7 Hacks Productivity Hacks for Busy Professionals and Aspiring Athletes

Check out these 7 Productivity Hacks and pick 1 or 2 to try this week. Then, let me know which ones worked the best for you!

1. Tomato-Tomato – the Timer Trick 

The Tomato Timer is part of the Pomodoro Technique, a time management system that I use all the time and have found to be extremely effective. (I might even be using it right now to write this!)

What I love about the Tomato Timer is it helps you focus for short bursts, and then take a little break. When I’m having a hard time getting something done, I’ll open up the Tomato Timer and commit to doing just one 25-minute session. I often find I’ll get more done in that 25 minutes than I’ve done all morning! Check out the system and knock some items off your to-do list here: https://tomato-timer.com/.

2. Self-care in a Non-Negotiable

We already know that prioritizing your own self-care is a critical part of getting more done throughout the day. But if you’re anything like me, you probably also have a tendency to let your self-care slide when you’re in a state of overwhelm, or when you’re having one of those weeks where things go sideways.

Trust me, I’ve been there, but I also know that if I take just 15 minutes a day to get myself grounded, the rest of my day will flow so much more smoothly.

Can't find 10 minutes? Then start with 5 minutes, 3 minutes, or even just 1 minute. A little bit of self-care is better than no-self care at all, and you’ll be so much more productive because of it.

3. Mono-tasking is Golden and the value of Time-Blocking.

Multi-tasking is a myth and if you’ve read Gary Keller’s book “The One-Thing…” you’ll know that the term actually generated to describe the functionality of computers… not human productivity.

So, my question is have you tried mono-tasking?

The other alternative is to do yoga, if the space permits or go on walks with loved ones.  This is a great activity when traveling as you can explore the sights.

Of course, if you’re lucky enough to go camping or an activity-based holiday – then enjoy physical activities you may not otherwise have the time for such as swimming, surfing, skiing, hiking and so on.

4. Speaking of Focus… Focus on your next best step.

No matter you’re your obligations, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by your never-ending to-do list. I’m pretty sure that for every task I finish, two to three new ones pop up.

And especially when my training workload more than triples closer to comp, there are so many days when I feel like I’ll never catch up!

When I find myself sucked into overwhelm, I focus on figuring out my next best step. I ask myself, what’s the next best thing I can do that will help me get closer to getting this project moving, or creating more time in my schedule to meet my training demands?

This always helps me get focused and figure out what to do next.

The other part to this is to…

5. Find Ways to Do Less.

I know, this advice is the exact opposite of so much of what we hear these days about high performers and elite athletes.

But here’s the thing: you can’t do everything, and you can’t do it all at once.

I’ve found when I get caught up in feeling like I need to do ALL THE THINGS just to keep up with everyone else, it never actually helps with any of my goals.

Instead, pay attention to what’s really essential, and do more of that. 

Doing less is really about figuring out what’s working, and doing more of THAT, rather than desperately throwing whatever we can out into the world and hoping that something sticks.

The other part of this is to ruthlessly cut out things activities that are nice to haves, or because we think that’s what a good worker, good parent, good athlete or good whatever should do.

Figure out what you can delegate, eliminate and automate in your life.  Even if that’s as simple as outsourcing your laundry and housework.

6. Eliminate distractions.

This one should be obvious, but it can be so hard to do! When you sit down to do focused work, turn off the notifications on your phone and your computer. Close your internet browser and consider disconnecting your internet if you know you’ll be tempted to do a little social media scrolling when you get stuck.

I’ll often put my phone face, on airplane mode down next to me so I’m not distracted by messages that are coming in.

I also remove all app and email notifications from all of my electronic devices.

This is a simple thing to try, and it can deliver really great results. Give it a shot!

7. Do your most important work first.

This one seems like a no brainer, but there have been plenty of times when I’ve sat down to work checked my emails instead of actually getting work done.

Or gotten caught up in putting out a proverbial fire… most of the time these are not actually as urgent as the messenger has made it out to be.

Be critical of so-called crisis / urgent tasks and set realistic expectations on if and when it will be addressed.

Here's my challenge to you - pick one or two of these productivity hacks and give them a try this week. Then, comment below and let me know how it went!

Sending you lots of 'get-it-done' energy!

P.S. Are you looking for focused support in your athletic or performance goals? That's exactly what you'll get inside my Group Coaching Program starting in May!

When you you'll get access to me via group coaching sessions, focused trainings / workshops, and monthly planning sessions. To find out more schedule in a virtual coffee with me.

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