Getting Things Done: 7 Smart Hacks for Maximizing Productivity

Ever felt like you haven’t accomplished much while going back home after spending 9 hours at work?

Like you could have done a little more? Maybe a few more tasks, researched a little longer, answered more emails or just did more work.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or team member, I'm sure it's relatable to everyone. Let me tell you that you can achieve much more just by tweaking your habits a little bit. Below are some productivity hacks that can transform you into a super-productive human machine.

Let’s take a look at them:

1. Eat the biggest frog first

I am not talking about real frogs. Here, a frog is the biggest and most important task in your to-do list. Instead of hopping from one task to another, spot 2-3 frogs every day and eat the biggest one as the first thing in the morning to maximize your productivity.

2. Pomodoro technique

I’m sure you must have read or at least heard about this popular productivity hack. It suggests you to work for 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break. These intervals are known as pomodoros. You can take a 20-25 minute break after you’ve completed four or more pomodoros.

It has made things much easier for me, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who’s struggling to stay productive or manage multiple things at once.

3. Time-slot every task

One of the most daunting tasks while working is to follow a deadline and stick to it. Whether you like it or not, self-imposed deadlines can do wonders to boost your productivity. Whenever you’ve got some tasks to do, assign a tentative deadline to each task. Use your discretion to know how much time is required to complete a certain task, assign the deadline to yourself, and get going.

4. Take small breaks

It might seem counterintuitive but breaks play a huge role in determining your daily productivity. Usually, breaks are a small cessation of work or from some physical activity with an intention to get back to them after a reasonable amount of time.

Benefits of breaks at work:

• Prevents decision fatigue
• Restores energy, motivation, and focus
• Improves creativity
• Improves physical and emotional health

5. Drink more water than coffee

Since childhood we’ve been told to drink enough water and keep the body hydrated. Why? Because dehydration silently kills your productivity and efficiency levels without you even knowing about it. Incessant headaches, back pain, giddy eyes are all due to water deficiency in your body.

A well-hydrated body results in optimized energy levels, toxic elimination, body temperature regulation, optimum digestion, and better mood. There are tonnes of free apps out there that remind you to stay hydrated such as Daily Water, iDrated, or Waterlogged.

6. Listen to music

Listening to the right music is a surefire way to stay upbeat and focused at work for many (including myself). With so much of work being done on computers, music has made doing repetitive tasks easier for us.

Even studies explain that positive music improves your mood drastically leading to a huge bump in your productivity levels. Instead of deep bass, heavy-metal, prefer mellow sounds or ambient music to engage in deep work and focus better.

7. Block out all distractions

It’s the hardest one in this list. Just like you, it’s a constant struggle for me as well to not look at my smartphone whenever a notification pops up. Once you’ve learned how to block these distractions, the rewards will be many.

For all those distracted adults, I recommend you to either hide or block all the distracting websites and apps that eat up your time. Or, at the very least, put your phone on the Silent profile while working on important tasks. 

Over to you

These are some of my favorite productivity hacks I use to get things done. Now is your turn to share how you guys stay on the top of your game and super-productive at office.

Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Author bio:

Ojus Sharma is the CEO and Co-founder of Applify 一 an award winning app development organization. He is an entrepreneur, a strategist, design enthusiast, blogger, and an app geek. Already a contributor at AppFutura, he likes to write about leadership, entrepreneurship, productivity, and office-inspired situations. Connect with Ojus on LinkedIn, Medium, and Twitter.