Everyone wants to get more done.
But what is the BEST way to increase your personal productivity?
I asked 19 productivity experts this question.
Their responses changed the way I live and work.
They might change your life, too.
You can read their answers below:be
Get Stuff Out of Your Head
David Allen is the author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Making It All Work, and Ready for Anything. He’s one of the most famous and popular productivity consultants in the world. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Keep everything potentially meaningful (that may have a later decision or action required) out of your head; decide sooner than later what, exactly, it means to you and what you are going to do about it, if anything; organize the resulting reminders and information into appropriate categories in a trusted system; reflect on and update consistently the contents of the inventory of your personal system; then make trusted choices about where you put your attention and resources.
Do More of THIS and Less of THAT
Merlin Mann is a San Francisco-based writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He created the site 43 Folders, and he writes about and offers consulting about email, time, attention, and creative work. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Specifically clarify the kinds of things that you want to do more AND less of. Then, introduce the simplest possible infrastructure for ensuring you’ll do way more of the first and way less of the second.
Use Rescue Time
Neil Patel is one of the most prolific and productive bloggers on the Internet. You can (and SHOULD) follow him on Twitter here.
I use Rescue Time to increase my productivity. It monitors my activity on the web and it tells me where I am wasting my time. This allows me to optimize for the greatest output.
Know What You Want to Produce
Annie Sisk runs two sites: Stage Presence Marketing and Pajama Productivity, and you can reach her on Twitter at @anniesisk and/or @pjproductivity.
The single best way to improve your productivity is to first make damn sure (or absolutely sure, if you’re in a curse-word-free zone) that you know what the hell (heck) you’re trying to produce in the first place, and why you’re trying to produce it. The number one reason people fail to up their productivity game (and this is purely anecdotal but I am 99% sure science will one day back me up on this) is a failure of purpose. In other words, way too often, we really couldn’t care less about what we’re trying to do, or we aren’t sure how what we’re avoiding (or struggling to get done) gets us closer to one of our dreams or goals. That’s not to say every item on your task list is directly connected to your dream or desire – if so, lucky you, I kind of hate you a little bit, and why are you even here? – but if we can connect up each task to one of those goals, we can improve our motivation to get it done, even if we have to grit our teeth to do it. Even something as banal as cleaning your house can be connected to a personal or professional goal – for instance, “cleaning my house right now improves my disposition and mood, which gives me more space mentally and physically to work on my dream project.” Ta-da!
Put a Wall around Your Best Time of Day
Annie Mueller is professional freelance writer and an expert in productivity and personal growth. She runs the site Freakishly Productive. You can follow her on Twitter here.
Find your best time of day (mine is early morning) and put a big wall around it. Spend it on your top 1-2 tasks. Leave all the details, all the lower priority stuff, for later. Or for never.
Start your day with something that helps you get centered and reminds you who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing. (I like to meditate, read something, pray, journal. 30 minutes total.)Quit worrying about being balanced. Focus on the stuff that is really important to you, put your best into it, work hard and long if you need to, be all in, enthusiastic, maybe a little bit insane, and don’t worry about fitting in, making people happy, or making sense to the rest of the world. Making sense is overrated. Make things happen instead.
Get Some Sleep
Timo Kiander writes about working from home, being efficient, and finding more time to have a life. Follow him on Twitter here.
There are many “best ways” to increase personal productivity but if I had to pick just one, it would be paying attention to proper sleeping habits in two ways:
1. Adjusting your evening routine
2. Blocking the blue light if you are using electronic devicesIf you constantly get too little sleep and find yourself going to bed too late, it’s time to analyze how you spend your evenings.
This way you’ll become aware of how you spend your time and possibly replace certain activities (like watching TV or surfing the web) with more productive ones like reading a book, writing a gratitude journal or spending more time with your spouse.
Once you start going to bed earlier, getting up becomes easier too.
If you think that not watching TV or browsing the web is out of the question, you still need to deal with the large amount of blue light emitted by electronic devices.
According to Harvard Health Publications, although light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light does that more powerfully.
The best possible way to deal with blue light where TV or computers are concerned is to actually shut them down 2-3 hours before going to bed.
But if staying away from computers or televisions is out of the question, you should minimize the harm that blue light does to your sleep. For instance, you could install the f.lux app on your computer or tablet. You should also consider wearing blue-blocking glasses. Prices range from $10 to $80 depending on the quality you want.
If you follow these guidelines, your sleep quality will most likely improve and you will feel more energized after waking up.
Focus on Tasks
Mike Vardy is the founder of Productivityist, which covers personal efficiency and effectiveness. He’s on Twitter, too, here.
The best way to increase your personal productivity is to focus on task over time. When you employ a task-based mindset,you allow yourself to deal with items of importance but when you keep your mindset align with time alone you will find yourself forced to deal with items of urgency. Task-based productivity is far more proactive than time-based productivity because time plays a secondary role as opposed to a primary one. The best way to shift your mindset is to try working by theme and by mode instead of by project or schedule (and learning how to shift between all four when you need to). Learning how to do that involves connecting yourself with your to do list more clearly, but it has staying power because your modes are very personal. And the ideal way to be productive is to make it as personal as possible. A task-based mindset goes a long way to making that happen.
Set Up a System
Carthage Buckley offers a free e-book about time management at his site, Coaching Positive Performance. You can follow him on Twitter here.
The best way to improve your personal productivity is to set up an effective productivity system which starts the moment that something comes your way and ends when it has been effectively dealt with. When you have your productivity system set up you can make effective decisions about what to do and when to do it.
Of course time management is not about managing about time; it is about managing your use of time i.e. choosing the right tasks at the right time. As such, the single most important aspect of your productivity system is to capture every single commitment that you make. When it comes to choosing the right task to complete, you can only choose the best option if you are aware of all of your options. Also, becoming aware of how many commitments you have will encourage you to make less commitments and place a greater value on your time. From there, you can set about designing the remainder of your productivity system to ensure that your time and work flow smoothly.
Stop Doing What ISN’T Valuable
Mark Shead operates Productivity501, where he helps people use technology to increase their personal productivity and realize their business goals. You can follow him on Twitter here.
The single most important thing someone can do to increase their personal productivity is to stop doing their least valuable activity. Lets say you have 100 things you do in a week–everything from putting your kids to bed to mowing your lawn to commuting for work to having unnecessary meetings with your boss. Not all those activities have the same value. Any time you can stop spending time on one low value activity, you free up time to spend on the other 99 that are more important. For example, the average American spends several hours per day watching television. How much of that time is really valuable to you? For many people television is one of the less valuable activities they invest their time in. Now maybe it is VERY valuable to you. Maybe that is the way you spend time with your family or what you do while you exercise, etc. The point isn’t that you’ll be productive if you stop watching TV. The point is that you’ll be more productive if you can identify the thing in which you invest your time that provides you with the least value. This depends entirely on you, your personality, and your values so no one else can really tell you what activity should be at the bottom of your list. If something isn’t valuable to you, consider cutting it out and using that time to do something IS valuable–even if it is just clearing some time out of your schedule to think or to spend time with people who are important to you.
Another Vote for Getting Some Sleep
Katy Whitton writes about getting more accomplished one day at a time on her blog, Flipping Heck. Follow her on Twitter here.
What is the best way to increase your personal productivity?
Wow, this is as broad a question as it is long! “Personal Productivity” is so, well, personal!
There are many things I could say that I think would help such as use “XYZ” technique or write tasks down using “ABC” planner but that’s what works for me. And just because it’s great for me doesn’t mean it’ll be great for you at all.
If you were to ask me to pick just one thing to aid in your productivity, it would be a simple “Get A Good Nights Sleep”.
It doesn’t seem like a big deal but it’s amazing what a decent 6,7 or 8+ hours can do to your mental and physical attitude.
I personally know that if I’ve had less than 6 hours sleep I’m not operating at 100%. I feel physically awful, I’m ratty and I just want a nap all the time – Mind you, I think I just described a toddler, whoops!
Lack of sleep causes mistakes and can mean that a simple task takes at least 3 times as long as if you’re well rested (even if the rest comes from an afternoon nap). This is both cost-ineffective and flipping dangerous!
So, you want to be productive? Sleep well. It’s as simple and as easy as that. Well, okay I won’t lie it’s not that easy – this is coming from an insomniac – but a regular routine and some lavender aromatherapy spray on my pillow sure helps!
P.S If you’ve no trouble getting to sleep but have problems waking up (like me!) the feel free to check out my post “Can you wake up easier in the morning? Yes! (Sort of)” at http://www.flippingheck.com/can-you-wake-up-easier-in-the-morning-yes-sort-of/
Sleep well, and sweet dreams.
Doing a Weekly Review
Arman Assadi blogs about solopreneurship and the freedom lifestyle. Follow him on Twitter here.
Doing a weekly review following a simple framework I call the Hour of Primetime. The idea is to take the time to review your week, relive the magic moments, capture all your thoughts/worries/to-dos, and finally schedule them out.
After studying productivity experts and superhuman achievers for years, I’ve found that this (along with an annual review/planning session) is the key to personal productivity.
This article walks you through every step of the process, and also includes a free downloadable PDF summary of the weekly review, plus a template you can use.
Have a Mission
Hillary Rettig is the author of The 7 Secrets of the Prolific. You can visit with her on Twitter here.
Know what your true personal and professional missions are, so you know what to focus on. Be willing to discard or delegate as much of the rest as possible. (Which means: nearly everything.) This gives you the time, energy, and mindspace to focus on what’s important.
Learn to Say No
George Smolinsky offers tips and tricks to being more efficient and living your life to the fullest. You can find him on Twitter here.
The absolute best way to increase your productivity is to be able to say “no”. If you’re able to comfortably say “no” to demands on your time, you’ll be able to free up more time than you can possibly imagine. But, this comes with a price. You must be comfortable with saying “no” to some pretty important people: Your boss, your parents, your colleagues, etc. This takes practice so that you’re comfortable with saying “no” to these people, but being able to draw effective boundaries around your time using this simple two letter word can be a productivity gold mine.
Set Priorities
Penelope Trunk‘s career advice has run in over 200 different newspapers, and she’s founded 4 startups. You can follow her on Twitter here.
Productivity is about priorities. Make a list of five things you want to do with your time that you’re not doing. Then cross out all but one. Because we can make change in our lives, but not THAT much change. And you’re not making any change because you don’t want to admit that you can’t do everything on the list.
Put the Big Rocks in First
Ron White is one of the top memory experts in the world. He’s a speaker and also offers training. You can find him on Twitter here.
For me it is as simple as listing out my things to do list and then doing the biggest most important items first. You’ve probably seen the analogy of putting rocks into a bucket. The rocks will fit in better with the big ones put in first and the small ones fill the gaps.
Have Goals; Eliminate Distractions
Shaun Boyd writes about reinventing yourself at his blog, Life Reboot.
Have goals. Eliminate distractions. Be passionate about what you’re working towards. Do your best to narrow the gap between you and your goals every day. Don’t give up.
Create A “Manual of You”
Ari Meisel operates Less Doing and describes himself as an “achievement architect”. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Create a “manual of you” by identifying and documenting all of the processes you go through on a daily basis then optimize, automate and outsource them in that order.
Focus on the Now
Arjen ter Hoeve helps busy professionals regain their time and their sanity. You can follow him on Twitter here.
I increase productivity by focussing on the now… Sounds strange perhaps. But when I do that, distractions, noise and stress are gone. I only have eyes for the one thing that I’m doing right then. I don’t hear anything; I only write, coach, record or do what I am supposed to do. The way I get into the now is easy for me. I start and feel everything but the task is fading. Less noise. More clarity. Real focus.
Be Crystal Clear about Your Goals
Eugene Mota works with bloggers and entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses. You can follow him on Twitter here.
A key personal productivity enabler is being crystal clear on your goals and spending most of your time and energy to reach them. Don’t make a huge list of goals. Determine your “one thing” and be ruthless on cutting out of your schedule almost everything that does not directly support it. Focus!
Automate Repeatable Tasks
Jamie Todd Rubin is a science fiction writer and an ambassador the Evernote paperless lifestyle. You can connect with him on Twitter here.
I try to automate any repeatable task so that I can focus on the interesting work. I use TextExpander a lot. I use canned email replies. If use apps like Buffer to schedule social media updates. I use services like IFTTT to automate things. I write my own scripts to automate things. That way, I can focus on the important work (like writing) without worrying about the repeatable stuff.
Control Time and Space
Dave Seah is obsessed with design as it relates to productivity. He’s especially focused on finding personal meaning in your work. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Control time and space by literally keeping your focus right in front of your eyes, letting it fill your field of vision so that your thoughts naturally follow the steps of inquiry that follows and you forget everything else.
Now it’s your turn. What’s your best personal productivity tip?
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amazing tips and ideas to become even more productive. Thank you Randy for this great group of people (and to include me).
Now I get back to work and start implementing ideas from the people above to increase my productivity
Thanks for participating, Arjen. Just putting this post together got me motivated to get more done this week than I have in ages.
Great work!! Superb. I got a couple really good ideas from this. Thanks!
I’m glad you found it helpful, Matthew! Thanks!
Randy,
An excellent articles with some great tips that people can take and make their own.
Thank you for the inclusion in the list.
It was a privilege to be allowed to host this virtual get-together. Glad you enjoyed the article.
I am at your SEOTW group. I really enjoy your blog. For instance, Arjen ter Hoeve’s Focus on the Now is a great way to increase productivity. When I focus on the now, I got so many things done.
Thank you.
Thanks for commenting, Wells!
Lots of super tips and lots of these things I do, such as the weekly review, getting enough sleep and getting things out of your head. The one thing that has had the single biggest impact on my productivity is using my calendar. Scheduling time for all the things i want to achieve. It helps me to visualize my work and my capacity to get things done. If I need to reschedule something that’s ok but I clear what gets bumped or delayed!