn off the Internet completely when you need to do something.
47% of time on the Internet is spent procrastinating. If you need to do something big, disconnect from the Internet.
73. Fight temptations by rehearsing your actions in advance.
To focus on long-term issues instead of short-term temptations, rehearse the situation in your head in advance (for example, “don't stop at McDonald's on the way home”).
74. Use your smartphone less.
Your smartphone is a greater attention-sucker and distraction than you realize. It also impairs your communication and is a low-impact activity. I did a three-month experiment of using my smartphone for one hour a day, and my life has changed since then.
75. Put your smartphone in “offline mode” (flight mode)
between 8 pm and 8 am
. This ritual will help you become more mindful, fall asleep faster, reduce the amount of harmful melatonin-blocking blue light before bed, and focus you on higher-value tasks before and after you wake up.
76. To get into a state of flow
(a magical state in which you are completely absorbed in what you are doing), do things that pose challenges more or less corresponding to your level of ability.
77. Do less.
When you focus your attention, energy, and time on fewer things, you bring more to each thing you do and achieve more overall.
78. Look at pictures of cute baby animals.
It has been proven that viewing pictures of baby animals increases your cognitive and motor activity, because... they focus your attention more strongly.
Eisenhower matrix method 4 sections
In time management, there are many techniques that help you allocate time most effectively. One of them is the Eisenhower Matrix.
It was created with the aim of highlighting the priority and most important tasks that are top priority and require urgent solutions.
To compile the Eisenhower matrix, you need to draw a table with two columns and two rows. One column is urgent matters, the other is non-urgent. The names of the lines are “important” and “unimportant”.
- “Important” tasks include those tasks on which further success in achieving long-term goals depends, or, if we are talking about drawing up a daily plan for a personal schedule, also events or matters that are of great value for personal reasons.
- “Unimportant” includes all the others - those that do not require mandatory implementation and do not entail any significant consequences.
And finally, each task is entered into the “urgent” or “non-urgent” column, depending on the deadline for its completion. First of all, you should complete those tasks that fall into the “important” and “urgent” cell, and lastly, “unimportant” and “non-urgent”.
The Eisenhower matrix method is one of the simplest and most effective in determining priority tasks in time management.
Focus on the right things
79. At the beginning of each day, identify three things you want to achieve.
(not tasks, but real achievements). When you limit yourself to three accomplishments per day, you force yourself to prioritize and focus only on what is truly important.
80. Instead of focusing on doing more, focus on doing the right thing.
Find tasks that align with what's important to you so you know
why
you want to do them.
81. Develop a “growth mindset.”
According to research, the main quality that separates successful people from unsuccessful ones is whether they think their intelligence and abilities are limited.
82. Communicate with your “future self.”
People usually think of their present selves and their future selves as two completely different people. Fight this trap by creating a “future memory,” sending messages to your future self, and imagining your future self.
83. Create a “brainless list.”
Make a list of things that don't tax your brain (cleaning, laundry, etc.) and do them all together while listening to something productive (an audiobook, a TED talk, etc.).
84. Ask yourself for advice.
Advice isn't worth much, but usually the advice worth listening to is the one you give to yourself.
85. Make your goals smarter ( SMART-er )
. If you want to set better goals, make sure they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. This will make it easier for you to identify and achieve them.
86. Stop tracking the progress of your goals.
Tracking progress reduces the likelihood of achieving a goal. Instead: see if your actions prove that you are committed to your goal; Also, remind yourself of the reason why you want to achieve this goal.
87. Don't set traditional goals, set "process goals."
Process goals are what you
actually
need to do in order to achieve the larger goal (for example: not “lose 10 kg,” but “eat no more than 1,500 calories daily”).
88. Stop mindlessly surfing the Internet.
The Internet can be a huge attention suck. Practice being more mindful while surfing the Internet by taking more breaks, slowing down, and focusing on what you need to accomplish.
89. Turn off meaningless email notifications.
Email notifications don't take up much of your time, but they do take up a lot of your attention—every time you receive an email, you're distracted from what you're currently working on.
90. Announce a “day off from the post office.”
If you need to go into hiding to work on a project for a day or two, set yourself an answering machine (with an emergency cell phone number) and then vigorously tackle what you need to do.
91. Reply to emails in large chunks.
Schedule to work with mail several times a day, instead of processing letters as they arrive. This will allow you to turn your email work into several blocks of time in your schedule.
92. When you meet someone in person, turn off your phone completely.
This is a great way to show someone that they are important to you and that you are willing to give them 100% of your attention.
93. Identify your “keystone habits.”
Cornerstone Habits change and reorganize other habits as you integrate them into your life. Some examples: cooking, working on relationships with your partner and friends, waking up early.
94. Make your bad habits more expensive
, agreeing with someone about penalties for habits that are harmful to both of you. This allows you to focus on the cost of bad habits instead of their benefits.
95. Reward yourself.
Introducing new behaviors and habits is difficult, but rewarding yourself for following new habits has been proven to help reinforce them.
96. Anticipate obstacles to new habits.
As you introduce new habits into your life, make sure you think carefully about what obstacles or obligations might stand in your way.
97. Make access to stimuli longer than 20 seconds.
In this case, you need more effort to get to the stimulus, and this desire is easier to overcome.
98. Practice active listening.
By fully concentrating on what someone is telling you, you create stronger relationships, evaluate people better, avoid misunderstandings, and have more meaningful conversations.
99. View your life as a series of “zones.”
Every day you invest your time, energy and attention in 7 areas: mind, body, emotions, career, finances, relationships and pleasure. Consider these zones as your portfolio to ensure you don't overinvest in some zones and underinvest in others.
100. Always work with some goal in mind.
The purpose behind your actions is the shaft behind the arrowhead. When you constantly question why you do what you do, you can ensure that your actions are directed towards a goal that is meaningful to you.
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What is important in planning? It is necessary to manage not only time, but also meanings. For example, if it seems that there are a lot of meetings, but there is little benefit from them, it is worth conducting an audit: talk to the organizers of the meetings and find out if it is possible to gather for discussions less often. Perhaps meetings take place out of inertia: because someone is sure that they are needed. Seeing meaning in work is very important: when a person understands why he is doing something, motivation and strength appear.
BRIEFLY ABOUT THE MAIN THINGS
Life planning will become a new advantage, it will help you set priorities and know where and how to move on the path to your own happiness in work and personal life. You will also understand why this or that task is needed.
At first glance, it is difficult to learn time management, but your goal and our techniques will help you move according to a given algorithm.
Work plan:
- Decide on your goals;
- Break down your goals into tasks;
- Choose a planning technique;
- Evaluate the result;
- Praise yourself for the work you've done.
