Lauren from The Skinny Confidential and I want to share 5 amazing productivity hacks that will change your life. Lauren is the productivity queen, so we’ve got some great tips for you today.
Lauren’s Hacks
- Time Batching With a Time Cube. Time batching is when you do one task at a time, for a long period of time. For example, take all your calls and interviews on ONE day. I noticed that on Mondays I would have two calls, Tuesdays I would have three calls, Wednesday’s I would have five interviews. That took me out of my workflow.
I started scheduling all my conference calls and interviews on Wednesdays, so I wake up and know I’m going to be talking all day. I can get in the right mindset- it’s coffee, it’s workout, etc. You just know that you’re doing that task, and you’re going to do it WELL.
I leave Mondays free to put out the 8 million fires from over the weekend. You can do time batching in so many different ways, and it’s life-changing.
With that, my time cube helps me do the same task for a certain amount of time. Let’s say I’m going to do my to-do list for 10 minutes and that’s it- I’ll put my time cube on 10 minutes, and do it for that amount of time.
Why can’t you use your phone? Your phone is so distracting- you’re going to open up your alarm and go to Instagram. Put the phone AWAY- I even let my phone die.
- Google Calendar. This sounds basic, but once you do it, it becomes a religion. My driving time, shower time, reading time and planning time all go in my calendar. This is something anyone can do. I have all my workouts in yellow, my deadlines in red, my beauty appointments in pink, my conference calls in green, so automatically when I open my calendar for the day, I see what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.
- The Ivy Lee Method. At the end of the night, write down the top 6 things you need to get done for the next day. When you start your work the next morning, focus only on Task 1, and do not move on until it is completed. This sounds really easy- it’s not, but it is the way to go if you want to be uber productive. If it’s a huge project, break it up each day. People get overwhelmed because they look A to Z …you have to look A to B.
My Hacks
- Time Saving Through Compartmental Organization. Lately I’ve gotten so into organization using individual compartments for everything. For example, in my kitchen I have my drawer with all my utensils- I bought these individual separators and use one for my big spoons, one for my measuring cups, etc. I have a drawer with all my disposable silverware and napkins- I literally just put them all in a big Ziploc bag.
Having things in a drawer, in their own compartments is such a game changer. All of my desk cabinets have baskets- my pencils in one, tape measurer and tools in another, etc. I’m now starting to do it for my clothes.
When you see things all neat and clean, it puts you in a good mood and you know where everything is. To have everything efficient where you can grab it running out the door is saving you time having to look for things.
- Setting Alarms. This is specifically for taking my vitamins and supplements. I tried calendar and alarms, but calendar pops up on your phone and then goes away, whereas you either have to turn an alarm off or you’re distracted. I’m a pharmacist and forget to take my vitamins, so I feel like other people have this issue too.
Bonus Tips
- In the beginning, say yes to a lot to get yourself out there. As you start to have bigger projects you’re working on, you have to say no to little things in order to focus on what will make you grow the most.
- Turn ALL notifications OFF to avoid disrupting your workflow. This is especially important when you work on your phone.
- Batch your text messages.
If you have health goals, wellness goals, weight goals, etc., the more productive you are in your day, the better everything is going to be. TIme to get productive.
