5 Unusual Ways to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder, Backed by Science One of the things I love about the culture at Buffer is the emphasis on working smarter, not harder. Our team is all about getting plenty of sleep, exercise and recreation time so that our time spent working is as productive as it can be. Working harder can be an easy habit to slip into, though. Sometimes it’s hard to switch off at the end of the day, or to take time out on the weekend and stop thinking about work. With a startup of my own to run, I find this even harder to manage lately. If this happens to you, too, here are five methods to try that’ll help get you working smarter, not harder. 1. In one of my favorite books, Stephen Covey tells a story about a woodcutter whose saw gets more blunt as time passes and he continues cutting down trees. The analogy is an easy one to remember, but harder to put into practice. Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. Just getting away from work and having a rest can be a good start. 2. 3. 4. 5. P.S.
How to Wake Up Early: What to Do When You've Tried Everything Source: PicJumbo. As a self-confessed “night owl”, I’ve always wanted to become a “morning lark” and learn how to wake up early so I could get a head start on the day ahead. And, like most people, I tried everything. Alarm clock on the other side of the room? Check. Create a morning playlist? Use a sleep-tracking app? I tried everything – but nothing worked in the long-term. That is until I researched the evening routines of famous artists and creatives for an article I wrote for Fast Company. That’s when I realised something important… A lot of us want to have a productive morning routine; we want to wake up early, eat a hearty breakfast and exercise – all within an hour of waking up. But having a productive morning routine isn’t enough, you need an evening routine as well; one that sets precedent for your morning routine by being just as productive – if not more so. So, with that in mind, I focused on designing an evening routine, one that made waking up easier. Here’s how I did it… 1. 2. 3.
The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity : Be the CEO of Your Own Life Some people are naturals at personal productivity, others have to learn it. I’m definitely the latter. My first year teaching, I was so awful at managing my time that I would go days in a row without sleeping more than five hours a night. The following post contains the knowledge and skills I’ve amassed over three years of constantly working on becoming more productive and therefore becoming happier and healthier as well. Manage Your Energy to Manage Your Time Tip #1: Figure out when you have the most energy and block that off for solving Big problems with a capital “B.” Favorite resource: Read Adam Swartz, “HOWTO: Be More Productive.” Tip #2: Figure out what energizes you and schedule it into your calendar as a recurring event. Tip #3: Take regular breaks. Favorite resource: Read “To Stay on Schedule, Take a Break.”Favorite tool: My computer, which tells you the time every hour on the hour.How this works for me: Every time my computer tells me the time, I stand up and stretch.
How to Hone Your Creative Routine and Master the Pace of Productivity by Maria Popova “When you work regularly, inspiration strikes regularly.” We seem to have a strange but all too human cultural fixation on the daily routines and daily rituals of famous creators, from Vonnegut to Burroughs to Darwin — as if a glimpse of their day-to-day would somehow magically infuse ours with equal potency, or replicating it would allow us to replicate their genius in turn. And though much of this is mere cultural voyeurism, there is something to be said for the value of a well-engineered daily routine to anchor the creative process. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (public library), edited by Behance’s 99U editor-in-chief Jocelyn Glei and featuring contributions from a twenty of today’s most celebrated thinkers and doers, delves into the secrets of this holy grail of creativity. It’s time to stop blaming our surroundings and start taking responsibility. Step by step, you make your way forward. Donating = Loving
How to Set Yourself Up for a Productive Day How many times has this happened to you? You go to bed after a long, unproductive day with the intention that tomorrow is going to be different. Before you know it, it is time to eat lunch and you can’t point to one significant thing you’ve accomplished. In my experience, the best way to ensure a productive day is to set myself up for one the night before. This gives me a chance to make sure I do the most important things first. Even if my day gets hijacked—and sometimes it does—I’ve achieved my most important tasks. Here are five strategies I use to set myself up for the most productive day possible: Protect my morning routine. Set up your computer with only the first programs you will need loaded. Do I ever fall short of this ideal? I then said to myself, I’m a little ahead of schedule. Bad mistake. Oh well, I don’t beat myself up about it. Fortunately, I’ll have another chance to practice tomorrow. or upgrade to a self-hosted WordPress blog?
The Complete Guide to Productivity Like us on Facebook. We'll love you forever. Let’s face it. We all want more time in our lives. It could be an evening to spend more time with our family and friends, a 30-hour day to grow our business, or simply time to close our eyes and relax. If you would like to make more effective use of your time, maintain your energy levels throughout the day, and achieve your goals faster — read on. I’ve already written a few pieces on how to have more time and avoiding the 9 to 5, but this is going to be a complete guide to productivity. In this complete guide to productivity, we’ll discuss: SchedulingGoal PriortizationGetting HelpProductivity Treasure Chest This is going to be longer post so I recommend either grabbing a cup of joe or brew some tea before digging in. Scheduling Scheduling your day, week, and even month ahead of time is going to be crucial for maximizing your time and getting things done. As Peter Thiel says, “a bad plan is always better than no plan at all.” The 90 Minute Rule 2. 3.
The Science of Productivity. “It is not enough to be busy… The question is: what are we busy about?” ~ Henry David Thoreau Busy is already a given in our twenty-first century stampede. Busyness has multiplied by all kinds of parallel realities. It used to be just made of flesh. Meet Lady Productivity, our century’s muse. How do you assess your productivity? Contrary to what we tend to believe and try, productivity can’t be increased only by willpower, ability, or the amount of time we spend on a project. Optimal productivity boils down to a healthy balance between work and play, activity and rest. The brilliant creators at AsapSCIENCE, try to decode productivity in this animated science bite: Created by AsapSCIENCE in collaboration with Sparring Mind. Review, Rewind, Remember… Tips to boost your productivity: 1. What works for you? What doesn’t? What could? What’s the first step? Take it now? More creative, compact curiosity by AsapSCIENCE: >> Could Zombies Exist? >> The Scientific Power of Naps. >> What’s behind an orgasm.
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod 22 Life-changing Tips on How To Phenomenally Boost Your Productivity I’ve been testing and adjusting various productivity techniques for the past five years, read lots of books (most of them repeating) and here’s some of my findings: It’s not about time. It’s about energy. We try to squeeze as many hours in one work day, to be “productive,” but in the end everything depends less on time, and more on your focus, motivation and overall well-being (all of them linked directly with energy levels). I’ve recently talked about my productivity techniques obsessions in an internal presentation at Grapefruit, and the resulting presentation is on Slideshare: Productivity porn Some of the key findings: Decide what’s important because in 5 years, 80% of what you do today will not turn into anything. Sleep, food and exercise can help you triple your outcome, because they increase focus, motivation and energy levels. The 2-minute rule: if you can do something (like replying to an email, or a house chore) in 2 minutes, do it now. Tiny habits (Tiny Habits w/ Dr. Pomodoros.
How Keeping Things Simple Makes You A Productive Entrepreneur Running your own business is a complicated affair; making it successful can be even more complicated. If you don’t have a plan to be productive and keep focused, the details that you are responsible for can quickly overwhelm you. In fact, one of the biggest failings of new entrepreneurs is to get so caught up in an avalanche of unimportant details that more important priorities get left unattended on the table. What can you do to be a productive entrepreneur, focused on what really matters? Get up early, so that you don’t lose those most productive early hours. Start your day with a bang. here is some great advice from some highly productive people: Work fast – don’t waste time with the many distractions waiting to tempt you. Think faster, too. Original source – Funders and Founders
Waking Up at 4 A.M. Every Day Is the Key to Success. Or to Getting a Cold. Tim Cook, the C.E.O. of Apple, rises a little before 4 a.m. every day. President Trump wrote in his 2004 book that he only needs four hours of sleep a night. David Cush, the former Virgin America C.E.O., has said that he wakes up at 4:15. And Jennifer Aniston wakes up at around 4:30 to meditate, as does Kris Jenner, the same time that Michelle Obama is hitting the gym. Recently, Steve Harvey declared: “Rich people don’t sleep eight hours a day.” Is the key to success emulating high-profile achievers who are hacking their bodies to increase productivity? Americans sleep, on average, less than seven hours a night, which means that many of us get less sleep than the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends. [You need to get an email that helps you live! “This trend goes back a fair bit further than our recent tech C.E.O.s,” said Douglas B. Dr. In the study, 48 healthy adults, aged 21 to 38, had their sleep chronically restricted. Dr. Maybe. But you may be able to adjust your schedule.
11 Tricks to Increase Your Productivity Wanting to get the most out of your time is normal. We live in a productivity-obsessed culture, and it's hard to fault anyone for dreaming of a life that's more efficient. Some people want to get their work done quickly so they can leave it all behind when they go home. Others want to master the art of productivity so they can earn enough money to pay the bills while saving some time and energy to pursue their passion, whether it's creative writing, video game design, or horticulture. Being more productive is all about getting the most out of the time you have. "There are 168 hours in a week. These 11 tips will help you increase your productivity both in the short term and the long term. Do you know how you spend your time? Track your time for a week. (Shown: A monthly productivity summary.) When you review your log, look for hours that you're using "poorly" (however you define it). Of course it's not as simple as sitting down. Write a to-do list. Do you remember the Pomodoro Technique?