Let’s be true: Who couldn’t use their day for a few more hours? Between your various responsibilities and your never-ending list of things to do, learning how to be more productive—so you can do more in less time—is a critical skill in life. Especially, nowadays, so many of us are working at home.
Yet, if you keep on finding yourself behind despite regularly keeping up with your calendar or writing a well-intentioned list for the coming week, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you get more effective.
Beyond helping you develop better time management skills, these five smart productivity hacks will help you concentrate your attention on what’s most important so that all your efforts begin to produce true, tangible results.
Productivity Hack #1: The Pomodoro Technique
In the late 20th century, Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro technique will allow you to be more effective by specifically identifying concentration cycles and rest times for a specific task. Pomodoro’s strategy will help you minimize distractions and boost your overall productivity by placing time for daily breaks and creating rest periods on your calendar.
To try this productivity hack at home: pick a work to concentrate. Set a minute timer then. Function – without disturbances or interruptions – before the timer disappears. Take a break of 3-5 minutes and repeat the process three times from the start. After 4 Pomodoro cycles (about one hour) you take a longer break of 15-30 minutes to start the Pomodoro Technique again, or until the task is done again.
Productivity Hack #2: The Top 3 Rule
Something else will always come along and need your attention. Instead of using your resources to remove those little “fires” that tend to occur all day long, use the Top 3 Rule for efficiency and count on effort. Essentially, it lets you prioritize the top three tasks for a particular day, so the items that are important are not put back into the back burner.
To try this productivity pick in your home: write down in order of priority the night before your top three goals for the day. Think of it as your day’s “must.” First of all, check your list again in the morning and try before 10 a.m to split all three of your goals.
Productivity Hack #3: The Pareto Principle
According to the Pareto Principle (also referred to as the 80/20 Rule), only 20% of our actions are efficient and progressive, which means that the vast majority of the energy you use does not work so hard for you. You may use the Pareto Principle to motivate your actions and to improve your productivity. Think of it as being knowledgeable, not difficult to function.
To try this efficiency hack at home, you must first decide what steps have the greatest overall effect on your life, in order to enforce this theory. Then, with time, you must start re-allocating more time to the results and less to another location. Your training schedule may be a realistic example: let’s say you practice four days per week. However, the only one that is completely beyond the current fitness comfort area is your Tuesday kickboxing class. To help you accomplish your goal with the Pareto Principle faster.
Productivity Hack #4: Time Boxing
Timeboxing is what it sounds like—a time management strategy that blocks fixed time intervals on your schedule for particular activities. It operates in two ways. First, it imposes tiny deadlines all day long, which restricts the amount of time you spend on any one job and allows you to work more effectively. Secondly, you are responsible for where your time is.
To try this efficiency hack at home: consolidate your list with all your tasks tomorrow. Then set a timetable for your day, depending on your needs—by an hour or by the 15-minute mark, to assign a particular time block for each task on your list. Try setting time limits to motivate yourself to stay accountable at the end of and time limit.
Productivity Hack #5: Saying “No”
In a day, 24 hours are available – that’s it! That means that, however hard you try, you just can’t do it all. As famous as Oprah, “All this is possible. Not all at once,” and this feeling also relates to your level of efficiency. We have a finite amount of time, resources, and attention every day, and so regardless of how efficient you are and of how many optimization tips you master, if you don’t care or serve yourself, you have to learn to turn off invites and opportunities. You might also opt to keep “Digitize Grandma’s Photo Albums” on your to-do list rather than just keep it on and let it stress you. You’ll have to do it.
Testing this productivity hack at home: while it may be hard to get started (after all, turning down somebody or letting a chance happening is never easy), note that saying “no” gets easier with practice. Try saying no to social duties, for example, that you are just guilty. Asking yourself, does the fact that we have not spoken in the last 5 years really merit my time and my money for attending an old wedding room colleague? It doesn’t make you a bad person if you decide to say no. What it means is that you want to spend enough time in the day with the most important people and stuff – and that’s good.
Conclusion
Besides these great productivity hacks, the working environment plays a key role to boost your productivity. It’s great to turn your room into a friendly and stunning space to get the motivation to work. You can refer to fun home office decor ideas to get more inspirations.
