The Single Most Effective Productivity Tip From 22 Experts

admin | April 2, 2015 | Mind+Body | No Comments

productivity
source: http://lonemind.com/most-effective-productivity-tip/

LoneMind.com sought out experts from around the world and we asked them what is
the most effective productivity tip that can change your life today. If you wan
t to know how to literally save hours every day, before you do anything else tod
ay you'll want to read what they had to say.
These are professionals who made their name in the areas of efficiency, writing,
entrepreneurship, marketing, blogging, branding, etc. and the one thing that th
ey all have in common (and happen to be exceptionally good at) is time managemen
t and being extremely productive.
To that end (and for the sake of time!) they exclusively shared their #1 product
ivity tip that the average person can start doing right away--today.
Comments are now open below for any tips that you would like to share as well.
Opher Brayer
Talent Development Expert,
Swing Management
Think "888 22/8 80/20" (the Life Optimization System):
"Give your body rest for 8 hours;
Work only 8 hours a day;
Give yourself 8 hours leasure and development;
Work only 22 minutes and recharge yourself for 8 minutes;
Focus and invest in 20% of the most important personal resources, energy and att
ention to get best results.
http://swing-management.com
To radically improve your productivity today, move all ideas, tasks and projects
from your head and into a single system.
The biggest and most fundamental productivity hurdle that we face today is depen
ding on our minds as our main repository of information. Our minds biggest valueadd is for creativity, strategy and decision-making. When we also try to use it
as our task manager, daily to-do list-keeper and project status tracker we run i
nto problems.
In David Allens Getting Things Done methodology (see #6 here and the interview th
at follows), he argues that your head is for having ideas, not holding them. To ra
dically change your life and to be more productive, find that one tool that can
house your notes, ideas, to-do lists and projects so you can use your mind for w
hat it was designed for, not as your storage file.
https://www.wrike.com/
Tom Trenor
Director of Marketing,
Wrike
Amy Lynn Andrews
Blogger
Stop underestimating the amount of time it takes to complete tasks. Allow a real
istic amount of time in your schedule for tasks you need to complete. Build cush

ion or margin into your schedule for unexpected delays and time overages.
http://amylynnandrews.com/

Plan your time in a void.

At the beginning of each day, write out a to-do list. When you do, imagine that
you actually have nothing to do today; no emails, no phone calls, no meetings, n
othing. You have a blank slate to begin with. Then ask yourself, What would I do
to affect my results a month from now? List these activities and projects. These
are your top priorities. These come first.
Then, think about what you could actually get done on these today. Maybe not the
whole project that will take some time. But there is a piece of it that you can
complete today. Schedule a specific time to do this. And on your to-do list, wr
ite down what you plan to complete. Working on or developing doesnt count. Instead, q
uantify what you will get done; complete a draft of the report or make ten sales ca
lls for instance. Then at the end of the day, you can look at your to-list and sa
y, Yes! I got that done. A large project is just a series of small tasks. Get one
done, and the next will follow.
Once your priorities are scheduled, write all the other stuff on your to-do list
; the meetings, requirements, and the daily tasks. But by planning for your prio
rities first, youll be on your way to productivity and success.

http://getmoredone.com
Mark Ellwood
President,
Pace Productivity
Hai Nguyen
Cofounder
Priority Matrix by Appfluence
Accept the notion that not everything that can be done has to be done. Its ok to
leave things undone. Choose only one out of four things you have to do and put t
hat in Top Left Quadrant of your Priority Matrix, and then when posed with such
a hard choice, youll figure out what truly matters. Do it everyday in order to ac
hieve higher level of effectiveness.
www.appfluence.com
You multiply time by giving yourself the emotional permission to spend time on t
hings today that give you more time tomorrow.
roryvaden.com
Rory Vaden
Author,
Take the Stairs
Neen James
Leadership Expert
I always say "you don t have time to do everything, only time to do what matters
". People need to know what matters and focus on that. We get 1,440 minutes in a
day - how will you invest yours?
I share with all my audiences you can conquer the world in 15 minutes - it s the

key to productivity!
www.neenjames.com
Check email less often.
http://www.brightpod.com
Sahil Parikh
Founder,
BrightPod
S. Anthony Iannarino
The Sales Blog
The most important thing when it comes to being productive is knowing your purpo
se. It is easy to be motivated when you have a purpose, some big, burning reason
why you are doing what you are doing. People procrastinate, or sit and wait for
the world to force them to react, when they don t know their purpose.
http://thesalesblog.com/
The single most effective productivity tip is Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday
Reflection.
It s a powerful tip, because it helps you get better and better results, each da
y, each week, each month, each year, etc. It s also powerful because it helps yo
u get fresh starts, so you can use your best energy for your best results.
Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection also helps you figure out what s wo
rth spending time on. It helps you get a simple vision for your day and your wee
k. This helps you apply clarity to chaos, and rise above the noise, by taking a
balcony view, before you jump into the fray.
It as simple as 1-2-3 and it works like this:
1. On Monday, identify Three Wins that you want to achieve for the week. A simpl
e way to do this is to imagine that if this was Friday, and you were looking bac
k, what would you want to be able to say you accomplished. They are your private
and public victories.
2. Each day, identify Three Wins that you want for that day. Maybe it s "win a r
aving fan" or hit a meaningful milestone, or clear your backlog, or reach a new
level of awesome in something you do every day.
3. On Friday, identify three things going well and three things to improve. Use
the lessons and insights to figure out a way to improve your approach for the co
ming week. Maybe it means biting off less stuff. Maybe it means finding out how
to prioritize better. Maybe it s reminding yourself to finish what you start. Ei
ther way, use it to improve your personal ability to achieve the results you wan
t.
Keep in mind that time changes what s important, which is why it s important to
have both a view for the week, as well as a view for today. This helps you balan
ce and make better trade-offs. You ll also find that having a simple vision for
your days and week, will give you a new level of confidence and clarity that wil
l inspire more meaningful moments and help you build momentum in work and life.
By focusing on Three Wins, you practice figuring out what you and others actuall
y value. You put a bow on it. When you get to the end of your day, and you can r
attle off three achievements that you are proud of, it makes the day more meanin
gful. And, this is especially true, when you get to the end of your week, and yo

u can easily state Three Wins you accomplished, either to yourself, or to your m
anager, or to whoever cares.
This simple act will help you clarify value, articulate value, focus on value, a
nd most importantly, appreciate your own efforts, when you fight the good fight
or lean in on the tough stuff.
It makes the journey worth it.
The beauty is you can start right here, right now -- just ask yourself, "What ar
e Three Wins that you want for today?"
Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection is from Agile Results, introduced i
n the book, Getting Results the Agile Way (A Personal Results System for Work an
d Life.)
http://sourcesofinsight.com/
JD Meier
Author,
Getting Results the Agile Way
Sid Savara
Personal Development Trainer
Just like in budgeting when you are taught to give every dollar a job - give eve
ry minute a job in your life. That minute s "job" doesn t have to be "work on pr
oject" - it could be "rejuvenate self by spending time with family". - but give
every minute a job, and make sure every minute is spent intentionally on somethi
ng worthwhile
http://sidsavara.com/
One of the most effective tips to improve one s productivity in our opinion is t
o focus on the right tasks and aspects of one s career or a specific project, wh
ile ignoring the others. As Pareto principle (the 20-80 rule) suggests, 20 % of
the tasks typically account for 80 % of the results. Identifying and focusing on
those 20 % can make the biggest difference.
http://www.vanaia.com
Jan Kreuzer
Marketing Director,
Vanania
LJ Earnest
Blogger
The single best productivity tip I have ever seen and used is to single task. Wh
en we are multitasking, we are actually just switching our focus -- we re not tr
uly multitasking. The delays caused by switching back and forth add up. Focusing
on one item at a time allows you to give your complete attention and get it don
e faster and better than by multitasking.
http://simpleproductivityblog.com
The most important productivity tip I ve found is to be realistic about what you
can accomplish in a day. I used to write these massive to-do lists that would d
o nothing but stress me out on a daily basis. Now, I limit my list to 6 tasks pe
r day: 3 for the morning and 3 for the afternoon. This way I feel more accomplis
hed on a daily basis, work on only the most important tasks, and feel more motiv
ated to get through my list quickly.
As a quick caveat: this doesn t mean writing things like "finish website" on your

list. These need to be easily actionable tasks. If your end goal is to write a
blog post, I ll add "finish research on new blog post" to my morning list and "w
rite first draft of new post" to my afternoon. This way I m not cramming too muc
h into each day.
https://pickcrew.com/
Jory MacKay
Editor,
Crew
Dave Seah
Investigative Designer
Productivity has both a efficiency and aspirational side to it, so be clear whic
h side you re dealing with. For work you know how to do, optimization is possibl
e because you have a baseline of measurement from your previous trials. When you
are dealing with the aspirational aspect of Productivity, you are often learnin
g something new, or addressing something that is unknown. You have to suppress a
ny preoccupation you might have with effectiveness/efficiency, so you can engage
the challenge with your full attention undistracted by future review.
For me, tackling big challenges requires me to adopt a fast-moving experimental m
indset: taking the very first step, no matter how inconsequential or stupid it m
ight seem, that comes to mind, just to see what happens. I can then trust myself
then to take another step, more refined in its intention, that builds on what I
just learned. As a bonus, the continued gathering of knowledge can allay the re
sistance that keeps us from treading forward without a guaranteed outcome, as ou
r understanding and confidence will grow with each step.
Once you ve gotten the new thing down, optimization and measurement can come into
play, and you can go ahead and systemize those parts that you can systemize, an
d practice them to mastery if that s your goal.
davidseah.com

Do the most important thing first each day.

Sounds simple. No one does it.
Just like Hemingway, who produced an remarkable volume of high-caliber work duri
ng his career, you can make surprising progress each day if you simply do the mo
st important thing first.
We often assume that productivity means getting more things done each day. Wrong
. Productivity is getting important things done consistently. And no matter what
you are working on, there are only a few things that are truly important.
Being productive is about maintaining a steady, average speed on a few things, n
ot maximum speed on everything.
Thats why this strategy is effective. If you do the most important thing first ea
ch day, then youll always get something important done. I dont know about you, but
this is a big deal for me. There are many days when I waste hours crossing off
the 4th, 5th, or 6th most important tasks on my to-do list and never get around
to doing the most important thing.
http://jamesclear.com

James Clear
Entrepreneur, Weightlifter and Travel Photographer
David Allen
Author
Getting Things Done
Your head is for having ideas, not for holding them.
http://gettingthingsdone.com
Use your calendar, schedule the things that you want to get done. Schedule every
thing from exercise to accounts and not only will you feel more in control you w
ill achieve more than you ever thought possible. To maximize the time scheduled
use the Pomodoro technique to stay focused. Use the five minute breaks to take s
ome deep breaths and refill your water glass. In this way you will stay energize
d and hydrated, helping you to get more done.
www.ciaraconlon.com
Ciara Conlon
Productivity Coach
Phil Seeman
Author,
Getting More Done
I believe the single most effective personal productivity practice is to maintai
n an external commitment management system a system that lives outside of ones brai
n, which is used to record, track and manage all of ones commitments. The human b
rain is not good at this task, so its critical to have and use a reliable system
external to the brain for this purpose.
www.moreproductivenow.com

Id say that planning your day can have a major impact in your life. I know that i
t did mine, when I implemented this habit back in 2007.
All you have to
ords, the rocks
rtant stuff. So
on every level

do is to pick the rocks and the gravel for your next day. In other w
are your most important tasks, while the gravel is the less-impo
just pick three rocks and some gravel, so that you make progress
in your days.

Then, do this daily planning at the end of your work day, so that you have a pla
n to follow the next day.

http://www.productivesuperdad.com/
Timo Kiander
Author,
Overcoming Procrastination
Donald
Latumahina
Blogger
Use a timer to help you overcome distractions. In my case, I decide that wheneve
r the timer runs, I must work solely on the task at hand. Whenever I switch to s
omething else (for example, checking emails), I must stop the timer. Having to s
top the timer makes me aware that Im getting distracted. Usually I can then go ba
ck to the task.

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org

Do the right tasks at the right time of the day.

It s a good idea to prioritize your tasks but instead of just considering the im
portance/urgency, it s worth thinking about what time is really the best time to
do them.
For example:
I write and do other creative tasks in the mornings
I leave analytical tasks till later in the day
The reason for this is that studies have shown that the creative part of your br
ain rises early and the analytical parts of your brain are more active later in
the day, Kevan Lee wrote a great post for Lifehacker.com which covers this in mo
re depth.

http://www.bloggingwizard.com
Adam Connell
Founder,
Blogging Wizard
Well there you have it--from the experts. For more of the world s greatest mind
-blowing advice sign-up for LoneMind s free newsletter--where we share informati
on that you will never find on our site.