Our Top 10 Simple, Actionable Productivity Tools & Habits

2020 has pushed us to adjust to a new normal in more ways than one. Whether you’ve found yourself working from home, or not, you may be noticing your efficiency slipping to the wayside. Never fear! Here are our top productivity hacks to keep you focused and firing on all cylinders.

1. Keep Your Password Game on Point.

Trying multiple password combinations when you can't remember your login details is a time-sucking vampire. Check out LastPass or 1Password to never find yourself in that position again.

2. Be the Master of Your Inbox.

Set dedicated times throughout the day to respond to emails rather than dipping in and out, drawing your attention away from your most important tasks. If the number of emails you receive each day is simply frightening visit Unroll.me to combine all of your subscriptions into one digestible email or let unroll me delete those you don’t want.

3. Streamline Your To-Do List.

Gone are the days of constantly rewriting your to-do list. Check out ToDoist or Trello for sync-able list-making and priority scheduling. You'll never miss a beat with their deadline alerts. Simple and very helpful.

4. Block and Move On.

Block the sites you know you procrastinate on. SelfControl is a free app that allows you to do this. For more awareness of the sites that chew up your time head over to Harvest, a browser extension that will provide you with a report of where you are spending most of your time online.

If you often find yourself with phone in hand, scrolling through social media asking yourself 'how did I get here?' it can be a good idea to place your phone out of sight or pop it on aeroplane mode when you're working on something that needs your full focus. Or to make the lure of your phone less appealing consider turning the screen colour to grayscale. Check out this article on how to implement grayscale on an iPhone. It seems simple, but surprisingly makes cruising social media much less addictive!

5. Avoid the Back and Forth.

Consider coercing your colleagues into using a scheduling tool like Calendly to book your meetings, avoiding the tedious back and forth emails trying to find a suitable time for all.

6. Elevate Your Written Word.

Struggling to get your words together at the end of a long day? Grammarly is a great online writing assistant that will help you get words on the page at speed via its spelling and grammar checking, and context-based phrasing suggestions. 

7. Calm Your Mind

Your brain needs time to rest and rejuvenate throughout the day to allow your performance to stay at its peak. Be sure to schedule in time to step away from your desk or try tacking on a 10-minute meditation to the end of your lunch break. Not sure if meditation is your thing? Check out Calm or 1 Giant Mind which are both great meditation apps for beginners.

8. Make Your Mornings Work for You.

We’ve all had those mornings where we roll out of bed late, haphazardly get ready, stumbling to our desk, feeling like the day has gotten away before it's even started. Arranging your morning to give yourself enough time to do whatever it is for you to feel in control like exercising, meditating, or preparing a healthy breakfast, can see you sitting down to work with a clear mind and ready to meet the day head-on.

9. Tackle Your Hardest Task First.

Rather than skirting around that call you've been putting off, or the proposal you're not sure how to start, dive in first thing. Getting it done will leave you with a small feeling of accomplishment, making the tasks to follow feel easier, and before you know it the 'success momentum' has carried you through your day.

10. A Good Day Starts the Night Before.

At the end of your workday have an idea of what you plan to achieve the following day, and list it out in priority order setting yourself up to hit the ground running.

For bonus points and an extra fresh morning, know what time you'd like to go to bed for a good night's rest so you can power down before Netflix slides seductively from one episode of your favourite series to the next.

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