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We are living in the greatest period ever in history. There is almost nothing in this world that is not available to us if we are willing to put in the hours to research and learn. That’s all that’s between us and what we want in life.
By the same token, because of all the technology in this modern age, we are also facing to face, daily, with more distractions than our ancestors ever had.
Try these five productivity hacks to leverage technology to the fullest, so we can optimize our life and reach maximum effectiveness
1. Setting Times to Check Your Email
This one is going to be huge for many people. Remember that experiment where Pavlov would ring the bell, and the dog would salivate? What do you do the second your email goes off? Yeah, the vast majority of people, if we’re honest, grab our phones the second our email goes off to check what it is and who it’s from.
We have been conditioned just as the dogs were in Pavlov’s experiment. Listen, email is great, it allows us to connect and converse with people conveniently, on our terms, no matter where we are in the world.
Think about how many times this steals your focus throughout the day and how it scatters your attention. The Solution? Set times to check your email and stick to them. For people that can pull it off, just checking your email once in the day, maybe after your work, would be the ultimate goal. For others that cannot do this at first (or at all), shoot for checking it only twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. Try this for a week. You will feel the difference.
2. Social Media
How much time do you spend on social media every day? Be honest.
Social media is another technological advancement that is fantastic for so many reasons. You can do things like connecting with family and friends out of town, sharing life experiences as they happen, communicating with friends you’ve been out of touch with, and more.
My question to you though is how many of your productive hours is it stealing from you every day? Time is the one thing in this life that we can never get back. If you were to look back on your life 30-40 years from now, do you think you’d say “Man, I wish I spent more time on Facebook.” No, I didn’t think so.
Set aside 30-45 minutes at night to go through your favorite social media accounts and do what you’d like, but I challenge you to stop the mindless scrolling during the day just because you’re bored. We all do it.
Every once in a while I like to get into this mode of taking a break from ALL social media platforms. It’s amazing how clear I feel during these “breaks.”
3. The Pomodoro Technique
This is a simple, yet extremely powerful technique of breaking your work down into short intervals of 25 minutes and setting a timer. Then, when your 25-minute Pomodoro is done, you take a 5-minute break. Many people (myself included), find that when they are working off of a timer, it increases their output and productivity because they are trying to “beat the clock.”
I was skeptical when I first came across this, but it works very well. There are many free Pomodoro timers that you can access online as well as apps on your smartphone. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
4. Your “One Thing.”
This is a popular new trend that was spiked by Gary Keller in his book “The One Thing”. This book stresses that although there any many tasks that each one of us is responsible for during the day, there is ultimately one thing that is the most important. Keller encourages readers that by focusing on their “one thing” and giving that all of their attention until it’s done, their productivity will soar.
This is another simple concept that is easy to discard how powerful it is until you try it.
Before going to sleep at night, plan out your day tomorrow like you normally would except identify your one thing. What is the one thing that you can do or work on that would bring you the most results and bring you closer to where you want to be?
5. Meditation or Quiet Time
Because of all the stresses of the modern world, we tend to neglect ourselves and our own physical and mental well-being. When our ancestors were growing up, they didn’t have phones ringing, email alerts going off, Facebook messages, Twitter alerts, Snapchats, or any of the other distractions that we have today. As much as we all love our phones and social accounts, we must give ourselves a break as well.
Take at least 5-10 minutes out of your day, every day, to meditate or have a little quiet time and allow your mind some time to relax and shut off. Take this time and spend it in the way that best aligns with you.
Some great apps can help with meditation such as Headspace or calm.com. You can even use these for guided meditations. Maybe you prefer to sit outside quietly with a cup of coffee in silence or go for a walk in nature? It doesn’t matter which you choose. The important thing is that you take the time to “re-charge.” You will be at least twice as productive because of it.
