background preloader

Productivity Tips

Facebook Twitter

This Is Why Your To-Do List Is Going Nowhere. Have you browsed the latest productivity tools in the app store lately? There is certainly no shortage of to-do list and task manager apps available, each one promising you a simpler way of organizing all the things you want to accomplish. There are a lot of really good tools to help you with your productivity. Too many of them, however, focus exclusively on tasks or individual processes. They make it easy to add items like, “Call Jon about meeting,” or “Pickup bagels at the bakery.”

Distinguishing Tasks And Projects Despite all of the features and different ways to display tasks, many users still grow frustrated with their to-do list and the tool they use to manage them. As a productivity coach, I see the following scenario play out far too often: Now at first glance, this seems like it would be a good approach. Individual tasks are the relatively short activities that can be done in less than an hour. Keep Aligned With The Big Picture In Mind Seeing It All On the Same Screen. Productivity Tools | Dave Seah. Top 6 Chrome Extensions for Trello for Better Productivity. It seems like Trello’s cardinal sin is the lack of official Mac or Windows apps. This means most of us just end up using Trello in Chrome with a pinned tab. While that sounds like a sensible compromise, the fact that Trello is always online and can tap into Chrome’s extensions system is actually a great upside.

By losing a dedicated desktop app, you gain a slurry of extensions that will improve your productivity in Trello above and beyond what a desktop app could. So let’s get started. More on Trello: Trello is a great way to organize, whether it be small parts of your life or running your business. 1. Plus for Trello does a lot of stuff. Plus comes with offline support (which is a big deal), hashtags for better search, reports, and a feature that lets you estimate the time spent on different tasks. 2. 3. A lot of what you get in Gmail are basically tasks. 4. This one’s pretty self-explanatory. 5. Send to Trello is a Chrome extension similar to Trello’s own bookmarklet. 6. 7. The 5-step plan for overcoming your productivity addiction in 2016 - Todoist Blog. Hi, my name is Belle and I’m addicted to productivity. I don’t mean the real kind of productivity where I actually move my important projects forward. No, I’m talking about productivity content – the countless articles, videos, infographics, e-books, real books, whitepapers, and email courses out there that I can’t seem to get enough of.

I spend a lot of time trying new productivity tools and reading about productivity methods. I’m not sure how this all started, but it’s crept up on me over the years. These days I can’t go a week without spending a few hours trying new apps – or even adjusting my whole workflow – just to try something new. And it seems I’m not the only one. The problem with this idea of “productivity porn” taking up all our time is that nobody seems to have a solution for how to avoid it.

As James Bedell has noticed, productivity porn isn’t the answer to actually being more productive: I like learning about productivity. That’s kind of depressing, right? 12 Bad Habits That Are Making You Less Productive. Biting your nails. Chewing with your mouth open. Speaking before you think. This is the kind of stuff we usually think about when we think of "bad habits. " But what about the bad habits that are hurting your performance at work? There's a whole host of things many of us are guilty of doing every single day that research shows ends up really hurting our productivity. And the more aware you are of how these things are affecting your productivity, the more proactive you can be at taking responsibility for your choices. So, ask yourself: Are you guilty of any of these bad habits? 1) Rushing in the morning. We all have those mornings where you're rushing your morning routine and barely have time to brush your teeth before running out the door to make it to the office on time.

When you start off your day in a frenzied state of mind, you're not giving your brain any time to decompress, reset, and prepare for the day. 2) Skipping breakfast. But it should be. What about replacing food with coffee? My 5-step plan for overcoming my productivity addiction in 2016 - Todoist Blog. The Real Problem With Time Management Will Surprise You. The Real Problem With Time Management Will Surprise You If you were to Google “time management tips” you’ll come across 400,000,000 results. And a lot of those tips include things like: Learn to say no.Use a calendar.Value your time.Use your time for things that are worth it.We all have the same amount of time in a day.Stop making excuses.Take breaks.Delegate.Use productivity tools.Sleep well.

Blah blah blah. I don’t say that to say those tips are wrong, or to say they’re not effective. Nope, but I do say it to say this. The real problem and solution to time management is a LOT simpler than it seems. The above tips and other time management tips sprinkled across the internet, is only useful after this 1 problem is solved.

Without solving it, you’ll always believe there isn’t enough time in a day to do the things you have little time to do. That problem and solution is….. The Power of Always Writing Things Down. When was the last time you wished you had written something down? Maybe it was the detail that you forgot from a meeting. Or a deadline that you needed to meet. Or perhaps, it was something as simple as the type of light bulb you needed to pick up at The Home Depot. Whatever it was… I bet you wish you had written it down. Always Take Notes Small details are important. A phone number. Small details seem simple.

Yet, a week later, you can’t recall it. What was that little detail? I once knew a guy who had a photographic memory. Here are Some Tips to Help with Your Note-taking: Write It Down Now – The time to capture a piece of information is the first time you encounter it. Write It Down When You Have the Chance You may think your brain is a steel trap. However, no matter how sharp you are, you can’t possibly remember everything. Always taking notes is an important productivity habit. 7 Things That Will Prevent You From Being Successful. Success is a beautiful word that tingles in our ears. Many desire to be successful, yet success seems to visit just a few and closes its door to many. Perhaps only few people are willing to make their environment conducive enough to welcome in Success.

Success doesn’t care how much you wish for it, if it did, everyone would be successful. If you want success to find you attractive and be associated with you, avoid these 7 things. 1. Procrastination “I will do it later” is often equivalent to “I will never do it,” though that is never the real intention behind procrastinating something. If you do not take procrastination to court and have a divorce today, it will live with you forever and make you unsuccessful. 2. If you are afraid to fail, then you are not ready to succeed. People who are crippled with fear may have an amazing idea to start a project, but they are often afraid it may fail, so they don’t start at all. Failure is not the end of the road, giving up is!

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The Six Lists You Need To Make Every Day Productive. Your brain is for thinking, not for storing a long list of random things you need to do. "When you’re juggling a lot of tasks, things will fall through the cracks, and lists are amazing for keeping yourself on target and getting things done," says Paula Rizzo, author of Listful Thinking: Using Lists to Be More Productive, Highly Successful, and Less Stressed.

As senior health producer at Fox News, Rizzo was used to creating checklists of questions and shots to get. When she started to look for an apartment in New York, she realized how important lists can be in all situations—but only if they’re used correctly. "A lot of people want to be list makers, but they aren’t sure how to create lists that actually help," she says. "The key is making the right lists and being strategic in how they’re used. " Here are six lists that Rizzo says are helpful to business leaders, and how you can use them to be more productive: 1. If something doesn’t get done, reevaluate the task at the end of the day. 2. Uk.businessinsider. I used to work a lot — 60, 80, or even 100 hours a week.

I let my work be a big part of how I defined myself. I wore those insane hours like a badge of honor…I loved telling people how “busy” I was…and how much I “had to do”. Sound familiar? Looking back, I realize I used my work to try and fill a void in myself. One day I’d had enough. So I decided I had to make a big change… Searching for the Way Since my work is important to me, I had to figure out how to work smarter, not harder.

Of course, I also had to find work I enjoyed, that fulfilled me, rather than work that drained me. I love to read. Then, I took the things that made the most sense to me, and implemented them. I noticed that several different solutions each had a piece of the puzzle. Enter the Pomodoro Over the years I‘d heard about a time management system called the Pomodoro Technique. I read the 2006 paper written by its creator, Francesco Cirilio, which explained the technique and as importantly, the psychology behind it. This To-Do List Strategy Just Makes Sense (and That's Why it Works) How often do you find yourself failing to get through your to-do list?

And no, including “Write to-do list” just to give yourself something to cross off immediately doesn’t count as a win. Of course, it’s not always your fault—every fire drill that pops up just keeps making your list longer and longer. “We’re just too busy going through our lives, trying to keep the balls in the air and our heads above water, [so we don’t think]: Is there a better way to do this?” Says Maura Thomas, founder of RegainYourTime.com and author of Personal Productivity Secrets.

Turns out, there is—if you take a tip from Dwight D. Eisenhower. Popularized by Stephen Covey, but based on the productivity principles of the former president, the Eisenhower Matrix helps you categorize your to-dos by their level of importance and urgency so you can decide where to focus your energy. Below, we offer examples of the kinds of activities that fall into each category. Category #1: Important and Urgent How to Tackle Them. All The Productivity Tips You Need In 9 Infographics.

Ever notice how some people come across as having their act together? They are able to get their work done on time, every time. They have the time and energy for 100 different things. Yet, they always seem non-frazzled, non-overwhelmed, and non-frantic. Do you console yourself with the thought that these are a special breed of people with a special DNA sequence? Sadly, that is far from the truth. 1. One of the most frantic and chaotic times in most people’s day is the morning. 2.Your mouth as the gateway to productivity Believe it or not, what you put in your mouth can affect your productivity. 3.

Eating healthy is not enough. 4. A good night’s sleep is key to not only our well-being but to our productivity as well. 5. Clutter and disorganized workspaces are time suckers and cause frustration, leading to decreased productivity. 6. Research has proven that multi-tasking causes a 40% drop in productivity levels. 7. 8. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! 9. And here’s a BONUS one. Tony Schwartz: The 90-Minute Solution: How Building in Periods of Renewal Can Change Your Work and Your Life (POLL) The only way to meet rising demand is to work longer hours, more continuously and stay connected 24/7.

Welcome to the crazy credo that many of us now live by, encouraged by the companies that employ us, in a world that's been wildly accelerated by technology. It's also completely contrary to everything we know about what makes it possible for human beings to perform at the highest level. The human body is hard-wired to pulse. To operate at our best, we need to renew our energy at 90-minute intervals -- not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally. When we build this rhythm into our lives, it changes everything. Unfortunately, rest and renewal get no respect in the world we live in. The modern model for success is to hunker down for long and continuous hours in front of a computer or at meeting, answer emails late into the night and work till we drop. Consider some of the data from the poll we've been conducting over the past week at Huffington Post -- a poll you can take right here.

How to Set Goals and Meet Them: 8 Steps for Success. A complete guide to designing your morning routine to double your productivity. 7 things I learned about Gmail working at Google. My Gmail Crush In 2011, I got accepted into Google! After agreeing to join, I wasn’t too sure what I would be doing, and that was fine by me: I was happy to do anything and learn in the process! So, my first day at Google felt a bit like joining Hogwarts, you’re excited and not entirely sure what you’ll be doing: For two years, I was lucky enough to train Google employees on Gmail and to pitch Gmail to companies of all sizes. I’ve left Google since and now work at Buffer and on Remotive.io but I still use these 7 Gmail tips which have a daily impact on my work to this day… Disclaimer — I’m not affiliated with Google or Hubspot :) Let’s chat email! How To Increase Productivity In Your Business With Tor Refsland! Happy Thursday and welcome to this day’s post where I talk to you about someone awesome. I have spoken about so many awesome bloggers in the past so you can find them listed here.

Today, we have another guy you’d like to meet if you care about how to increase productivity in your business. I read his blog so frequently and can tell you he’s the go-to guy when it comes to productivity tips. I also was featured on his blog as one of these incredibly busy experts who shared on 80 productivity tips. Meet Tor Refsland Tor Refsland was working as a SAP system administrator for one of the biggest companies in Norway. On a vacation in Turkey he almost died by falling 393,7 feet into a certain death while paragliding. He had been working his b*tt for about two decades helping business owners and shareholders to build their dream. So he decided to leave his six-figure job in order to follow his passion – to help online entrepreneurs SAVE TIME and INCREASE RESULTS. He knew for a FACT… Engage with Tor. How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done - 5 Expert Tips. Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

To check it out, click here. Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting. We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this — and more. Cal Newport impresses the heck out of me. He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students.He writes 6 (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year.He’s the author of 4 books including the wonderful “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” And yet he finishes work at 5:30PM every day and rarely works weekends. No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Below you’ll get Cal’s secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done — and be finished by 5:30. 1) To-Do Lists Are Evil. To-do lists by themselves are useless.

Here’s Cal: Sum Up. 8 Things The World's Most Successful People All Have In Common. What is it? — Passion Planner. If You Do These 20 Things Every Day, You'll Become Smarter.