For years I’ve been scanning the internet for different ways to increase my productivity. As an author, there is never enough time to do everything you want. When I became a mom, I was even more desperate to get not just more done, but anything done. I became desperate to any new nugget I could find to improve my productivity. But a lot of what I heard was the same advice over and over. The same recycled ideas. So I decided to start trying some untraditional things, just to see if they worked. And a few did.
Here is a list of some of the habits I’ve been using to make myself more productive, that are either unconventional, or are in direct opposition to most traditional productivity advice, but worked for me. Maybe they will work for you too.
Do what you want. Sounds good right. But I have some reasoning behind this, I promise.
All of us constantly have a running to do list in our minds. Some things that need to be dealt with immediately, like make dinner, and bigger tasks like reorganizing the kitchen, or writing a novel. Each one of those little activities nipping at us like a dog, demanding attention, stealing our focus.
When I have one of those particular to dos talking to me more than any others, that’s the one I do. Even if its not my number one priority. Even if it doesn’t need to be completed for months. If it is being too loud, I know it will be easier just to do it now, and silence that voice rather than spend the next hours, days, or even weeks wasting precious energy and focus to ignore it.
I also think this leads to the best result as well. Sure, maybe I don’t need to write my May newsletter right now, but if I have something I really want to talk about, I think it will be a better newsletter in the end if I write it now, when I’m passionate about the topic. Rather than trying to strain my mind to come up with something the day before it has to go out.
Is it possible I would be further ahead in my revising right now, if I stuck to just want needed to immediately be done, instead of getting next month’s newsletter done ahead of time. Maybe. But I don’t think I’ll be unhappy when I don’t have to worry about my newsletter in May, and can instead spend that time revising. It's even possible I am further along in my writing because I do these activities ahead of time, since I’m not using an excess energy trying to ignore any of these to dos in favor of revising.
This definitely isn’t something you can apply across the board. Sometimes you have to do what’s right in front of you, regardless of your passion for it. Your kids can’t wait until tomorrow to eat dinner because you got the idea for a blog today. But you’d be surprised how just even jotting down notes about an idea that is pestering you can free up your energy and make you more productive than before.
Tackle the small things first. I’ve heard many productivity experts encourage people to do the hardest job on their list first. After that, everything else will seem easy. But that assumes that you have time to tackle anything else. Sometimes you just don’t. Instead I try to tackle the small things first. If there is something on my to do list that can be accomplished in fifteen minutes or less, I do it now. Period.
This helps me in two ways. One, I get more done. Sure, it's more of the little stuff. But it's still two things (or possibly more) coming off my list in that time instead of one. Especially since sometimes I just don’t know how much time I have. When your schedule is dictated by a toddler, you have to be prepared to finish what you are doing quickly.
But this also helps me focus my energies. I know I’m not decluttering my closet this weekend. I know I’m not painting the garage. So even if my subconscious nags me to do it, I can ignore it. This limits how much I’m trying to hold in my brain, searching for my attention, thereby freeing up more brain power for me to focus on other things.
And it also helps to keep you motivated. Nothing gets me more excited to move on to the next task as crossing off the previous activity. If you can knock five or six tasks off your list, you feel unstoppable.
Scroll on your phone first thing in the morning. This is one that every productivity and self-help guru tells you not to do. But first thing in the morning, is exactly when I allow myself to scroll on my phone, because I don’t have long to do it. There is a hard stop for when I have to get off my phone. Once my son is up, unless I want to share my phone with him, it has to go away.
When I pick up my phone other times of day, like at lunch or at night, with no hard stop, I can find myself scrolling for way too long. At night, I can spend hours just watching reels of bookish memes and parenting advice. Hours I could be spending doing something else. With only a few minutes to play in the morning, I get on social media, see what what’s going on, and then I have to get off.
If looking at social media first thing in the morning bothered me, I’d stop immediately. If it caused my day to start off poorly, or put me in a funk, I would change tactics. But luckily, it doesn’t bother me too much. But the point is to find a time in the day when, due to circumstance and not an attempt at willpower, you can only be on the phone for a set period of time.
Stick it in the closet. A few years ago I stumbled upon a YouTube video that talked about the clutter in your house having a voice. Which sounded a little crazy (cue Ariana Grande Saturday Night Live sketch where she’s singing with the couch) but what the youtuber meant is that the clutter creates a voice in your head. Every time you walked past that cluttered counter, or the pile of unfolded laundry in the corner, a little voice would go off in your head saying you need to do this. Stealing a little of your energy and your focus. If you walk by in multiple times a day, that little voice could be notifying you dozens of times.
For anything that caused this reaction in me, I either solve it immediately or shove it in the closet. To keep those voices as quiet as possible. That bag of clothes to be donated but I haven’t been able to find the time to do it, stick it in the closet (car might be better, or garage, getting it one step closer to going out). That pile of unwashed or unfolded clothes, keep them in the laundry room until you’re ready to deal with them.
This may seem like an avoidance tactic, and it is. But being constantly reminded of what you aren’t doing, doesn’t help you get anything done. So for the time being, if you can’t do something, just stick it in the closet, and free yourself to do other things now, and thereby giving yourself time later to handle what you’ve tucked away.
As a side bonus, if you stick a bunch of stuff it in the closet, and find you don’t need it for months, or even years, that might be decluttering all on its own. Now you know you don’t need it, and you can just throw it away. No sorting necessary.
Keep changing the system. A lot of productivity gurus make it sound like if you start their system, all your productivity problems will be solved. You’ll get everything done on your to do list and have time to spare. And maybe that does work for them. And many others. But I have never found a productivity system that solved all my problems.
Instead, what I have found is most successful is to keep changing the system. Some months I’m making to do lists in journals, next few months I might be using a paper planner, the month after that I’m making excel spreadsheets full of plans.
No matter how good the system is, after a while I always grow bored with it. I’ll find issues with it accommodating my lifestyle. Or I become overtaxed by it. And when that happens, I change it.
Switching up my system not only reinvigorates my interest in my goals, but it also brings them back to front of mind. Whenever I change systems, I usually have to spend a few hours resetting everything. Refill out trackers, and replan weeks. That gives me time to think about what I want. About what I need. And why these goals matter to me. Which only makes me want to achieve them more.
By no means am I saying throw out a system that works for you. If seeing your goals splayed out before you in your office keeps them top of mind, then continue to do that. But maybe you can change up how you display them, what you display. Maybe you show the end results of reaching your goals, like a big new house, instead of a written out list. Keep switching up what you do, until you find something that works for you, and when it stops working, don’t be afraid to change it again.
These are just a few of my productivity hacks that are rather untraditional compared to traditional advice, but have worked for me. Do you have any productivity hacks that you love and want to share? Anything you do that seems a little unusual or unconventional but works? Leave it the comments below. I’d love to find some great new ideas to try.
