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
Morning run. Afterwards, doing the single hardest task of the day (like an email, post, etc).
All before 6am.
That basically pushes me through the rest of my day.
Productivity pumped massively since I follow this rule.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@bencrypto__23 before 6 AM? :D when do you wake up? :D
@busmark_w_nika 4:30.
It's the only way to make this work with kids.
Because between 6-6:30am the chaos unfolds when three children wake up ;)
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@bencrypto__23 I am afraid of having kids now even more :D
@busmark_w_nika Well...sounded negative. In fact, one of the biggest fears I had when we planned to have kids was that i couldn't work as much as before.
And this is true.
But if there's one thing kids drive it is focus.
Ok, that nap will take ~1 hour — let's get that newsletter out.
Or...they'll wake up at 7 — let's get this things done before.
For me, kids helped me to cut the noise. To focus on what matters. To do the real work.
I may work less in terms of hours. But I am 100% more productive.
@bencrypto__23 This resonates. I've noticed the hardest task of the day takes up way more mental space than actual time. The longer you push it, the heavier it gets. Getting it done first clears everything else.
@susanne_ertl 100%
For me, it doesn't have to be a big task. Most often it is a 5-10 min task.
That one email.
That one DM.
That one post.
But I really fell in love with that feeling "work out done, hardest task done — this day is already a success."
@bencrypto__23 I'll take it you don't get mentally tired after a workout... Lol!
@blakeskrable really depends on the music and the task imho. calm, minimalistic, zen-inspired music def pushes my creativity. and on the other side, i like heavy motivational music for pushing out social media stuff.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@blakeskrable What about listening to podcasts while exercising or walking outside? Is it better? :)
Nice setup, especially the focus on environment and reducing distractions. One thing that helped me a lot is designing workflows instead of relying only on habits. When tasks are already structured from idea → execution → distribution, it reduces decision fatigue.
I’ve seen this while working on automation workflows at Turgo, where even small repetitive tasks become easier once they’re part of a system rather than something you think about each time.
Feels like productivity is less about doing more and more about removing friction between steps.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@jahnavi_thota if this can save a lot of time, I should consider this approach :)
@busmark_w_nika It definitely helps. Once repetitive tasks become part of a system, you spend less energy deciding what to do next and can focus more on the actual work.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@f_dompreh I do the same with exercising, especially to break my work routine :)
The most important thing for me is having that workout time to cler my head and really think about how my day is going to be organized. For me the day starts at 2:30 am most days and about an hour or so at the gym. Once I'm home I spend time organizing my work day, starting with projects that are personal. So any learning journeys, platform development or feature ads. I then, about a half hour before my day job, take a look at the tasks I have in que and organize them by priority and speed of completion. I also make sure I'm prepared for the days meetings.
After the work day, around 5, I gear up for my side projects for another 3 hours and then I crash out and do it all again the next day. Saturdays you would think are longer days but I mainly use Saturday for education and reflection, also family time.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@robert_lee_dixon When do you go to bed? :D When you wake up at 2:30? :D
ProdShort
We struggled a lot with productivity. What actually worked for us was weekly sprint planning. On Mondays: all tasks are ready, scored (based on the estimated time needed), and we set a clear objectif for the week. Then we have daily calls where each team member answers 2 simple questions (about 2-3mins each):
What did you do yesterday?
What are you doing today?
The hack here is accountability. When you tell the team what you are going to do, it becomes harder to show up the next day without having done it. Everyone is kind of "tracking everyone", in a good way. For us, this was a real game changer.
We also started using this outside the team (accountability as service :D), with founders and entrepreneurs who struggle with productivity. And honestly, the feedback has been great. People feel more focused, more accountable, and they actually get things done. Join us for a 1 week, and give us your feedback about it 😂
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@amraniyasser Have weekly standups the same way, it doesn't take more than 10 minutes. But anyway... I think that calls are able to disrupt your whole day :D
ProdShort
@busmark_w_nika Sometimes it can turn into longer discussions 😂 , but they are usually very interesting !! That’s why we added a "time limit": maximum 3 minutes per person
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@amraniyasser 3 is too much even for me :D
ProdShort
@busmark_w_nika Nika + calls = 404 error ⛔️
Cold shower in the morning even 30 seconds - I know no one would want to try it but it really does help,
Make your bed - atomic habits if ykyk,
I use a habit tracking app on my phone which encourages me to do more as I don't like breaking a long streak,
I write down one task I want to do without fail the next day on a post it note, pay a parking fine or anything really and I have to do it no matter what,
Working out definitely helps
Great thread!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@minhajulll what is the benefit of a cold shower? I think it would cause some kind of shock to me :D
@busmark_w_nika That's what it's supposed to do XD - It's like an immediate boost in alertness and energy
I cannot put the phone away, because I need the 2FA app for logging in to various services now and then :D Besides that, I don't need my phone during the day, because I have all the same things in my laptop, so I don't need another device for procrastinating, hahaha.
Speaking of the productivity tricks - I don't have any specific productivity tricks except maybe listening to music when I need to focus on a task that requires a bit more time (let's say more than 1-2h). I like listening to electronic or rock music and I think that it's somehow helping me - with a caveat: sometimes I feel that I need just silence :)
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@sk_uxpin Nice point :D maybe it is a hint to give up smartphones and various accounts completely :D (but if you set it up for your bank account... that's a problem) :D
@busmark_w_nika yeah, giving up smartphones and going to live in the forest:D
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@sk_uxpin But we need wi-fi for our work. :D
@busmark_w_nika exactly my point - that's impossible :D
Tabstack
definitely @Raycast.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@fmerian you are a huge advocate for it. Almost like Chris! :D :) But that shows it is a good product
Flavored Resume
I keep it old school, I'm a paper and pencil fan. I write down a list of tasks I'd like to accomplish for the week. It gets the noise out of my head and clearly organized in front of me. I try to keep to the list and not just keep adding more unless it's an unexpected urgency or I can cancel some items.
When it comes to eating, do it away from your work. Food tastes better (I'm convinced) and it gives your brain time to rest and collect.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@edward_g When you mentioned eating, it reminded me of how we used to eat while working. Strange feeling, and weird 🥲
Flavored Resume
@busmark_w_nika I know I've been guilty of it too often!