My Personal Productivity Hacks

First of all, I don’t call myself a productivity guru.
Being an entrepreneur gives the opportunity to experiment and get personal insights that work for me*.
My insights moved along together with my entrepreneurship. When I first started I thought it was all about ‘just’ putting as much hours as possible into it.
As you will read below, some of my thinking around that changed.
So below you can find some tips/tricks I find useful.

* I believe: whilst there are proven ‘methodologies’/framework, it’s best to find something that works for you.

Health Related

Often we think, we only need some good ‘systems’. Though that’s for sure important, having some basic health principles in place, is an overlooked place for productivity boosting.

• 💦 Drink Water
  Often stated, very rarely practized. To keep your body optimally functioning, you need period.
  How much? Well, there is a saying about “peeing clear” 😉
• 🏃‍♂️Move move your ass
  • I love running. Especially in the morning it gives me a boost for the rest of the day.
    Also, often I come up with new ideas/solution during those runs
  • Walks
    We live nearby a forest which is perfect for a quick 10 minute walk. Being in nature gives me a piece of mind.
    I’d like to call them “Wealth Walks”.
•  🎶 Music
  If I am not 100% it the mood, I tend to put on some good-vibes music.
  A song that comes right into mind now is Synrise from Goose =>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8i8jE2sTxk 
  This kinda music can bring me quite instantlyt in a mood of “Common, let’s do it”.
  If i rather feel the need for some focus work, I just put in Youtube “relax music”.
  Putting up some good music, for sure helps.
  TIP: make a couple of playlists that can bring you in the right setting

Activity Related

•  📝Define your tasks the day before (evening).
  I used to struggle a lot with this one.I experimented with clarifying my tasks the day itself as I thought: “Well, than I can chose at that moment what task suites me the best at that time”. It’s like the artist that can only come up with his best work when in the perfect ‘inspiration’ mood. I wanted to use that excuse.
  Also I wanted to avoid thinking too much about the ‘next day’ so I could have a good rest.
  Lately I came to the conclusion, actually writing my task list the day before gives me a ‘peace of mind’.
  Moreover, it leaves no interpretation for the next morning: I ‘just’ need to do it.
  At the end of the day, I also seem to be better at prioritizing what’s most important to grow my business. I think this has to do with being able to separate myself more from the business.
• 🥇Start with your nr1 prioritized tasks (you defined the day before)
  Funny enough those are the task where you often feel resistance for.
  If your motivational level is below ZERO. Pick a small task. Often that will snowball into getting you in a momentum.
• Plan blocks without any distractions.
  I typically try to do this during my morning. I disconnect my phone from the Wifi (sometimes I put it in flight mode). Also I try to not open any email. If you still need to consult previous emails, there is a solution in the Tools section.
• 😌 Also fill my days with non-business activities
  I discovered our mind can use some non-thinking as well 😉
  So I do things like: juggling (seem to be good for your brain connections), playing the guitar, singing, …
  Also I started appreciate the what-I-call ‘slow’ activities. E.g. baking our own bread or taking the time to make “Chai Latte”.

Nice video about priorities “the golf balls, the pebbles and the sand”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqGRnlXplx0&feature=youtu.be 

My favorite Laws

Parkinson Law
This law I find very useful. It basically states, if you give yourself 3 hours for completing a task, it’s very likely you’ll “use” that 3 hours. If you give yourself like 1 hour, chances are you will complete that task within that 1 hour.
It appears, I have a more ‘cut-the-crap’ mentality when I am ‘only’ given 1 hour.

Pearson’s law
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

My Challenges

If you are a parents, you know kids need attention (understatement? 😂)
That isn’t always 100% aligned with your planned schedule (though now they are old enough to negotiate “don’t disturb” times.
My choice to be an entrepreneur was partially driven to have more flexibility/freedom. Also towards family: be there when they need a parent.
So often that’s finding a balance between productivity & just being present with them.

Tools

• FocusToFlow of course 😊. You can install it right away by using this link.
• I use an extension called “Inbox When Ready for Gmail™“
  This tool hides your email but still lets you search into your emails.
  Perfect to avoid being triggered by NEW emails and jump into those immediately
• LastPass
• Video Speed Controller