One habit that I’ve picked up recently and have really enjoyed doing is something I’m calling daily success factors. I’ve been researching a lot lately on what it means to be productive in a meaningful way — in other words, making progress that actually counts towards an important goal, as opposed to something that might not really matter all that much right now.
Read MoreProductivity means something different to everyone. Some people might find it really productive to spend time on certain tasks, while others would rather outsource those tasks and let someone else figure it out. It really just depends on what our goals are, and what we’re trying to accomplish.
What really helps in being productive is to find your personal why. Figure out why do you want to be productive? In other words, what is your major goal that you’re trying to achieve? What destination do you have in mind?
Read MoreLet me tell you a little about myself— I love starting new projects. It’s so much fun to come up with a new app idea or blog post idea and begin to work against it. New things are really fun for me, because there’s tons of possibilities and there’s no structure to it yet. The problem though is that I basically have what I call squirrel brain — I am drawn to something and then unfortunately two seconds later I’m distracted by something else new. Then it happens again and again. I end up bouncing around from project to project, much like a squirrel darting around in a busy park.
This is a real problem. It’s a problem because then nothing ever gets done, which means that I don’t make any meaningful progress. Instead I am left with the illusion of productivity. I can point to a bunch of projects and ideas, but I can’t really point to anything that I’ve actually shipped or finished. That’s fun if it’s just they’re just hobby or side projects, but when my livelihood depends on me actually shipping, then it’s clearly a problem. To solve this problem in my life, I’ve used these two strategies that have proven to be useful. Hopefully they’ll help you be more productive in a meaningful way!
Read MoreIn psychology, students learn about something called Classical Conditioning (and the scientist Ivan Pavlov). You can read about it in more detail here (thanks, Wikipedia!) but in short, it’s about associations and the reactions they illicit.
Pavlov would feed dogs right after ringing a bell. Part of the normal reaction of eating is salivating (to help break down the food). It would be like: Bell ring, then get food and begin salivating. He did it enough times that one day he simply rang the bell (no food), and the dogs began to salivate anyway. Their brains had now wired together that a bell meant food, which meant they should salivate.
Knowing this, there’s a really cool productivity hack you can do if you’re trying to be more productive or more disciplined about a task. One of my many tasks of this company is sit down and write code (for our apps). It’s a difficult process because it requires that you really have a strong focus, and it requires a lot of abstract thinking at times. Writing and creating code (like any other creative process) has a lead in time that can’t be disturbed otherwise you start over at zero. Think of it as falling asleep— you gradually fall asleep and then you’re out. If you get disturbed by a loud noise, you more or less reset back to being awake and you have to start all over again.
Read MoreTo do lists are incredibly popular. If you have any doubt, just search the App Store or Product Hunt for todo apps. They’re are literally thousands and thousands of them, all promising to help you stay more organized, and be more productive. But are they actually helpful? Do they help you be more productive, or do they just force you to feel like you’re drowning in tasks, and you’ll never make any headway?
In my personal experience, there are benefits of ignoring todo lists.
Read MoreThe website, LifeHacker.com, once asked their readers to share with them the methods they use to stay productive thoughout the day. Many people responded with a variety of different answers. A few methods stood out and LifeHacker shared those on their site.
Here are 3 of those techniques explained for you.
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