We have plenty of tips to help you boost productivity and conquer tasks. Organize your schedule, manage your time, organize your life, and achieve more.
You or other team members have recently returned from the ISPA Exhibition with a long list of follow-ups and tasks. This season, mattress factories are busy producing new products introduced during the winter Las Vegas Market and preparing for what is hopefully a strong season of sales. April also brings with it strong spring cleaning energies: It might be time to clear the clutter right in front of you or deep clean a messy part of your office.
With all that in mind, we’ve rounded up a bunch of hacks, tips, suggestions, and resources from productivity podcasters to help you leverage your time and better organize your life. Check out our socials for a list of top productivity podcasts: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Before we start, one note: We’re not diving into apps and other tools. There are countless paper products and digital systems for both Android and Apple, and what works best for each person is often a matter of trial and error. However, we encourage you to explore your options.
Master Your Schedule: Effective Planning Strategies Start your day the night before
Some productivity experts note that how your morning unfolds is largely determined by how the previous night went. If you want to start your day refreshed and energized at 6 a.m. and you need eight hours of sleep, you likely need to start winding down around 9 p.m. and head for bed by 10 p.m. (Sleep Times’ monthly Nightcap session, which queries bedding industry leaders about their evening routines and sleep habits, is full of good tips).
Begin the day with a plan
Taking 10-15 minutes at the start of your day to review your schedule, to-do list, and priorities can help you anticipate any potential issues and punt things to the next day, if needed. Or you might see that the day is shaping up to be a light, flexible one, and you may decide to address something you’ve been putting off.
Break down annual goals
Planning expert Sarah Hart-Unger uses a nested goal system, in which she sets goals for the year, quintiles (rather than quarters), months, weeks, and days. Her method, she says, helps break big goals into smaller tasks and ensures progress.
Put planning days on the calendar
Hart-Unger also recommends setting dates with yourself (and perhaps team members) to review goals and look ahead to the next month or season. Take a moment right now to put regular planning dates on the calendar through the end of the year.
Track Your Time and Optimize Workflow Track your time
Laura Vanderkam, host of the productivity-focused podcasts “Best of Both Worlds” and “Before Breakfast,” has been tracking her time consistently for years and urges her listeners to do the same with periodic time-tracking challenges. The exercise can help you reconcile how you actually spend your time with how you want to spend your time and highlight inefficiencies in your day.
Block your time
It’s one thing to have a to-do list. It’s another to find time to get the things on that list done. Productivity expert Cal Newport is an advocate of dividing your day into distinct chunks, including time for deep work or deep thought, arguing that people who use his method are twice as productive as those who don’t. He and other companies offer planners designed specifically for time blocking.
Work in buffers
If you have a scheduled meeting at 2 p.m., you probably block out 2-3 p.m. on your calendar. Whether it’s a meeting down the hall or via Zoom, you can benefit from adding 5-15 minutes of buffer time before and after. Use that time to gather your thoughts, use the restroom, refill your water bottle, or decompress from the meeting beforehand. By adding extra time around meetings and appointments, you’ll feel less frazzled and more focused.
Leave time open
If your job involves a lot of problem-solving and crisis management, leave a few hours open each day to deal with issues that arise. It may feel awkward at first to have open space on the calendar, but the dedicated time will leave you less stressed than trying to fit emerging matters into a jam-packed schedule, Vanderkam suggests. And if no emergencies arise, you can tackle items on your to-do list and get ahead for the next day.
Make a plan for random pockets of time
A meeting may be canceled, or a call may be delayed. Kendra Adachi, author and host of the “The Lazy Genius” podcast, says such occurrences lead to “random pockets of time” and suggests actively using those by always having a plan for what to do when they happen in your day. Maybe you always use that time to catch up on email or check in with clients.
Keep your list in one place
If you’re in a hurry, it’s tempting to jot down a to-do on a random Post-it note, email it to yourself, make a voice memo, or, worst of all, think you’ll remember it later. That can lead to forgotten tasks and a slew of confusing lists. Where and how you keep your to-do list matters less than keeping one central list, productivity experts say. If you do need a way to capture an idea before it can be added to your central list, use the same method each time. For instance, always write it on that Post-it note or always do a voice memo and then set aside time each day to transfer those notes onto your primary to-do list.
Narrow your to-do list daily
Your central list could have dozens of items on it — and you won’t get to them all tomorrow. The guidelines vary, but productivity experts agree that your daily to-do list should have no more than 2-6 priorities on it, depending on how time-consuming each one is. If, by the end of the day, there’s something you haven’t accomplished, move that item to the top of the list for the next day.
Use your goals to create your tasks
It’s easy to fill your days with busy work that might make you feel productive but doesn’t help you achieve the big goals you want to accomplish. Review your monthly and weekly goals to create your daily to-do list and you’ll achieve more than you can imagine.
Do a spring clean of your desk or office
And be ruthless about what stays and what goes. Just as home organizing experts recommend when clearing out clothing closets, think about the last time you used or referred to an item. If it’s been more than a year, it can probably go. If you’re still hesitant to toss something, put it in a box, seal and label it with the date in twelve months. If you haven’t opened the box by then, toss it. Another good criterion to use: If it’s paper, is the same information available online now? If so, it can probably go.
Practice the purge
You can accumulate as much junk on your devices as you can in a file cabinet, slowing down their performance and making it hard to find what you need. Twice a year, set aside time to delete old files, videos, and photos or move them to an external hard drive. (Pro tip: This is a great task to tackle while sitting in an airport. If you want to spread it out over time, make it your go-to habit during those random pockets of time.)
Tame your email
Set aside 30 minutes each day to plow through email or tackle it in 10-minute sessions three times a day. Take advantage of features that allow you to organize incoming messages directly into specific folders. Or, as Hart-Unger recommends, skip folders and just archive old messages. The search function on most email programs makes it easy to search for a specific email later, she notes. And be ruthless about unsubscribing to newsletters and other items you seldom read.
By Andrej Kovacevic
Updated on 26th April 2024