5 Productivity Hacks That Worked in my 30s
Worked for me, try and see if it works for you too!
#1 Beat Parkinson’s Law
Ever been given a comfortable timeline to finish whatever task you have to do and realising that most of the work is done in the last possible stretch before the deadline?
That is Parkinson’s Law at work.
Works expands so as to fill the time available for its completion (Parkinson’s Law)
In the past, I often struggled in kickstarting projects off (writing articles included) whenever there has been no real deadline set for myself.
When I have set out the entire day to get something done, for example a few PowerPoint slides which normally takes a couple of hours, it ends up taking the whole day.
I procrastinate the start, get distracted in the middle and finally rush all the work out in the last 10% of the time.
When I give myself two hours to complete the same task, it gets completed within the same time too.
With the mental burden of an uncompleted task alleviated from my mind, the rest of my day is freed up for other matters.
How do I deal with this?
Set up a timeline. Break a larger timeline into shorter deadlines and milestones.
For example, for a project that might take 2 weeks, try to have a daily milestone and ensure that you hit them everyday.
As long as you hit your milestones, you will be consistently and progressively achieving on your larger timeline.
Try it. The momentum that you will obtain will hitting the first few milestones will carry you to completion.
Now you can say YES to the things you want to achieve or obtain in life.
#2 The 2 Minute Start
This is something that has been quite useful for me especially when it comes to household chores.
I find myself a pretty clean person but one thing that I tend to hold off doing is dishes. The dishes will go into the sink and that is also around the time when certain thoughts come in.
“Oh, the dishes have to soak for a while”
“Oh, maybe I can wash them when there are more of them”
Just excuses for me to hold off washing the dishes.
The 2 minute start is something that has become a way for me to kickstart larger routines (and along the way, also changing the poor dishwashing habits).
For example, I break down the dishwashing into the first two minutes, such as washing the cutlery. Once I start doing that, it becomes much easier to continue doing the rest of it.
For other tasks, such as taking the time to exercise and go for a run, the first 2 minutes can be as simple as putting on your running shoes and getting out of the house.
Once you do that, it becomes so much easier to continue doing the rest of it.
Holding on for the first 2 minutes can literally change your life.
#3 Cutting Down on the Booze
I spent alot of time in my 20s having loads of crazy alcohol-fueled fun with mates and basically everyone in my social circle.
In my 30s, I had an epiphany and started keeping track of how much time I had spent on alcohol-related activities. This includes: (1) time spent looking for alcohol, (2) consuming alcohol and (3) recovering from it.
Results were shocking.
My Friday nights usually consisted of (1) and (2). Saturday mornings were a washout — I was too deep in sleep to notice the world going by, the clock ticking away.
Saturday afternoons were left for (3). I would wake up and be too lethargic and groggy to do anything useful. By the time my hangover ended and I felt more energetic, it was usually by the time the sun has set.
That makes it 24 hours wasted in every week. 1/7 of my week.
Definitely not a good use of time (if i wanted to achieve anything remotely significantly in my life that is).
The heavy nights had consequences too: weight gain, declining fitness levels, poor concentration, amongst other things.
However, I consider alcohol as a great social lubricant and if consumed appropriately, can be great for having a good time, networking, etc. I am not yet convinced that I have to stay off it (at this point in time at least)
Therefore, the advice is to at least cut down on the booze, do not let it take over your days, and you will stand to benefit greatly from all the time saved.
#4 Ticking off the Daily Checklist
This was a productivity tip that I picked up from my colleague at work. The only difference is that she does her checklist on a notes application on her laptop.
For me, pen and paper works much better.
Depending on what I have to do for the day, I list down a few major items and a few minor items that I need to do.
Note: This must be done at the start of the day for best impact
I would advise anyone using the checklist system for the first time to start your day by tackling the first major item on your list. A major item could be working on a particular report that is due in a week or so.
When you are ready to take a break from the major item you started with, try going after the minor items.
Minor items that I tend to put on my list includes sending a chaser email, booking a dental appointment, buying certain grocery items.
These are the small “wins” that drive and encourage you through the day.
For me, ticking off the checklist bit-by-bit is an astoundingly satisfying perk of having a checklist.
But the other important thing about having a checklist is that you frame your day and you set it down on paper (or notes application) as to what you want to achieve for the day.
Yes, we live in the real world. There will be competing priorities in the day that you might not have thought of at the start (urgent request from the boss, something breaking in the house suddenly, etc).
Feel free to edit your checklist throughout the day. In my opinion, a good checklist should not be static.
This is productivity hack number 4 and one of my oft-used productivity hack.
Never underestimate the humble checklist, it is a very powerful signal to your psyche as you start the day.
#5 Round it off with the 80/20
The last productivity hack that have been quite useful for me is the Pareto Principle.
80% of outcomes result from 20% of all causes for any given event (80–20 Rule aka the Pareto Principle)
Harnessing the 80–20 rule helps you cut down on all the inefficiencies in your life.
For example, if you work in an office for a corporate and spend half your day replying to emails that you know will only contribute to 15–20% of your output, would you still continue doing that?
Would it be better to try to be more efficient with your emails such that you spend much less time in a day replying them?
How about meetings?
Many times, we often get dragged into meetings that take way longer than it should (many here will be familiar with one of the downsides of the new era of Zoom/Teams calls)
Would it be better to proactively reduce meeting times (maybe to half an hour instead for weekly update meetings) so that you can spend your time contributing to other more important outputs?
Many of us get caught up in inconsequential tasks and details that yields us very minimal output and frankly, gets us nowhere on our journey to achieve our own targets and goals.
It is more important to focus on the 20% of activities that will create the greater set of rewards for you.
I have condensed the key productivity tips have been useful for me in my 30s and I hope that you will be able to utilise some of them for yourself, in your own ways.
