“Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse, keeping busy or burning the midnight oil… . It’s more about priorities, planning, and fiercely protecting your time.” 

— Gary Keller, The ONE Thing.

Time is our most important non-renewable resource. It is also the greatest equalizer – no one has more time than you do. People can be born either rich or poor but everyone has the same amount of time.

If all of us have the same amount of time, how come some become successful and others don’t? It is about how we use our time. I’m not saying that we have to keep working every second, but what we do with the time we have is what matters. 

Why Productivity?

I constantly ask myself a couple questions when it comes to productivity:

  • Am I spending my time in the right way?
  • Are my activities in line with the things I value? 

The hacks below helped me do more things in less time so that I can make time for what’s actually important and meaningful in life. 

After reading multiple productivity books and podcasts since 2017, here are the top 5 productivity hacks that I’ve been using consistently:

1.Staying Healthy

This might come as a surprise but staying healthy is the ultimate productivity tool. We are obsessed with the latest laptop, latest software, latest productivity app, etc. But, we are the ones running all this stuff. When we are healthy, we upgrade our ability to handle things even better.

Just take a look at the top 500 CEOs. Why do you think they are fit (a couple of exceptions)? There is a relationship between staying fit and being productive. If we are overweight, we are carrying extra fat 24×7. No wonder we become tired and lethargic very often. Let’s say if someone is 20-lb overweight. This is similar to a person with normal weight carrying a 20-lb dumbbell with him all the time. How much drag can this be on the person every day, every month, and every year?

When we take a little time for ourselves to become healthy, it creates more time to do the things we would otherwise skip. Staying healthy improves our energy, mood, and clarity. 

In a nutshell,  we can be more productive if we take care of ourselves by eating well, making time for exercise, and sleeping for 7-8 hrs per day. This will not only help us feel great but also be more productive. This is the most underrated productivity tip!

2. Keeping phone away

Most of us already know that we’ve significantly increased our phone usage when compared to a decade ago. And, the usage keeps increasing. I came across a few staggering stats in the book “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”:

(a) 70% of people open a business email within 6 seconds of arrival

(b) 80% of people pick up their phone thinking that it vibrated even when it didn’t

(c) 91% of people have phones within arm’s distance

It’s evident that phone is consuming our time and energy. With a few smart changes, we can take back our control. 

Our environment has a big impact on us more than we think. Willpower can help you sometimes but small changes in the environment can have a big impact on productivity. Whenever I’m working on something important like writing, reading, or working on other projects, I started keeping my phone away (sometimes in the next room or charging in the living room while working at my desk). 

Whenever I get the urge to look at my phone, since it is in the next room, I always skip checking it and get back to work. It is amazing to see that if the phone is next to me, I keep checking it for no reason but when it is away, I don’t get up to check it. As I kept using this tip, my urge to check my phone kept decreasing. My ability to concentrate slowly started increasing. Try it. This has helped me a ton!

3. Using Pomodoro Technique

As per Wikipedia, “The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a timer to break work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.” 

This hack is simple but powerful. What I do is set a timer for 25 minutes and try to focus on one thing – the task at hand. Nothing else. I realized once I give my mind a task to focus on, it has become a little easier to focus on the task than just working without an agenda. Since we have a monkey mind, it is inevitable that we get distracted with random thoughts which brings me to my next productivity hack. 

4. Maintaining Distraction Journal

I use this technique almost every time, especially when applying the Pomodoro technique. Our mind is a monkey mind that usually likes to switch between things instead of focusing on one task. Whenever an idea, a thought, or a task distracts my mind, I simply note that thought on a notepad or journal and keep focusing on the task at hand. After the Pomodoro timer is complete, I take a look at the distraction journal and process all of them at once. 

I realize that most of the time, those distractions are just my monkey mind trying to bounce around. Nothing that needs to be taken care of right away.

5. Using Google Calendar

Scheduling important tasks ahead of time will save the brain from decision fatigue. Every time you finish a task, you shouldn’t be thinking about what to do next. We will become reactive and do what is easy if we don’t plan ahead. 

So, I put my most important tasks, appointments, and activities all into my google calendar app. My workouts, reading, writing, meditation, doctor appointments, planned vacations, etc., all go into my calendar app. Once the important activities are scheduled, I don’t have to worry about urgent tasks consuming all my time. This hack is a lifesaver.