Supercharge Yourself to Achieve Five Years Worth of Output in Just One

Rising from the ranks with its fashionable brothers and sisters, think blockchain, 5G, AI, and autonomous driving, remote work trends springing from modernization has posed an over-looming threat to the holy tradition of traditional office jobs. COVID-19, like it or not, forced supplicants of face-to-face interaction in the workplace to sit their butts in pajamas behind a screen. But once the ills of coronavirus pass, the new working style may remain for many for practical or economic reasons. This extra level of autonomy in deciding one’s waking times and work schedule could be like playing with fire, if not exercised with caution.

Here are some very actionable steps you can take to maximize your productivity, because the exponential effect of a few extra work hours a day will take you light years ahead.

1. 60/10 rule

Break up your work and productivity sprints into bite-sized 60-minute chunks, and take a 10-minute break in between each round. Your brain is like a muscle, and you want to avoid getting burnt out.

2. Pinpoint the time-eating culprits

Go into your phone settings, click on battery usage and see how many hours you are spending on each app every day. Is the yield really worth the time investment? If not, delete them from your phone and see how much better you can fare by allocating the time to something that is.

3. Tackle 2-minute tasks like a pro

Check off any task that takes 2 minutes or less. A task is a task, regardless of how small. For such a small investment, decluttering an extra to-do is so worth it!

4. The 90/90/1 rule

A complement to the 80/20 rule, first identify your MOST propitious goal, vision, or project. If you need help, draw out an Eisenhower matrix to narrow down your options. For the next three months, focus on it for an hour and a half daily. Write a note in your calendar three months from now to pat yourself on the back for how far you have come.

6. What will the title of your biography be?

Define your strengths, your weaknesses, your personal vision, and the action items to make an impact that nobody else can duplicate, because only you are the best version of yourself. Then, with the reminders app on your phone, post-its, whiteboard, or goal-setting apps like GoalMogul, actively monitor what your short term and long term items are. If you are more technical, you can even put on your project manager hat and use a Gantt planner to do this. Microsoft Excel has one that’s built-in. Read up on the GTD Method, by David Allen, which goes over in greater detail how to structure your “in” list, the “next actions” list, the “waiting for” list, and the “someday maybe” list.

7. Wake up early

This can mean a different time for everyone. Pick a time that allows you to get in a quick morning jog or meditation and a well-devised morning routine, instead of sulking over the fact that half the waking day has passed under the covers. Set an x hours earlier alarm at that time to be recurring daily for the next week, and go to bed x hours earlier as well.

8. The world is your oyster. Make use of those shiny technology pearls

- Schedule meetings without back and forth email chains with tools like Calendly.

- Use task automation tools like Zapierso that you don’t need to repeat the same repetitive work flows each time you need to follow-up on a meeting or send out an invite.

- Use templates when emailing. HubSpot, for example, does a great job at making custom templates seamless.

9. Get better at saying no

Don’t get me wrong, opportunities can be lurking in the most unexpected of places but you need laser-sharp focus to take what you have defined as your priorities to greater heights. Out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. Does the opportunity fall in line with everything else that you’re doing? Or perhaps even outshine what you have on hand? How much commitment does it require? Weigh whether it’s worth acting upon, now, or later than the road.

10.Outsource

Create standard operating procedures for a lot of your work-related processes and outsource what you can. This can mean a myriad of things- hiring a remote contractor or team, finding a virtual secretary, hiring a secretary, or delegating to someone who specializes in this on your team.

Define what your strengths are, and recognize the opportunity cost in doing what isn’t. Again, resources like Fiverror Upworkare shiny pearls at your disposal.

11. Curate your circle of inspiration

Behavioral contagion is a powerful social phenomenon. You are an artist who can paint positive nurturing people into your inner sphere. Find people who coincide with the same industries, hobbies, and pursuits as you. Consider them as life study buddies, to mutually motivate and inspire. As aptly put by Mike Cheng, the founder of GoalMogul, “the so-called journey to the top can be a lonely path for many business owners. It’s important for solopreneurs to surround themselves with like-minded personal development enthusiasts so that the journey becomes more fulfilling.” No one likes the feeling of being alone at the top when they get there. The way to avoid that is by joining a mastermind group that allows you to be real, raw, and authentic about your challenges and successes.

12. Meditation

If you haven’t been doing so already, fear not, meditation is not a mystical art for those born with the innate ability to do so. You can go on YouTube and follow along to a guided meditation recording, or download a meditation app like Headspaceor Simple Habit. Just pick a recording and listen along for just half or hour or less, to declutter your mind. Not to mention, meditating is phenomenal for health and helps relieve stress, anxiety, and insomnia.

13. Don’t take life so seriously

At first glance, this line seems out of place for a post all about productivity. But if you take a step back and soak in the fact that in the grand scheme of things, our journey on earth is a short one, you can cut yourself some slack. Don’t be afraid of tackling new endeavors for the sake of failing or meeting new people for the fear of rejection. Like an armored warrior, keep on building your weaponry — your knowledge, social capital, and abilities — to tackle your life roadmap with finesse and don’t look back. Take on challenges with an emphasis on the upside. While you cannot time when the opportunities come to you, you can be prepared for them when they do come.

On that note, hope you took away something to achieve more than you ever thought possible at the comfort of your PJs and slippers.