Believe it or not. I’m the world’s best procrastinator.
- Write just a 500-word article in 4+ hours.
- Spend 10-15+ hours a week wandering on Facebook and Twitter.
- Sleep somewhere between five and six hours a night.
- Go to bed at 12+ PM and get out of bed tiredly in the morning.
- Procrastinate on everything.
- Look like focusing on working but the reality is surfing the web.
I used to think that it’s my being both an online business owner and student at the same time that forms my unproductive, time-consuming behavior.
But I finally realized that I was lying to myself.
So I focused all my effort on learning how to build a productivity habit.
I gradually made small changes and just a month later, my life was completely different:
- I sleep 7-7.5 hours a night. I’m in bed by 11 PM and usually get up at 6 AM. Feeling powerful is ready to fight the world. If sleep is something you struggle with, you may wish to look into something like these Kava products to help you relax and drift off at bedtime.
- I started to do cardio exercises for an hour a day. My stamina dramatically increased after just 2 weeks.
- It takes me just an hour or two to write a 1500+ word article.
- I have more time to hang out with my family and friend.
- I started meditation.
I feel in control of my life now. I have time to work on my passion and grow my online business while having time to entertain and relax.
I want to get you to that point too, seriously.
STOP MULTI-TASKING
This is one of my first lessons when learning about productivity.
Multi-tasking sucks! It decreases your productivity.
First, you have to understand: Why do we multitask?
Simply. It makes us feel good.
Researcher Zheng Wang mentions that in her recent case study:
[People who multitask] are not being more productive – they just feel more emotionally satisfied from their work
Have you ever written a blog post while checking email, replying to blog comments, engaging on Facebook, and surfing through dozens of blog posts? I guess you have.
For me it’s familiar. I used to do it every day. But now I don’t.
Let me say it again: Stop Multi-tasking.
That’s your first step to enter the productivity world.
Instead of doing 8 things at a time that will take 4 hours to complete, just do one task completely, and then move on to the next. You will get things done faster with better quality. Then you can spend time on whatever you enjoy.
USE POMODORO TECHNIQUE
This technique is killer! It helps me to focus on single-task.
The concept is quite simple: The technique uses a timer to break down periods of work into 25-minute intervals (called ‘pomodori’) separated by 5-minute breaks.
You can download the Pomodoro application here (include versions for Window and Mac)
There are 5 steps to implement the technique:
- Decide on the task to be done
- Set the Pomodoro timer
- Work on the task until the timer rings
- Take a short break (3-5 minutes)
- Every 4 ‘pomodori’ take a longer break (15-20 minutes)
That’s it! Try this technique today and see how helpful it is.
EFFECTIVELY MANAGE YOUR EMAIL
If you are spending hours a day on your email, you are wasting your time.
If you are checking email more than 2 times a day, you are wasting your time as well.
The fact is: You should spend just 15 minutes or no more than 2 times managing your email daily. It’s a must if you want to become productive. Here’s how I do it:
Step 1: Turn off email notifications. If you use Gmail, don’t keep the tab on all the time. Consider setting specific times when you can check your email. Avoid checking email first thing in the morning. Mine is at 10 AM after completing MITs (Most Important Tasks)
Step 2: Use the “Zero Inbox” technique. First, create 2 new folders:
- Action
- non-essential
The goal here is to get your inbox to ZERO. To start, archive every email in your inbox. From now on, whenever you check your email, start with the oldest email, and decide what kind of email it is:
- Don’t read anymore? Unsubscribe and archive.
- Non-essential? (Newsletter, Blog Post, Advertising,..)Filter it into “Non-essensial”
- Email that needs a response? Respond immediately and then archive.
- Email that needs a long response? Move it to the “Action” folder and move on to the next. After your inbox is zero, come back into the “Action” folder and knock them out.
BONUS TIPS
- Use Chrome Extension “Stayfocusd” to limit the time of accessing some websites (Facebook, Twitter, CNN,…)
- Each morning, set 3 Most Important Tasks and plan to complete them first.
- Doing exercises at least 1 hour per day boosts your productivity.
- Declutter your working space.
- Turn off alerts and notifications on your phone while working.
That’s it! That’s all you need to become productive as a blogger and business owner.
That seems quite a bit of information. So just take one small step toward the productivity world.
Choose one thing and start to implement it today. Leave the comment with just ONE THING you’re going to do to improve your productivity now. Not tomorrow, NOW!
Also, if you have questions or want to provide other productivity tips, leave a comment!
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About Amit Shaw
I had read something which I was really not doing and spending lots of work over internet useless. Being productive is very important and we should be productive even for a short time.
Thanks for giving some applications which will help me to be productive by reminding.
Finally, I liked your last sentence to be productive by giving a comment. So I’m doing it now itself. 🙂
Very useful tips Tung. This is the second article I’m reading this morning and I do really like it. It’s all about planning and avoid being distracted. Thanks for sharing the chrome extension. I’ll give it a try 😉
Well honestly speaking this is one of the best post i’ve ever read. The reason behind my saying is this that i learn many important tricks to save my precious time.
While reading the post i was thinking that i personally do lots of such things which are mentioned here and i should avoid them.
I love multitasking but its also true that “[People who multitask] are not being more productive – they just feel more emotionally satisfied from their work”
I do agree with this statement.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful piece of writing and surely i would like to apply these rules in my life.
Thanks again.
Thanks for your kind word. You made my day 😀
Hello Tung,
You are absolutely right, we do multi-tasking and it give happiness but it affects our potential. At the end of the day we just find that we had done browsing only.
I understand and I always have some task for every day and I do nothing unless they are accomplished. I had already set some task and target for day, month and year.
Thanks for remembering me everything !
I have used PomodoApp for a while and it brings more productive days 🙂 I learnt that staying focused and Shooting your target will fasten the result.
Yeah very well narrated bro .now these are the tips every new blogger need to concentrate to make use of his time for a better way .Thanks for sharing bro 🙂
Really nice tips Tung..I used to check email every fifteen minutes or so…and really multitasking suckzzz and suck my life badly.
Nice Post right here ….. I guess we are both the same . I am a student as well as Blogger so for me my Online Time is hectic so I multitask a lot . I guess that is the reason , I am not productive . I will surely try your tips .
Great tips that I think we can all learn from!
I know I probably waste a lot of time muti-tasking when I should concentrate on specific things. Constantly checking my email is something that I do a lot, so I will try to cut down on that.
Great post Tung 🙂
Thank you 🙂
I’m guilty of thinking I can multitask, but lately reality has struck hard and reminded me that it’s not quite so.
I need to make a point of multitasking. I can’t push myself this hard for too long – I’m just robbing myself.
Bonus tips really works well, past few months already working on point 2,3,4 and helping me to focus and work on the task. Great tip of stopping multitask, it is true that we take more time completing the task and we work on doing different task at the same time and sometimes we end up with incomplete task.Enjoyed reading the article Tung.
i have a error when online. that is doing multitasking in a time :). Thank Tung Tran. maybe i know him :). KTO vip
Neatly written post by young blogger!
Am doing the same what you specified in the beginning of the post. As you did, I too have to made some modifications to my unproductive behavior.
Am a homemaker n blogger, used to do multitasks. Agree with you that the multitasking would sucks and decrease the productivity. So gonna follow the POMODORO technique and bonus tips to stay as a productive blogger.
Thanks for sharing the nice post! keep productive forever!!!
I have known for ages how long I waste checking emails, I used to do it every hour (I know, I know) and have got it down to three times a day but I hope to get it down to just once a day!
I’ll start tomorrow 🙂
Thanks for sharing those tips in the article, as for sure now i can increase my productivity……….!!
Hi Tung,
I cant agree more on how multi-tasking takes a toll on your productivity. Well, I was one of those who you described in your post – checking emails every 30 mins, checking facebook and twitter notifications and other tasks, juggling between one task to other. At the end of the day, I always felt that I didn’t do anything. So, I decided to focus on one task at a time and that has drastically improved my productivity.
I shall definitely try Pomodoro and see how it can further help me.
Tung, thanks for the information.