What are your best productivity hacks that worked for you?
I like working (a lot of working), but sometimes I struggle with my time.
Understand that I am not able to manage/fit everything that I wanted to do in my schedule.
So I had to "re-organise" some activities and was able to learn something or make myself productive.
It includes:
Exercising right after waking up (the first round of exercising, because I train 3 times)
Reading a book afterwards (a chapter/or learning new things from a text book/ work book)
Having the things I want to complete within my sight – if I want to exercise, I have my dumbbells nearby me
Not having a phone in sight when I read or try to do work (because I would be tempted)
Using Toggl to track my activities, so I know which items I spend the most time on
Trying to learn things from the easiest to the most difficult
What are your special tricks for productivity?
Replies
I write down "I want" and "I need" in a notebook. I cross out things that clearly won't fit in the next few months, because I'll be sleeping less. Then I enter the time I'll spend doing everything into a Google calendar. Just be honest, no lying about being able to do everything in three hours
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@julia_zakharova2 What has bigger weight? "I need?"
@busmark_w_nika "I want")))
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@voizematic What do you do with the "saved time" afterwards?
Doing the hardest things first thing in the morning has made the biggest difference for me. Once the most important task is done, the rest of the day feels lighter regardless of what else comes up.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ahana_gandhi But doesn't it take the most time? :D I mean, when it does, it can be very demotivational because most of the day is gone. :D
I’ve noticed prioritizing gets tricky when it’s not just work vs work, but work vs life.
What helps me is writing everything down first, even small things, and then deciding fresh each day what actually matters.
Some days it’s “fix a bug”, other days it’s “remember to drink water before the headache kicks in”.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@susanne_ertl Not gonna lie, I am so work work work person that I mostly forget about my healt :(
Great list, Nika. My biggest productivity hack lately has been removing "Decision Friction."
I’m building a tool for founders (RoastMyLanding), and I realized that having a "credit system" was actually a productivity killer for my users. They’d spend 20 minutes deciding if a page was "ready enough" to use a credit on, instead of just shipping the work.
I nuked the credits entirely. Now it’s Unlimited for $19.
My hack: If a process (like auditing your own design) makes you overthink, change the system so you don't have to think at all. Your email is the key, you just enter it and go.
Are you still using Toggl to track the 'thinking' time, or just the 'doing' time?
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ayeshabuilds I use Toggl for anything related to work – whether thinking or doing, because it is my time ;)
Biggest one for me: batching by context, not by priority.
When I'm building Nibble, I'm switching between frontend, backend, data pipelines, marketing, community - all in the same day sometimes. I used to organize by "what's most important." Now I organize by what mode my brain is already in.
If I'm deep in code, I knock out every code task I can before switching to writing or design. The context switch is what kills productivity, not the individual tasks.
The exception is marketing. You can't batch that the same way because traction comes from responding to people on their time, not yours. I monitor reporters and food safety accounts so I can jump into conversations while they're still happening. That has to stay interrupt-driven or you miss the window.
Another one that changed things: "one thing ships today." Not one thing gets worked on. One thing ships. It forces you to scope small enough to actually finish, and finishing something every day compounds fast.
Once the work block is done, I switch to full workout mode - an hour of cardio minimum. And like Nika mentioned, keeping dumbbells and resistance straps in eyesight is real. I'll grab them between coding sessions just to stay moving. It keeps the energy up and the bones settled for the rest of the day.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@maliikb I am happy that my community is so active in terms of sports! :D kuddos! :)
Databox
Eliminating dashboard switching. I used to lose 20-30 minutes a day just navigating between tools to answer basic performance questions. Now I just ask Claude directly and get the answer from live data in seconds. That one change freed up more focused time than any habit I've tried.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@zigapotocnik I need to learn using AI this way honestly :) For saving time.
For me, it’s protecting a few uninterrupted hours. Once the day gets too fragmented, productivity drops fast.
I try to follow the below hacks I learnt from Brian Tracy and other mentors:
I prepare a list of DATA that I have. Based on that I decide a PLAN (actionable items based on the data). From the PLAN I decide the SPRINT (usually 1-week) which is a set 3-5 tasks to be done in the next week.
I decide the KRAs (Key Result Areas) for the next day. Just chunking the sprint down to 1 day at a time.
Eat the frog (hardest task from the KRAs) first thing in the morning
Pomodoro technique - been doing it for 3-4 years, works so well for me! (The mind is not tired of work, but rather continuous work, so the 2-5 min break for every 25-30 mins makes it so much more efficient)
6-10 Pomodors in a day, based on energy level
Prepare the key result areas (KRAs) for the next day based on the SPRINT
In general, maintaining healthy dopamine level is crucial. No mindless entertainment. And also keep diet clean which helps keep the brain sharp, as judgement is more important than hardwork.
I just learnt this from people like Brian Tracy and other mentors of mine, and keeping the process systematic makes it so much more efficient to execute long term goals.
For me, the biggest productivity hack was stopping “fake work.” I was more indulged in spending hours tweaking websites, logos, or tools instead of publishing content. Now I focus on one high-impact task daily — usually writing a blog post, posting on X, or improving SEO. Small, consistent output compounds way faster than perfect planning.