In this post, you will learn 15 productivity tips to help you get stuff done more quickly and efficiently allowing you to optimise your workflow and enjoy more of your own time.
These tips have been refined especially for busy middle-aged fathers but will work just as well for anyone.
Fact: We all have the same 24-hours in a day.
So why is it that some people are able to manage multiple successful businesses, have time to exercise and spend quality time with their family and friends, while the rest of us struggle to get the most basic tasks done?
Answer: They know how to optimise their workflow for maximum productivity and get the stuff that needs to be done, done.
With our busy lives (kids, family, work, commuting) and endless distractions (YouTube, Facebook, Email, WhatsApp, the news) it’s becoming increasingly difficult to focus on what’s most important and get stuff done.
So before we fall further behind, let’s not waste any more time.
Here are the 15 productivity tips to help you get ahead of the pack.
1. Fuel well
To be focussed, on top of your game and full of energy you need to eat well and stay hydrated before you do anything else.
Put the wrong petrol into a Ferarri and it ain’t going to drive very far or very fast.
That means getting your fair share of fruit and veg plus drinking enough water. After all your brain contains 73% of it.
To avoid a post-lunch slump, try to avoid high-fat foods and refined carbohydrates instead, stick to complex carbs like fruit, veg, salad, wholemeal bread/pasta hummus and brown rice.
Other good options also include avocado, salmon, chicken and nuts. Definitely avoid the cake, crisps, sweets and sugary drinks.
2. Cut down on alcohol
Alcohol is a toxin and despite its reputation as a relaxant and sleep aid, in reality, alcohol is going to slow you down and make you less productive.
Alcohol is a great time-waster and being drunk dehydrates you and will generally cause you to stay up later and wake up feeling tired and groggy – not great for productivity.
It also reduces REM sleep which is when brain restoration takes place.
If you’re really serious about getting more stuff done, then consider taking a break from the booze.
Related: 21 benefits of giving up alcohol for a month
3. Rest well
Despite the desire to work (or watch Netflix and drink beer) into the early hours, a healthy and regular sleeping routine with enough hours for brain processing, restoration and processing is vital if you want to win the day and get more stuff done.
We’re all different, but on average you should be aiming for between 7-9 hours of sleep every night.
4. Get active
“Motion causes emotion”, as the old saying goes and there’s hardly a successful person on the planet who doesn’t take daily exercise seriously.
From Richard Branson to Bill Gates, (check some of his productivity tips here) they all recommend getting outside, even if it’s just for a walk to get your juices flowing.
Exercise is a great stress reliever, it gives you more energy, keeps you alert, and releases endorphins that make you feel good.
Related: Why I love running
5. Know your outcome
This one is massive because being productive and getting stuff done is primarily a mindset.
We can all be super ‘busy’ chasing emails, attending meetings and photocopying stuff but are all of those things moving you closer to your desired outcome?
If not, you need to start working out what does need to be on your to-do list and what needs to be on your NOT-to-do list.
Have a crystal clear vision of your outcome for your life/business/project and then start setting goals and habits towards making them come to life.
6. Remove distractions
Email, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Blogs (hi) plus a billion other things are crying out for your attention 24 hours a day, and this constant distraction is costing you big time.
According to one study, after each distraction, it can take up to 30 minutes to re-focus on your original task.
Constant distraction throughout the day is going to labour your work and you certainly ain’t going to get stuff done.
Try these tips to remove distraction:
- Check email only at designated times per day, not sporadically or whenever a new email arrives. For example, 10am and 4pm.
- Turn off your phone and desktop notifications. Having buzzes, beeps and bings constantly going off around you is bound to distract you from the task at hand.
- Unsubscribe from emails that aren’t essential and delete as much of your inbox as you can.
- Check social media only after your important tasks are completed or on your way home from work.
- Put your phone in a drawer, another room or locker.
- Wear headphones – even if you have no music on, the noise reduction can help you to focus and will make colleagues think twice before interrupting you.
If you like working with music on, there’s some nice science about the benefits here.
Personally I like listening to Binaural Beats.
7. Make short, clear-cut tasks
Working against a clock is a great motivator.
The Pomodoro Technique is a simple strategy that requires you to set a timer (for 25-minutes for example) and work without distraction on that task until the timer rings.
The exact technique is a bit more complex than that, but I find that having a set amount of time to get tasks done before having a 5-minute break is a great way to bulldoze through my work.
Make your tasks small and specific so that they can be done quickly rather than giving yourself huge unachievable tasks that you’ll want to avoid.
Rather than saying “Today, I’m going to write that report” which feels like a mammoth task, break it down into 25-minute chunks. For example…
“Chunk one – I’ll write the introduction…” etc.
8. Make meetings specific
It’s common knowledge that most meetings are unproductive, unnecessary and a waste of time.
When you have your own work to do, sitting around in pointless meetings just means working more and later into the evening which is when you should be enjoying your own time.
There are some nice tips here if you want to delve deeper, but my top tip would be to first clarify if you absolutely have to be at the meeting and if so, ask what the specific outcome of the meeting is.
With a single focus on the outcome, you can work quickly towards it before making your excuses and getting back to your own work.
This works for phone calls too.
9. Journal
Use a journal to get your thoughts out of your head and plan the following day before you go to bed.
Use your journal to log your goals/dreams and vision too, as well as making notes about your daily successes and failures – you could even log your favourite productivity tips too.
Just spending 10-minutes the evening before writing down tomorrow’s goals and tasks can help you hit the floor running.
Journalling is also a great way to improve your focus and accelerate your success. Here’s a great resource on journaling.
10. Learn to say no
Just think about that word for a moment… ‘No’.
Saying no possesses serious power, but can be a hard word to express.
Imagine that you’ve been asked to go to an event that you really don’t want to go to and you can think of a hundred other things you’d rather be doing, but in order to be polite you say “Okay, I’ll be there.”
Now you’re going to resent yourself for saying yes, resent the other person for dragging you there, you’ll be pissed off the whole time that you are there and you’ll feel guilty that you’re missing out on what you really wanted to do.
Saying no doesn’t have to mean upsetting people, you have a right to refuse a request, but it can do one amazing thing.
Give you a great sense of power, and that is priceless.
Say “no” more often and get your more of your own stuff done.
Here are four different ways to say no in a nice and professional manner.
11. Get stuff done with a reminder app
Much like the Pomodoro technique, my new favourite way to get stuff done is to use my iPhone’s ‘Reminder App’ to log daily and weekly tasks.
This is pretty much the only app that has the notifications turned on for both my phone and desktop.
With around 15 daily tasks logged with regular time slots, it forces me to keep up and stay on top of my tasks.
But before you start wondering how I live under such draconian rule with every second of my day scheduled and scrutinised, that’s not the case.
I make sure that I schedule in fun stuff and free-time too and I don’t worry too much if I go over – but if anything, it’s made me super efficient at getting stuff done and has given me even more free time that I can use guilt-free because I know that the stuff that I had to do, is already done.
Happy days.
12. Identify the value of the task
No ‘productivity tips’ blog post would be complete without the good old ‘Eisenhower Matrix’, and for good reason. It works.
Simply ask yourself the following questions for any task:
- Is it urgent and important? Eg. deliver your report.
If yes. Do it now. If no – see question 2. - Is it important but not urgent? Eg. Email client
If yes. Schedule it to be done ASAP. If no – see question 3. - Is it urgent but not important? Eg. Order new stationery
If yes. Delegate to someone else. If no – see question 4. - Is it not important and not urgent?
If yes. Don’t do it. Eg. Refill the communal office stapler (admit it, we’ve all done it – but leave it for Brian to do. He loves it).
What’s great about this technique is that it forces you to consider what tasks you should actually be doing in order to move quickly towards your goal/vision.
While fiddling with the stapler isn’t going to get you to where you want to be anytime soon, (that’s procrastination) it is important to remember not to be a total robot when working through your tasks.
Don’t forget to make a cup of tea for your colleagues and have a bit of a laugh (or share your favourite productivity tips) once all your important stuff is done.
13. Have sufficient downtime
Work hard when it’s work time and when it’s not, get off your phone/laptop and do something else.
Switching off is just as important as being switched on. Without sufficient time to relax you risk burnout, stress and a miserable existence.
Remember why you’re working hard to get stuff done.
Being productive and working hard to get stuff done as efficiently as possible is actually a very selfish act.
The goal is not only to advance yourself as quickly as possible toward your goal/vision, but also to enable you to have more time away from work, and therefore a better quality of life.
14. Stay organised
Keep your work-space clean and tidy, and get your bag ready the night before with everything you need for the day ahead.
Know what work needs to be done, where you need to be and how to get there.
Have your lunch planned so you don’t need to mess about wondering what you’re going to eat.
15. Keep up-to-date
Using the productivity tips above to keep yourself on top of your game are all going to help accelerate you towards your goals, but in addition, you need to keep yourself up-to-date with the world and new technologies.
Think of yourself (and your brain) as the latest operating software.
If you’re up to date, then you’re going to have fewer ‘errors’ and you’ll be able to keep up with an ever-changing world.
If you fall behind, then you’re going to find yourself out-of-date and out-of-touch before you know it.
Stay with the pack by staying up-to-date with the latest news technology and software in your industry.
Work on your own personal development as well as experimenting with different ways to streamline your business and your life.