We live in an increasingly distracted world. Every day our attention is being pulled in what feels like a thousand different directions.
Whether it’s social media, email, text messages, TV, or our nosey co-workers, it’s getting increasingly more difficult to stay focused and productive.
In fact, a study conducted at the University of California Irvine showed that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task after a distraction.
This is very significant. Let’s say that you are distracted only 6 times during your work day, that’s 2.5 hours of lost productivity.
Imagine how many times the average person gets distracted by social media during the day. These platforms are designed to grab our attention and keep us distracted as long as possible.
Have you ever experienced the YouTube rabbit hole?
This is when you watch a video on YouTube, and then see an interesting video that YouTube has recommended for you. You decide to watch just one more video and then it’s all over.
Before you know it 2 hours has gone by and you still haven’t completed your work. Unfortunately, this is an all too common phenomena.
So, what’s the solution?
Should you wear noise canceling headphones and set the parental control on your work computer to block all social media?
Fortunately, you don’t need to resort to such extreme measures if you want to become more productive.
I have compiled a list of the top time management tips to maximize your productivity. So, make sure to put your phone on silent mode and block out any distractions. Now, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
1.Plan Your Day the Night Before
How you end your day can dramatically influence how you start your day. For example, if you take some time at night before you go to bed to write out the goals that you want to accomplish the next day, you can dramatically increase your productivity the next day.
Writing down your goals and objectives for the day is one of the best ways to increase productivity.
Unfortunately, most people wait until the morning to write out their list. The problem with this is that the morning time can be kind of hectic, especially if your running late.
This makes it difficult to sit down and really think about the things that you want to accomplish for the day. If you don’t have a clear plan of action for the day you won’t be very productive.
Furthermore, writing down you goals at night reduces decision fatigue during the day. We all make several decisions during the day and every time we do we lose a little bit of mental energy.
This is why some CEOs wear the same outfits every day. You’ve probably noticed that the late Steve Jobs practiced this strategy and Mark Zuckerberg is now adopting the same habit.
Knowing what they’re going to wear every day is one less decision that they must make. This frees up that mental energy for something more important.
Just don’t start wearing a black turtle neck every day like Steve Jobs. I’m pretty sure he’s the only one that could pull that off.
That’s why writing down your goals and objectives the night before can be so powerful. This habit will help you to start the day with clarity and purpose.
The best time to practice this is just before bed. Why? Because it’s easy to find a quite place where no one will disturb you, like your bed.
I keep my journal on my nightstand next to my bed so I can write down my daily goals every night. I’ve been doing this practice for so long that I rarely ever miss a day.
Try this practice for the next 30 days. You’ll be amazed how much more productive you are.
2. Take 5 Minutes
Procrastination is one of the biggest killers of productivity. We all experience moments of procrastination throughout the day. It’s part of the human condition.
Whether it’s not making an important phone call or finishing that chapter in the book you’re writing.
Sometimes a simple task can feel like climbing to the summit of Mt. Everest. Only you don’t have a Sherpa to help you.
Fortunately, there’s a simple hack that can help you to squash procrastination. Next time you have an important task that you need to get done and you start to feel the urge to procrastinate, give yourself 5 minutes.
In other words, do that task for 5 minutes, and that it. Unless you suddenly feel inspired after the 5 minutes is up and you want to continue.
That’s the trick. More often than not you will want to continue working once the 5 minutes is up. This really does work like magic.
I got the “5-minutes” strategy from Kevin Systrom, who is the co-founder and CEO of Instagram. He didn’t give me this strategy personally, I read about it in an interview that he did with Axios.
He says that the 5-minute strategy is his favorite life hack, telling Axios “If you don’t want to do something, make a deal with yourself to do at least five minutes of it. After five minutes, you’ll end up doing the whole thing.”
I know, it’s a little ironic that the creator of Instagram, which is responsible for more procrastination then anything else on earth, has such a great procrastination hack.
Why does the 5-minute strategy work so well?
To understand why the 5-minnute strategy works so well we must investigate why we procrastinate in the first place?
According to clinical psychologist Christine Lee, “most procrastination is caused by either fear or conflict.”
You might have a task that you need to get done but you have a fear of failure, so you avoid it.
This is where the 5-minute strategy can help. By only committing to 5 minutes it lowers that inhibition and allows you to work on the task with no strings attached.
So, next time you have a really big task that you need to complete, start with just 5 minutes and see where you go from there.
3. Try the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a popular time management method that has been in use for decades.
It’s also one of the easiest time management techniques to implement. All you need is a timer and something to work on.
The premise of the Pomodoro technique is that you set a timer for 25 minutes, and during this time you do uninterrupted work.
After the 25 minutes is up, you take a 5-minute break. It’s best if you try and relax during the break. The goal is to recharge your battery so if going for a short walk helps you recharge, go for a walk.
After your break is finished you restart the timer and start another Pomodoro session.
It’s important to note that each 25-minute pomodoro session must be uninterrupted. So, if you get an email that you feel you must respond to, you have to start your session over.
Or if you quickly check your Instagram account to see who started following you, start over.
The importance of working completely uninterrupted is so you get the most productivity out of each session possible.
Each break is only 5-10 minutes long but after you complete 4 Pomodoro sessions you take a longer break, usually 15-20 minutes.
Why does the Pomodoro Technique work so well?
The science being the Pomodoro technique is that the timer creates a sense of urgency. When you have a time constraint you tend to get more done in a shorter period of time.
Instead of feeling like you have the whole afternoon to finish a project, giving yourself a deadline will make you more productive.
Knowing that you only have 25 minutes to work on something will allow you to get hyper focused so you can achieve deep meaningful work.
Additionally, taking the 5-minute breaks after every 25-minute session will help to recharge your mental and physical energy.
Taking 5-minute breaks also allows you to step away from your work and come back to it with a fresh set of eyes. This can also help to boost creativity.
To get started, you can either use the timer on your phone, or you can download a pomodoro app. There are several pomodoro apps to choose from on both the App Store and Google Play. If you have an iPhone, I recommend using the Focus Keeper app. It’s free and it works great.
I suggest you try the pomodoro technique for a week and see if you like it. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do it will sky rocket your productivity.
4. Meditate
Now, you might be thinking, how is meditation an effective time management tool? To start, meditation has been shown to improve focus and lessen distractibility.
Yes, it’s true. Sitting still while doing nothing will make you more productive.
Meditation has become a popular buzz word among entrepreneurs and CEOs. Some companies have even created rooms just for employees to meditate. Employees are actually encouraged to take breaks and meditate.
Companies like Nike, Google, Apple, and Yahoo all encourage their employees to meditate. Apple even offers meditation classes for their employees.
Why would a company want their employees to take breaks and meditate? Because meditation has a good return on investment. It has been shown to boost productivity, wellness and creativity.
What meditation technique is best?
There are several different meditation techniques to choose from. In fact, the word meditation is more of a blanket term for all the different forms of meditation.
The meditation technique that has the most research behind it is mindfulness. Mindfulness is done by simply closing your eyes and paying attention to your breath. It also incorporates nonjudgmental awareness of one’s thoughts. This is difficult at first, but it gets easier with consistent practice.
Personally, I have been meditating for years and nothing I’ve tried has been more impactful then meditation.
I started my practice with mindfulness meditation and then transitioned to Transcendental Meditation or TM for short. I still practice mindfulness daily but for only 10-20 minutes.
I practice TM for 20 minutes twice daily. Once in the morning and once in the evening. It’s been truly life changing and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in meditation. If you want to learn more about Transcendental Meditation you can check out their website here.
If 40 minutes or even 20 minutes of meditation sounds intimidating, don’t worry. Research shows that even micro doses of meditation are beneficial.
Researchers from Mass General and Yale University conducted two different studies that both showed that just 10 minutes of daily meditation can boost cognitive function.
This boost in cognitive function is what leads to increased focus and less distractibility.
To get started I recommend you try a meditation app like Headspace or Calm. Both apps are very popular, and they allow you to try them out for free.
5. Eat That Frog
I first learned about the concept of “eating that frog” from the legendary Brian Tracy. He wrote a book called Eat That Frog which covered this concept in depth.
The idea of eating a frog first thing in morning first came from Mark Twain. Twain was famously quoted saying “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Fortunately, he doesn’t mean to literally eat a frog, at least I don’t think he is. What he does means is that it’s best to do the hardest things first thing in the morning.
I’ll let Mark Twain further explain, “eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”.
For instance, if cold calling is the most difficult and important task for you to accomplish all day, make sure it’s the first thing you get done.
Or if you struggle to find the motivation to exercise, go for a run first thing in the morning. This will help you to start the day with more energy and a greater sense of accomplishment.
This will also help motivate you to accomplish other intimidating goals. It’s true what they say, success breeds success.
If you start the day by doing the most important and difficult thing first, you will set yourself up for long term success. Even if the rest of your day is unproductive, you at least accomplished your most important task.
If you do the most important task every day you will inevitably make progress, even if you don’t feel like you are.
In Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog, he talks about the power of creative procrastination. There is no way for us to accomplish all the things that we want to get done every day. We simply don’t have enough time to do it all.
As a result, we need to procrastinate on certain tasks. Write out a list of the most important tasks for the day. Then pick the task that is going to give you the highest return on your investment (ROI). This task should move you closer to achieving your long-term goals.
This is what Brian Tracy has to say about procrastination, “Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low per- formers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.”
So, if you’re going to procrastinate just make sure that it’s on low value tasks. Try to delegate or outsource these low value tasks to others so you can focus on what’s important.
Review your to do list daily and always revise it so the most important tasks are at the top. Make sure the most important tasks get done first. Follow this principal daily and watch your life and business flourish.
6. Eliminate Half Work
I first read about this time management trick from James Clear. He describes half work as a division of our time and energy.
“In our age of constant distraction, it’s stupidly easy to split our attention between what we should be doing and what society bombards us with. Usually we’re balancing the needs of messages, emails, and to-do lists at the same time that we are trying to get something accomplished.” -James Clear
Imagine that you are at your desk working and suddenly your phone beeps with an Instagram notification. You pick up your phone to see if you have any new followers or DMs.
It only takes you a couple minutes to check your Instagram, but now you have to try and refocus on what you were working on.
Research shows that this takes longer than we think. According to the American Psychological Association, “even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone’s productive time.”
That adds up to 16 hours a week!
Personally, I used to be constantly interrupted by my email. I had trained myself to reply to customers and clients as quickly as possible.
As a result, I was rarely in a state of flow and doing deep work. I would get going on a project and then feel the need to check my email or check my voicemail.
I knew that this was affecting my productivity, but I felt like it was a necessary sacrifice. As a result, it would take me twice as long to finish my tasks.
It wasn’t until I started researching productivity and time management that I realized I was crippling my productivity by doing half work.
The method that I used to eliminate my half work habit was to block out designated times when I could check my email, voicemail, social media, etc.
This way I would give myself enough time to work on something intensely so I could achieve a flow state.
I find that if I work on something long enough and without distraction, I will invariably get into a state of flow. This is when my best work is done.
If you want to eliminate half work and boost your productivity, start by identifying your distractions. Whether it’s email, social media, or coffee breaks. Block out designated times for these things. Don’t let it interfere with your deep focused work.
Don’t let your co-workers distract you either. Let them know that you are not to be disturbed when you are working at your desk. This might be awkward at first but once they understand your reason why, they will respect you for it.
If they need to get a hold of you, have them send you an email and you can check it on your break. If it’s an emergency then they can interrupt you, but only if it’s an emergency.
Who knows, you might even set an example for your co-workers and help to increase the productivity of your whole office. If so, you deserve a raise!
If you want to maximize your productivity, then you need to try this strategy. Try and turn this strategy into a habit, you will be amazed how much your productivity improves.
7. Learn to Delegate
Learning how to delegate tasks is one of the most effective time management strategies to increase productivity.
If you’re anything like me then you have a hard time delegating tasks to other people. It’s not that I like doing everything myself, I just don’t trust that somebody else can do as good of a job as me. Sounds kind of arrogant, right?
I think Napoléon Bonaparte said it best, “if you want something done well, do it yourself”. The downside to this strategy is that it isn’t scalable. You simply can’t do everything yourself.
This is why learning to delegate is crucial to your success. If you want to maximize your productivity and effectiveness, then you must learn to delegate certain tasks to other capable people.
Notice how I said CAPABLEpeople. This is a crucial component to delegating. You do not want to delegate work to someone who is going to do a half ass job or screw everything up entirely. You need to have capable, trustworthy, and responsible people that you can rely on.
The goal is to try and multiply yourself. This entails finding people who will do as good, if not better, a job as you.
Delegating lower level tasks will free up your time so you can focus on big picture goals. It will also allow you to work more effectively and avoid burn out. People who insist on doing everything themselves are often the ones who suffer from burn out. Don’t let this be you.
How do I get started?
The best way to get started is to start small. First, find someone who you know is talented and give them something small to work on. If they deliver the kind of results that you were expecting, then give them a bigger task.
You will want to continue this strategy until they prove that they are consistent and reliable. Overtime, you will establish trust and report and you can start assigning more responsibility.
The truth is, this process takes time. You may need to go through a couple of people until you find the right fit. Once you do, take care of them. Make sure they are appreciated and rewarded for their hard work. This will establish loyalty and trust.
Delegating work isn’t always easy and it will take some time to get used to, but the sooner you start the better. Remember that this is a process and allow some mistakes to be made.
However, make sure that your team knows that you have high expectations and that you expect good results. Once you have the right team in place, you’ll be maximizing your productivity in no time.
“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.” – Ronald Reagan
