What are your top productivity habits?

Question

How do you manage your daily productivity while building your projects.

Here are the top 3 things I'm doing at the moment.

1. Master list

This is my daily todo list that I fill out the night before with tasks from my projects. This way in the morning I'm in execution mode and I get to work without making decisions on what to do first. I split my tasks into Urgent, Important and Extra.

2. Pomodoro cycles

Some people like Pomodoros others like time blocking but it's a similar concept, concentrating on one task for a set period of time. Before starting my cycle I answer a few questions about the task I'm about to begin like:

-What is the first step to get started
- Possible blockers and how to handle them

3. End of day productivity journal

At the end of the day I like to log my daily levels of productivity, mood and energy. I also try to write the reason for it and then review these at the end of the week.

(These three are part of the core modules at LifeHQ)

What are your top 3 productivity hacks?

Ryan Hoover · Accepted Answer

Routines are very powerful. I like consistency and tend to do the same things every day.

My mornings:

- Wake up at 5:20am
- Quickly shower and head to Philz at 5:45am to work for a few hours
- Head to the office at 7:30am
- Leave the office to the gym around 2pm
- After the gym head home and WFH the rest of the afternoon/evening
- In bed around 9pm

Kyle Richey · Answer

@darko_kolev My top productivity habits are:

1. Get at least 7.5 hours of sleep per night for optimal energy.
2. Intermittent fasting to reduce cravings and avoid the "2:30 feeling".
3. Weight lifting and high-intensity interval training 5-6x per week.
4. Journal at the end of each day to reflect and keep improving.
5. Track all of my goals and habits to stay on top of what matters most.

Abdullah Al Mallak · Answer

@darko_kolev Morning rituals I'd say; Meditate, Gratitude, Journal and read and learn something new every single morning.

Jane Sorensen · Answer

@darko_kolev The first thing I would have to say is Don't Take On Too Much because it's a recipe for frustration and decision-spinning. The amount of work a single project requires can sometimes be mind-boggling and if you're starting from scratch and learning as you go, a lot of effort goes unrewarded until it becomes a matter-of-course.

If I find I'm having an unfocused day, I'll use a Pomodoro session or two to get down to work. Stating intentions also really works - sometimes visiting Momentum Dash and putting in my big focus goal (which usually looks like​ "30 email 5 sublet ads publicize blog post drop X off at Y's go running") in the morning means I get all those things done. Definitely if I hit the 2 pm "I need a nap" slump (only 10-15 min long, but naps really work) I state my intention "when I get up, I'm going to do this," and I always do.

I got way too caught up in Productivity Porn for a long time and yet was dissatisfied​ with the documentia (recording too much to no real benefit). Also, the tools to match my habits were either too blank or too advising, which is another subtle source of pressure. So I created my own agenda template because I really do find when you write shit down, it eventually gets done, and you process your thoughts and keep better memories. I created The Tactical Chronograph which is a monthly agenda, downloadable and printable. (You can see it at my site, projectica.org, and on my FB page.) I don't use it every day, but I catch it all up 3-4 times a week.

I haven't released it on ProductHunt, but I did release its companion planner, https://www.producthunt.com/posts/life-s-battle-plan - basically for people at a crossroads or at a stage where they want to collect and strategize major endeavours in their life. We each just need to figure out a few hacks that are me-specific and also use the ones that really are good advice for everyone - such as writing things down, marking the passage of time, and make it a habit, but not an obsession.

Alina Vandenberghe · Answer

@darko_kolev I wrote about all my hacks in my blog post on how I spend my day https://gipsybot.com/a-typical-day-in-the-life-of-alina-vandenberghe-gipsybot-ceo/

Gianfranco · Answer

@darko_kolev I also have a "Master list" but without splitting them by importance. I use Google Keep.

I also use the Pomodoro technique but like your idea of being explicit about what's the goal of the current task in that cycle. I often catch myself refactoring code that's unlikely to be kept for a long time or that simply works fine and there's no need to improve it by 1-5%

I also keep a journal. It's called 5 min journal which I took the headings after learning it from Tim Ferriss [1]

My routine looks a bit like this:
- wake up and do some stretching
- make a cup of tea
- read 5/10 minutes some sort of Spiritual/Stoic short quotes/pages. At the moment I'm reading 'The Daily Stoic Book' by Ryan Holiday.
- get ready for work (make the bed, change clothes, etc.) even when working from home
- write the first part of the 5-min journal
(all the above takes about an hour)
- start working

in the evening:
- turn off lights/reduce light after dinner
- watch Netflix or do something relaxing like reading a book
- go to sleep early-ish, like 11 pm

To keep things balanced throughout the week I also:
- walk to work, it takes 30/40 mins each way.
- go to the gym once or twice a week
- run once or twice a week

An old blog post of mine about the topic: https://medium.com/@gianpaj/how-to-stay-focused-and-productive-when-you-are-your-own-boss-4478471ec001

[1] - https://miriamballesteros.com/career-development/the-five-minute-journal-review

Darko Kolev · Answer

@gianpaj You have a nice holistic framework.
I do a similar thing in the morning but I also try to squeeze in a 15 min morning walk around my building, cos I work from home.

Darko Kolev · Answer

@imakestrides Those are a great mix.
The first three increase your productivity capacity.
The last two for making sure you're moving in the right direction.

Anwar Ben · Answer

Successful people (like you Ryan) tend to concentrate on the beginnings of things and give their best on them. Their endings will clearly have good results. In the arab culture (in its golden age) there is a saying, the one that has a burning start, will have a shining end.

Alina Vandenberghe · Answer

@imakestrides it sounds like you have similar habits to mine. I would love to have you as a beta tester for GipsyBOt (www.gipsybot.com) for I had built a productivity tool that allows me to track whether or not I meet my goals (and all the others stuff that come with being a co-founder/CEO) . Let me know

Alina Vandenberghe · Answer

@darko_kolev everyone around me thinks I'm nuts :D. Especially when i was pregnant

leogdion · Answer

@darko_kolev We talked about this on our episode where @eriklgillespie gave his top 3 disciplines: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/ok-productive-6-top-disciplines-episode

TLDR;
1) Check Ins, Masterminds, Feedback, etc...
2) Waking Up
3) Restricting Availability to Distractions

We also listen our #1 thing we've found helpful recently. Mine was writing things down and not getting distracted by new ideas: 
https://www.producthunt.com/posts/ok-productive-15-the-one-big-thing

vishnu raghunathan · Answer

@darko_kolev 1. Clarity of thought with respect to what i want to achieve next day. 2. Increasing my mental stamina by reading. 3. Taking a short nap when i feel drained.

Darko Kolev · Answer

@janerette Thanks for the elaborate response. I also got fed up with the regular productivity apps. It always took me 3 or 4 apps to record everything the way I want and of course I wasn't consistent with any of them.
That's how I started on this personal productivity quest and that is how LifeHQ was developed. It's an all-in-one life-management app that helps me work better but also reflect on my goals and make sure I"m working on the right things, it's here: https://lifehqapp.com

Darko Kolev · Answer

Hey @alinutzav Respect for the 1 meal per day. I'm trying to get consistent with that one.

What are your top productivity habits?

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