20 Productivity Hacks to Make Your Life Easier
Are you looking for the best productivity hacks to make your life easier? Whatever you do every day, you must ensure you’re always productive. But for this to happen, you must focus only on the essential things and find a way to get through the less important ones quickly. If you don’t, you may get frustrated sometimes because there’ll probably be a lot to tackle.
You’ll need some life hacks to help you speed up different aspects of your life to become more productive. And in this article, I’ll be sharing with you some of these life hacks that work for me.
1. Make a to-do list
Having a to-do list for every single day is very important if you want to make life easier for yourself. It is, in fact, the first step you must take as you push yourself to improve and become more productive. The to-do list should include your plans for the day, no matter how small. It will help you keep your eyes on everything you want to do for the day and ensure that you’re not forgetting anything.
2. Start with the most important tasks
Now that you have a list of tasks for the day look at them and identify the most important ones. You can order them so that the most important ones come first. Start your day by dealing with those important tasks first. If you can get those out of the way for that day, the remaining tasks should be a piece of cake.
3. Don’t do multiple tasks at once
You may think taking on more than one task and doing it simultaneously means being productive. Well, that’s true to some extent, and I won’t disagree with that. But let me tell you this: Multitasking will not let you focus well enough on each task; therefore, the quality of the jobs you’ve done will reduce.
So, don’t try to do multiple jobs by yourself at once. Focus on one and set your mind to it, finish it, then move to the next one.
4. Take short breaks every 1–2 hours
Honestly, forcing yourself to continue working many hours at once is not a good thing. You may think you’ll be able to handle and tackle more tasks when you go without taking any breaks. But you’re just exhausting your brain. Always make sure you take breaks for every hour you work. Moreover, try to extend the break time by a few minutes every hour. So, if you work for an hour, get a five-minute break; for two hours, take a ten-minute break.
5. Automate some of your processes with tools like Zapier
Do you have lots of tasks you do regularly the same way? Are you a virtual assistant or secretary who has to repeat daily tasks? You may love to do it yourself, but it’s so much faster if you automate those processes. You can use an automation software like Zapier and set it up to help you take care of these things. That will mean fewer things for you to think about, and you can focus your energy on other things.
6. Do your job in dedicated workspaces
Did you know that your environment is very important in helping you become more productive? If you easily get distracted, you can’t do or achieve much by staying in unsettled places.
Look for a dedicated workspace in a conducive environment. It doesn’t matter whether the workspace is in your home—just ensure it’s where you can’t easily get distracted.
7. Reduce visiting social media while working
Yes, social media is a blessing, especially if your clients or customers have to contact you through those sites. But everything with a good side also has a bad one, and social media isn’t left out.
Don’t visit Facebook, WhatsApp, and the likes while working, unless it is very important.
8. Install productivity apps
Look for apps that fit well into your needs, like time management (e.g., Todoist, Trello), note-taking (e.g., Evernote, OneNote), and focus tools (e.g., Forest, Focus@Will). Install these apps on all your devices for easy access. You can also use things like reminders and priority settings to stay organized. You can also check out new apps occasionally to see if they can make you do more. Set up a daily routine for using these apps to make the most of them and increase your productivity.
9. Use the “2-minute” rule.
I know I’ve said you shouldn’t take on multiple tasks simultaneously, but let’s just say there’s an exception: the “2-minute” rule. This rule says that if you have a task, and you know you can finish it within 2 – 3 minutes, then you should do it immediately. Don’t try to postpone it. That way, there’s one less task to worry about later, which means more productivity.
10. Ask for help when you’re stuck
Many of us are guilty of this – I was once, too. I believe it’s good for me to do my research and solve problems by myself every time to improve my experience. I was right, but you know what suffered from it? My productivity – I wasted the time that would’ve helped me deal with some other tasks instead of asking for help. Get help from people who can help you, and don’t waste time trying to figure it out yourself. With that, you can achieve more in less time.
11. Use a calendar or timer to schedule your tasks
If you have some things to do but not presently, you can mark your calendar and choose when that task must be done. Set up reminders, too. They will help you remember your schedules. A quick tip: set a reminder to inform you about the task some days before it should be done. You can also set a timer to manage how much time you have to spend on a task.
12. Learn to say “no”
Do you know that there are things you spend time on that take valuable time and leave you unproductive? It could be offered by your friends or anything else. If you feel the offer will no longer bring you great results or help you get better, do yourself a favor and reject it nicely. Why waste time on what will not help you improve at what you do?
13. Track your time spent
Of course, you don’t want to spend the whole day trying to work on a particular task, right? And that’s why you should always watch how much time you’ve spent on doing something. When you do that, you can start thinking of how to achieve that task in less time, making you more productive.
14. Learn to use AI tools effectively
I’m sure you’ve heard much about AI tools recently, but maybe you don’t think it’s for you. Well, AI tools are for everyone. They’re there to make life easier and get your work done faster. And you know what? Almost everything you do manually these days probably already has an AI tool that can do it for you. Now, I’m not saying it gives you that “perfect” thing you want every time, but it takes away the stress of doing it yourself from scratch. Research and learn how to use those AI tools relevant to your work. Trust me, they’ll make you more productive.
15. Take short naps whenever you feel like it
As you continue working, you may feel like taking a 15 – 20-minute nap or start dozing off right where you are. Don’t worry—it happens to most of us, and it’s normal. So, whenever you see that you need to refresh yourself by sleeping, please don’t hesitate to take a nap. That will give your brain time to rest and reset for even better productivity.
16. Don’t attend every meeting, just the most important ones
You may want to say, “Nope, I have to be there.” Well, it’s not bad to always attend every meeting. But do you know that for everyone you attend without personally contributing anything, you would’ve carried out other tasks and relieved yourself of a ‘pile’ of jobs? So, if you know the meeting doesn’t directly concern you, just focus on your tasks and become more productive.
17. It doesn’t have to be perfect
I should probably say it this way: it doesn’t have to be perfect, at least not for the first time. This voice usually tells many of us that whatever task we want must be perfectly done; therefore, we keep waiting for when we can do it perfectly. But from what I’ve seen, that’s not even necessary. You just need to make sure you have some progress. Do part of it today, some other part tomorrow, and before you know it, you’re almost done.
18. Make sure you stick to deadlines
The deadlines you (or your customers) set for projects aren’t just there for fun. You have to follow them if you really want to be very productive. If you can’t exactly meet the deadline, ask for some more time. But make sure to get the job done on or before the deadline.
Let me tell you one trick I like to use: Try to set a deadline for yourself to complete the task aside from the actual deadline, and do your best to finish it by then. That way, you’ll have some more time to review what you’ve done before delivering.
19. Listen to music that makes you focus
Not only does music ‘heal,’ but it can also help you focus on things you’re finding difficult to focus on. I’m not saying you can just listen to any kind of music. Many kinds of music will make you lose even more focus. Find slow instrumental music—it motivates you to focus on your actions and even think well.
20. Look after yourself
I’m sure you’ve always heard the saying ‘health is wealth,’ and it’s true. Since your brain has to do a lot of work and process different things on the go, you must always try to make it relax very well. Take a break if you feel like you can’t think straight or feel ill. Visit a hospital if you need to. Just make sure you’re fully back on track before doing anything.
