Category: Productivity

A Comprehensive Guide to Effective Time Blocking
Time blocking, a practice rooted in the principles of effective time management and productivity, has emerged as a tried-and-true strategy for individuals looking to take control of their time and tasks.

Especially, when faced with a multitude of tasks or ongoing projects, the structured nature needed to master time blocking can provide a roadmap to ensure each undertaking receives the attention it warrants.

This comprehensive guide aims to furnish you with the requisite knowledge and strategies to optimize your time blocking sessions, catering to your unique circumstances and work demands.

Evaluate the Task at Hand

Task Understanding

• Firstly, ensure clarity on the task's objective.
• Secondly, break down the task into manageable sub-tasks if feasible.

Realistic Allotment

• Avoid overestimating the achievable; instead, be realistic with the time allocation.

Prioritize Tasks

• Schedule critical tasks during peak productivity hours.
• Moreover, categorize tasks: urgent, important, and nice-to-do for better prioritization.

Flexibility

• Adapt if a task extends beyond its allocated block.
• Remember, time blocking is a productivity tool, not a stringent schedule.

Include Downtime

• A 15-minute rest interval can be refreshing.
• Utilize this time for a stretch, a short walk, or perhaps some deep breathing exercises.

Minimize Distractions

• Maintain a clutter-free workspace.
• Additionally, utilize apps like "Forest" to minimize phone distractions.

Review & Adjust

• Reflect on your time blocks’ effectiveness and adjust as necessary.
• Celebrate accomplishments and strategize for pending tasks.

Emergency Buffer

• Reserve slots for unforeseen tasks or emergencies to maintain schedule integrity.

Tools & Technology

• Employ digital calendars, apps, or traditional methods for visualizing time blocks.

Stay Consistent

• Consistency enhances your ability to estimate task durations and organize your day effectively.

Finally, time blocking furnishes control over tasks and clarity on priorities. It’s alright if some tasks extend beyond their designated blocks – the goal is progress, not perfection. Finally, With this in mind you can master time blocking.

Top five productivity hacks for procrastinators.

No one is immune to falling victim to procrastination. Everyone puts things off from time to time, so there is always room to increase our productivity once we know how to deal with our tendencies to procrastinate properly. To help you combat procrastination and become more productive, here are the top five productivity hacks for procrastinators.

Name It
The first thing that you need to do is notice that you are procrastinating and acknowledge it. It is essential that you do this without judging yourself and without getting overly stressed that you don't have enough time. The next time you notice you're procrastinating, just say to yourself "procrastinating," or "moving on." This allows you to acknowledge your procrastination so you can move on.

Figure Out Where Your Time Goes
When we're procrastinating, we all use different props to fill our time. To improve your productivity, you'll need to identify what these are for you. Digital distractions are extremely powerful procrastination temptations that we need to try to resist consciously. To figure out where your time goes, start to write down exactly where your time goes.

Make Time Your Best Friend
Most procrastinators frequently fool themselves when it comes to the passage of time. You might often get to the end of the day and not understand where the day went. If this is something that happens to you, then you need to shift your relationship with time. You’ll need to become aware of how long each task takes you, rather than making a guess.

Improve Your Time Estimates
Often, as a procrastinator, you may tend to estimate how long a task will take without factoring in any time for your procrastination. This causes you to take much longer than expected to finish a task. If you know that you tend to procrastinate, factor this into your estimation, so you're not always falling behind.

Meet More Deadlines
Often, the only time we manage to get around to focusing properly on your tasks is when you have a looming deadline. So, if you want to improve your focus and increase your productivity, you might want to start giving yourself more deadlines. The best way to do this is to get in the habit of promising to deliver certain things by a specific time/date.

Even self-professed procrastinators can improve their productivity. With these five productivity hacks, you can start to decrease the amount of time you spend procrastinating and get more done.

 

Here are the best strategies to develop if you want to increase your productivity substantially. Everybody would like to accomplish more throughout their day, but increasing your productivity can often seem impossible. The following strategies, if followed, can double and even triple your productivity.

Set Goals and Productivity Targets

When you set a goal, you end up focusing your energy on the things that you want to achieve. These are things that you wouldn't be able to accomplish by default. Automatically you become more productive. You must be clear on exactly what you want to achieve.

Maintain Your Work Environment

Your work environment is what sets the stage for your workflow, and ultimately your productivity. If you are self-employed find a place that allows you to focus without distractions. If you are employed, this involves modifying your desk to make it conducive to productivity.

Put Important Things First

Since there are only 24 hours in a day, you must put your most important tasks first. If you want to be more productive and reach your goals? You have to work on the critical tasks first and deprioritize anything that doesn't get you closer to your goals.

Use the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule refers to the phenomenon where you use 20% of your effort to create 80% of your production. In other words, this means that the remaining 20 percent of your production can only be achieved with an 80 percent effort. You have to let go of the little details that no one but you notices. The key is to focus your time and energy on producing 80 percent of everything you do.

Have a Separate List for Incoming Tasks

Throughout your day, you will probably receive a stream of random and miscellaneous tasks. Rather than immediately giving them attention, add them to a separate list so you can focus on your daily goals. At the end of your day, allocate a block of time to clear the list out.

Know your Motivation Triggers

When you become aware of your motivational triggers, you can better connect with them and dramatically increase productivity. Figure out what inspires you and determine how you can integrate these triggers into your daily life to help you reinforce your motivation.

When you find you lack productivity, consider incorporating these strategies into your daily life that can help you to increase your productivity dramatically.

It feels a little…weird, doesn’t it? The thought of letting someone else read (and maybe even respond to) your email might feel a bit like an invasion of privacy, but it might just be the thing that saves your sanity when you’re facing email overload every morning.

And you don’t have to allow your assistant to read all your email – just a few select accounts.

Private vs. Business Email
Before you decide to outsource your email management, it’s a good idea to separate your personal from your business accounts. Your personal email address is the one you’ll give to your friends and family, your kid’s school, your bank, and anyone else who might send you either personal or confidential information.

Your business email is the one you’ll use for your help desk, affiliate programs, and other non-personal information. This is the one you’ll give to your assistant to read and respond to, if necessary. He or she should know enough about your business to be able to respond appropriately in most cases, but also know that anything she can’t handle should be forwarded to you for a response.

Using a Help Desk
Information product sellers, online retailers, and even coaches and virtual assistants might find it useful to set up a help desk. This is a great way to filter and organize conversations, particularly as they relate to products and customer service. Not only that, but you can easily have your assistant monitor the desk, relieving you of the responsibility.

One of the most popular options is ZenDesk, which is a bargain at just $20 per year. It’s a hosted platform, meaning there is nothing to install. Plus it allows for email piping, so the sending of an email to a designated address automatically creates a ticket. ZenDesk is super simple to set up and use, and will definitely help clear up your email inbox.

You could also choose to set up your own help desk using one of the many free php scripts available. Like WordPress, these scripts install on your hosting account and cost nothing to use. All of them allow you to maintain a ticket history, but some offer other features. Be sure to read the documentation for several before deciding. Some popular choices include osTicket and Hesk.

If you do decide to use a help desk – regardless of which one you choose. You’ll want to set up some systems for monitoring and maintaining it. At the very least, you’ll want someone to be in charge of all incoming tickets. That person is responsible for making sure that all tickets are answered in a timely manner, and that relevant information is added to the FAQ page. You may want to work out a system by which help requests are escalated to you (or a project manager) in case your help desk person isn’t able to answer or doesn’t know how to respond to a particular request.

Digging out from under a pile of email can be tough, but if you get some help, you’ll be well on your way to an empty inbox, and that’s a great place to be.

If you find often find yourself wishing you could get more done, you’re not alone. Whether you want to do more in the same amount of time, need more motivation for getting stuff done, or are looking to reduce the amount of time you waste in a day, these simple habits can help you improve your productivity.

Keep Your Desk Decluttered
While creativity can arise from chaos, a litter-strewn office probably isn’t helping your productivity. When you have visible files lying about your office, it reminds you of an unfinished task, while an unread book is an invitation to procrastination. Keeping your desk organized and free of clutter can help you stick with a task for more than one and a half times longer.

Schedule Time to Read Email
Instead of checking your email every time a new one arrives in your inbox, schedule a time at the end of the day to focus on this task. Monitoring and responding to emails right away is not only a great way to waste your precious time, but it has also been linked to lower memory function, depression, anxiety, and lower performance. Set up an auto-responder that lets people know that you check emails at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m. and that you’ll respond during those times.

Rise Early
If you want to improve your productivity, then you need to get up early. When you get up early, you have the opportunity to establish a good morning routine that will help you improve your productivity. Rising early allows you to have the time in the morning to prepare for the day ahead without being late or rushing to get to work.

Focus on What’s Important
Take five minutes in the morning and read over your goals and remind yourself what you’re working toward. Not only will this help you to focus on what's important, but it will also give you a gauge to measure your to-do-list Doing this will allow you to look at your to-do-list with a renewed focus to make sure that you have at least one daily action that works toward your broader goals.

Increasing your productivity doesn't take a lot of extra work or more extended hours. By incorporating these habits into your daily routine, you can start to get more done in less time.

Technology has become a double-edged sword. While it allows us to connect, improve, perform, and leverage resources better than ever, it is often responsible for our decrease in productivity. The good news is that with the right apps and tools, you can use technology to your advantage and increase your productivity. Here are six, time management tools that can help to improve your productivity.

Rescue Time
One of the biggest reasons we lack productivity is because we aren't able to accurately keep track of the time our tasks take. If you have doubts that you’re using your time wisely, this app will provide you with a weekly report that shows you what things are stealing your time.

Remember the Milk
If you find that you struggle with managing everything your massive to-do-list, Remember the Milk is just the app for you. It's a free tool that is compatible with your computer, mobile device, Gmail, Outlook, and others. It helps you to manage all your tasks efficiently and reminds you of them no matter where you're at.

Focus Booster
Based on the Pomodoro Technique, this app is aimed at those who procrastinate and feel overwhelmed by their tasks. The app is designed to enhance your focus and helps to remove any anxiety you have with time pressures.

Toggl
With Toggl you can keep better track of the time you spend working on projects and tasks and is an excellent alternative to time-sheets. Effective time management starts with being clear on how much time you are spending on your projects and tasks, and then through careful analysis, working out how you can better manage them.

Evernote
Evernote is a free productivity tool that lets you capture your thoughts, ideas, and images in a variety of ways. It allows you to record your meetings, ideas, and speeches, interviews, create lists, add text and voice attachments, and share files with your friends. To optimize your time, you can also sync Remember The Milk with Evernote.

Mind42
Focus on your tasks at hand with mind mapping. Mind42 is a free mind mapping app that will help you become more organized by focusing your thoughts. When you can better focus your thoughts, you gain more clarity on what you need to get done.

If you find your productivity is lacking, consider adding these six useful time management tools to your daily routine. Stop letting technology kill your productivity, instead use it to your advantage.

The Pomodoro Technique is a philosophy of time management that is designed to provide you with maximum focus and creative freshness, which can allow you to complete projects quicker with less mental fatigue. The process is relatively simple. For every project or task that you need to complete during the day, you budget your time into short increments, of 25 minutes, and incorporate periodic 5-minute breaks. After you've finished four periods of work with 15 minutes of break time, then you take a 15-20 minute break before starting back to work.

How to Use the Pomodoro Technique
Start by choosing one task that you want to focus on. Get yourself ready by grabbing a pen and paper and a timer. Set the timer for 25 minutes and start to work on your task. Once the 25 minutes have passed, jot down your end time and mark your first period complete. Next, set the timer for 5-minutes to carefully time your break. Once your break is over, set the timer for another 25-minutes and start on your next tasks. Repeat this process four times and then enjoy a longer, 15 to 20-minute break.

Remove Distractions
If you want to be successful, you will need to remove all distractions before you get started. The purpose of the Pomodoro Technique is for you to focus on one task at a time without distractions that can kill your productivity.

Have Everything You Need
To get the most out of this process, you need to ensure that you’ve gathered everything you need to complete the task for the day and place them somewhere close by. This allows you to be more effective during the process, eliminating the need for you to spend time looking for items you need to complete the task.

Don’t Skip the Breaks
For you to remain focused and remain productive, you have to take the breaks. When the timer goes off, stop what you're working on and take your 5-minute break. This will help you to clear your mind a bit and get it ready to focus on the next task.

Record Your Thoughts
No matter how focused you are, you will always have random thoughts pop into your head. Rather than allowing these thoughts to derail your process, just jot down your thought on a piece of paper and get back to the task at hand. At the end of the day, you can look at the list of thoughts and make a plan to tackle tasks the next day.

To successfully utilize the Pomodoro Technique and boost your productivity, it is essential that you stay focused on your task for the entire 25-minutes. The only way the technique will work is if you remain productive for the whole of the 25 minutes.