13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity

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BY CELESTINE CHUA

(HTTP://WWW.LIFEHACK.ORG/ARTICLES/AUTHOR/CELESTINE) | 774 SHARES

Looking to increase your productivity? Youve come to the right article. I dont
claim to be a productivity master (I always think theres room for improvement),
but I am very passionate about increasing productivity. Im always looking for
different ways to be more productive stealing pockets of time where I can,
deprioritizing the unimportant, getting system overhauls, etc. And I love it when
I see my efforts pay off in the form of increased outputs at the end of the day.
In this article, I have selected 13 of my best productivity strategies tried,
tested and validated. If you follow all of them to a tee, I can guarantee you that
your productivity will double, triple whatever it is right now or even more. I
personally make it a point to follow these steps every day. During the days
when I dont do that, my productivity plummets. The days I do, my productivity
soars. The correlation is obvious. I have also compiled a list of the best
resources for some of the steps for your further reading.
Here they are :D

1. Set your productivity targets

Probably half of the self-help articles out there keeps telling us to set goals and
set targets. Do you know why? Its because it really works. When you set goals,
you focus your energy on the things you want to achieve. Things which you
wouldnt be achieving by default. That automatically makes you more
productive.
I do regular goal setting to maximize my output. For example, one of my goals
for the upcoming month is to write 30 articles, which is an average of 1 article a
day. These articles will include articles for my blog, The Personal Excellence
Blog, and guest articles for other large sites, including LifeHack.Org. My average
output in the past few months was only been an average of 1-2 articles per
week, so I decided to set a 30 article goal to stretch me to write a lot more than
I normally do. By virtue of just setting this goal and striving for it, Im naturally
increasing my output more than if I didnt set it.
Be clear on what exactly you want to achieve. What do you want to accomplish
for the upcoming month? What is a goal that will make you feel absolutely
exhilarated and surging with pride if you achieve it? Set that as your goal. From
there, set your weekly goals. Finally, you can set your daily goals which become
your day-to-day targets.
Further reading:
Goal Setting The WHY behind the WHAT
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/goal-setting-the-why-behind-thewhat.html)
Ten commandments of goal-setting (http://lifehacker.com/145487/tencommandments-of-goal+setting)
5 Ways to Set Your Goals in Stone
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/5-ways-to-set-your-goals-in-

(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/5-ways-to-set-your-goals-instone.html)

2. Maintain a work environment conducive to

productivity

(http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2010/04/workspace.jpg)
Does your work environment encourage you to work? Or does it distract you
more often than not? Your environment sets the stage for your work flow, so
pick the right environment to work. What is the kind of environment that
encourages you to work? This might require a bit of experimentation. After
trying out different places, I find that I work best in quiet spots where there are
minimal people around such as my room, the library, cafes and in my
neighborhood. So I only do my work at these areas.
Those of you who are employed cant exactly choose the environment to work
in. If thats the case, then modify your environment to make it conducive.
Organize your work desk (next step). Decorate it with your favorite pictures and
inspirational quotes. Put up a photo frame or two. Have your favorite mug
there. Sometimes you may not enjoy all the work you have to do, but that
doesnt mean you have to make yourself miserable. If you feel like home, you
will be more inspired to get things done.
Further Reading

Further Reading
10 Steps to a Zen-like Working Environment
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-steps-to-a-zen-like-workingenvironment.html)
Featured work environments @ Lifehacker.com
(http://lifehacker.com/tag/featured-workspace/) (Great way to get inspiration
for your work space)

3. Have an organized workspace

Having an organized work desk will undoubtedly help improve your productivity.
If you have a messy workspace, you will feel disorganized and sluggish. You
wont even feel like doing anything since its so disorganized. Whereas if you
have a nice, tidy and organized workspace, youll be inspired to get work done.
You can find your things easily rather than waste precious minutes sieving
through your pile of papers for something you saw just a while ago. If you are
self-employed like I am, its especially important to be organized and on top of
things.
I have a small work desk in my room which I make a point to keep clean and
tidy. My reports, folders and random papers are stashed into a magazine
organizer (which I got from Ikea 3 years ago for a few bucks only one of my
best investments ever). Pens and stationery are placed in the stationery
holders. I leave enough space for my laptop and a writing area on my right side.
Throughout the work days my table will get cluttered naturally, so every few
days I will do some cleaning and tidying to get things in order. Even my own
laptop is considered a part of my work desk and I use post-it notes and excel
sheets to organize my task lists. All these create an inviting space for me to
work at any time of the day.
Further Reading:

Further Reading:
How to Declutter Your Workspace
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-declutter-yourworkspace.html)
12 Tips for an Organized Desk
(http://www.productivity501.com/2007/04/12_tips_for_an_.html)
10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy
(http://lifehacker.com/software/desktop/keep-your-desk-clean-and-tidy196371.php)

4. Put first things first

Habit # 3 in Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. First Things
First refers to putting the important things first before anything else. And why
does this matter? Thats because there are 24 hours a day. There are about a
million different things we can pick to do. Some will be important things that
make a difference. The rest will be unimportant things that actually dont make
any difference at all. Out of this million things, we have to pick and choose,
otherwise well forever be drowning in work and never get anything done. Focus
on the important and deprioritize the latter.
One question I use to filter out the unimportant tasks is Will doing this make a
difference in the next 6 months? If the answer is no or a small yes, I put it
aside. If its a big yes, then I give disproportionate focus to it. Of course, we can
never give a 100% accurate assessment since we cant see the future, but we
have sufficient knowledge to give a good assessment. For example, my key
goal for this year is to develop my blog, which is an essential part of my
personal development business. When I apply that question to my list of blog
tasks, I automatically focus on tasks like (1) guest posting which lets me reach
out to significantly more readers and gains new long-term readers and
subscribers to my blog (2) writing new, quality articles to my readers and (3)

subscribers to my blog (2) writing new, quality articles to my readers and (3)
writing my book which will be a personal milestone and establish a new income
stream at the same time. Other miscellaneous tasks like checking emails,
sorting them, editing the site and reading facebook/twitter messages get
deprioritized to later parts of the day.
Further reading:
Put First Things First (Time Management Matrix)
(http://celestinechua.com/blog/put-first-things-first/)
Put First Things First (Stephen Coveys site)
(https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit3.php)
First Things First (Wiki)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Things_First_%28book%29)

5. Time box your tasks

Time boxing refers to boxing your tasks within fixed time slots. For example,
boxing task A from 9-10:30am, then task B from 10:30-1pm, then task C from 24pm. Time boxing is good because it prevents your task from dragging on and
on. Theres a saying that your work will take however long that you want it to,
and I find its very true. Ever have a project deadline where you need to burn the
midnight oil to get the work done? Most of us usually feel that we wouldnt
need to rush like that if the deadline was later on. Fact is, it doesnt matter when
the deadline is. Even if its 1 week later, 2 weeks later or 1 month later, the same
last minute rush will still take place before. We take that long to do the work
because thats the timeline we give ourselves.
Hence, time box your tasks. If you set a specific time period and strictly adhere
to it, you will find a way to get the work done. Of course, set a time that is
challenging yet achievable. If a task requires 3 hours, dont set 4 hours
because you will use up all the 4 hours. Set 3 hours preferably lesser so you

because you will use up all the 4 hours. Set 3 hours preferably lesser so you
can learn to optimize your output during the period (again, provided you
enforce the time box strongly).
Further reading:
Timeboxing (http://www.davecheong.com/2006/07/26/time-boxing-is-aneffective-getting-things-done-strategy/)
15 Time Boxing Strategies to Get Things Done (http://litemind.com/timeboxing/)
Of course, it may be hard for the neurotic perfectionists among us to limit the
time spent, because thatll result in a compromise in quality. That goes to our
next principle, which is

6. Use the 80/20 rule

80/20 refers to the phenomenon where 80% of the outputs is brought about by
20% of efforts. The remaining 20% of the output can only be achieved by
putting in 80% effort.
So lets say you have a report due, and to produce the absolute best report you
are capable of, you need about 100 hours. 80/20 rule says that you can get
80% of the quality in by spending 20 hours (20% of 100 hours). On the other
hand, the finishing touches to boost this report from a 80% to 100% quality
requires you to spend 80 hours (80% of the time). From effectiveness
standpoint, that doesnt cut it at all. 80/20 rule tells us to just get the 80%

standpoint, that doesnt cut it at all. 80/20 rule tells us to just get the 80%
quality in and chuck the remaining 20% since the time needed doesnt justify
the increment in value we get.
Hence, by the 80/20 rule, we have to learn to let go of the nitty gritty. Forget the
little details that no one but you notices. You can keep revising something to
perfection, but that time is probably better spent working on a whole new task.
The key is to focus your energy on producing the 80% of every thing you do
which is also the 80% that matters. Draw a mental cut off limit and let go of
everything that lies outside of the limit.
Further reading:
Achieve More With Less In Life Using 80/20 Principle
(http://celestinechua.com/blog/achieve-more-with-less-in-life-using-80-20principle/) (3-part series)
20 Ways To Apply the 80/20 Rule Into Your Life
(http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/06/05/twenty-unique-ways-to-usethe-8020-rule-today/)
The Top 4 Misapplications of the 80/20 Rule
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-top-4-misapplications-of-the8020-rule.html)

7. Have a separate list for incoming tasks

If youre like me, you are going to get a whole streaming list of random,
miscellaneous tasks to do throughout the whole work day. I used to give
attention to these things when they come immediately. Say extra task # 1
comes in now, Ill do it immediately since it takes just 5-10 minutes. This is the
same for extra task # 2, #3. all the way to #15. After a while, I realized these
things take a lot of my time and I dont even get any meaningful result out of
them. Not only that, I never get to finish my real work for the day because Im
so busy with the random stuff. I may think Im being very productive when I
finish them, but truth is its just fake productivity.
So nowadays, I just use a separate list for these urgent tasks. I dump all the
incoming tasks into the list and focus on my daily goals list. Then at the end of
the day, I allocate a time slot to clear these tasks. I batch the similar urgent
tasks, then clear them at one go. Turns out Im always able to get them cleared
less than an hour, compared to the few hours Id have taken if I attended to
them in the day.

8. Upgrade your skills

Our limitations in output come from limitations in our own skill level. Upgrade
your skills and you will increase your output. Its like updating our computer
software with newer versions so we can create more. Our skillsets are our tools
that help us create. We need better tools to create better materials.
For example, now that I want to write an average of a new article a day, I need
to learn to maintain/increase the same quality of writing as before, while writing
in lesser time. In preparation of that, Im reading more A-List personal
development blogs (to be more in-tuned with A-list writings) and writing blogs
like Copyblogger (http://www.copyblogger.com/) and Write To Done
(http://writetodone.com/) to pick up writing techniques/skills. These will
undoubtedly help me to write faster.

undoubtedly help me to write faster.

What key skills do you use in your work? How can you upgrade them to
become more productive?

9. Know your motivation triggers

You know how there are times when we are really inspired to work, where other
times well feel like a total sloth? Its normal. The sloth-like times come when we
lose touch with our inner muse. If you are aware of your motivational triggers,
you can connect with them and jumpstart your productivity.
For example, Im usually inspired to work on my blog, and I find Im even more
inspired knowing I have a target to achieve (such as achieving X subscribers by
the month), or when theres (friendly) competition (benchmarking my traffic
against larger personal development blogs), or when theres a cause bigger
than me (recognizing that there are many people out there who stand to gain
from my articles). When I sieve out these triggers and integrate them with my
daily life such as subscribing to the feed of those A-list blogs, having open
communication channels with my readers (comments area, facebook, twitter,
email) and talking to fellow bloggers, my momentum increases dramatically. It
becomes an upward spiral that reinforces itself.
How about you? What are your motivational triggers? When were the times
when you felt inspired? How can you integrate these triggers into your daily life
to reinforce your motivation? Doing this will definitely boost up your
productivity.

10. Utilize time pockets

The time pockets refers to the little pockets of time you have in between one
event to the next. Time pockets usually appear during waiting / traveling times,
such as waiting for buses / trains, commuting, waiting for appointments to

start, etc. Have some ready activities to be done during the time pockets. You
will be amazed at how much can be done in just a short amount of time. Some
activities I do include listening to self help podcasts and typing my articles on
my laptop. Usually I make sure I get a seat on the bus by taking the earlier
buses. In a 40-minute journey, I can get about 20% of my articles typed in a 40
minute bus journey, or about 400~500 words. Thats a good amount of work
done compared to if I just slept on the trip.
Further reading:
How to Make Good Use of Time Pockets
(http://www.dumblittleman.com/2010/04/how-to-make-good-use-of-timepockets.html)

11. Hold yourself accountable to your targets

Progress tracking is essential to know how you are doing. We can be frantically
working to up our productivity but if we know theres no accountability, at some
point were going to slow down. I have a weekly review with myself every
Saturday morning, where I review my progress in my goals the week before. If I
met my goals, I give myself a big hug and pat on the back. If I didnt, I
understand what went wrong. Then from there, I plan out my action plan for the
next week to achieve next weeks goals. These weekly goals ladder up to the
monthly goals at the end of the month, where I do a monthly review.
Further reading:
How To Achieve Your Goals With Success: Review
(http://celestinechua.com/blog/goal-achievement-review/)
Building the Weekly Review Habit
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/gtd-refresh-part-5-building-theweekly-review-habit.html)

Review Your Goals Weekly (http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/review-your-goalsweekly/)

12 Ways to Upgrade Your Weekly Review
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/12-ways-to-upgrade-your-weeklyreview.html)

12. Wake up early

This may be specific to individuals, but Ill just share this as its true for me.
Waking up early really does make me work faster and better. Personally I dont
think theres any scientific rationale behind waking up early and being more
productive. I think its more of a psychological feel-good factor Since you are
up before 99.99% of the world, you want to maintain the lead, so that spurs you
on to work fast. When you work fast, you finish more things, and that motivates
you to maintain the lead and do even more stuff.
Another reason why waking up early helps is because the quietness in the
morning is a conducive environment to get more done. I love being up early
(5am) and hearing absolutely nothing in my neighborhood. The birds have not
even broken into song yet, cars are not on the road and my family isnt up
either. Perfect time to get things done.
Further Reading:

Productivity Boost: How to start your day at 5:00 AM

(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/productivity-boost-how-to-startyour-day-at-500-am.html)
How to Become an Early Riser
(http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/)
(http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/)21
Tips To Wake Up Early (http://celestinechua.com/blog/21-tips-to-wake-upearly/)
Create a Morning Writing Ritual
(http://freelanceswitch.com/productivity/create-a-morning-writing-ritual/)

13. Remember To Rest

We are not machines or robots. We cant sustain the same output endlessly
without rest. When the time comes, we need to rest/sleep to recover our
energy, so we can continue on the next day. Remember, its about quality of
work produced, not quantity of hours spent. I find that when I choose to
continue on when Im tired, Im still able to produce stuff, but at a dismal pace.
When I get my rest though, I can get a lot more done, even though the total
number of hours spent is actually lesser.
Further Reading:
How To Get The Rest You Need (http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/How-toGet-the-Rest-You-Need)
The Importance of Scheduling Downtime
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/the-importance-of-schedulingdowntime.html)
Let me know how these 13 strategies work for you. If you have other
productivity principles, Ill love to hear them too. Ill be happy to discuss them in

the comments area.

Images: rberteig (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rberteig/), aheram
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/aheram/409863531/sizes/m/), danseprofane
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/danseprofane/)

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