What are your best productivity hacks that worked for you?
I like working (a lot of working), but sometimes I struggle with my time.
Understand that I am not able to manage/fit everything that I wanted to do in my schedule.
So I had to "re-organise" some activities and was able to learn something or make myself productive.
It includes:
Exercising right after waking up (the first round of exercising, because I train 3 times)
Reading a book afterwards (a chapter/or learning new things from a text book/ work book)
Having the things I want to complete within my sight – if I want to exercise, I have my dumbbells nearby me
Not having a phone in sight when I read or try to do work (because I would be tempted)
Using Toggl to track my activities, so I know which items I spend the most time on
Trying to learn things from the easiest to the most difficult
What are your special tricks for productivity?
Replies
Morning run. Afterwards, doing the single hardest task of the day (like an email, post, etc).
All before 6am.
That basically pushes me through the rest of my day.
Productivity pumped massively since I follow this rule.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@bencrypto__23 before 6 AM? :D when do you wake up? :D
@busmark_w_nika 4:30.
It's the only way to make this work with kids.
Because between 6-6:30am the chaos unfolds when three children wake up ;)
minimalist phone: creating folders
@bencrypto__23 I am afraid of having kids now even more :D
@busmark_w_nika Well...sounded negative. In fact, one of the biggest fears I had when we planned to have kids was that i couldn't work as much as before.
And this is true.
But if there's one thing kids drive it is focus.
Ok, that nap will take ~1 hour — let's get that newsletter out.
Or...they'll wake up at 7 — let's get this things done before.
For me, kids helped me to cut the noise. To focus on what matters. To do the real work.
I may work less in terms of hours. But I am 100% more productive.
@bencrypto__23 This resonates. I've noticed the hardest task of the day takes up way more mental space than actual time. The longer you push it, the heavier it gets. Getting it done first clears everything else.
@susanne_ertl 100%
For me, it doesn't have to be a big task. Most often it is a 5-10 min task.
That one email.
That one DM.
That one post.
But I really fell in love with that feeling "work out done, hardest task done — this day is already a success."
@blakeskrable really depends on the music and the task imho. calm, minimalistic, zen-inspired music def pushes my creativity. and on the other side, i like heavy motivational music for pushing out social media stuff.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@blakeskrable What about listening to podcasts while exercising or walking outside? Is it better? :)
minimalist phone: creating folders
@f_dompreh I do the same with exercising, especially to break my work routine :)
The most important thing for me is having that workout time to cler my head and really think about how my day is going to be organized. For me the day starts at 2:30 am most days and about an hour or so at the gym. Once I'm home I spend time organizing my work day, starting with projects that are personal. So any learning journeys, platform development or feature ads. I then, about a half hour before my day job, take a look at the tasks I have in que and organize them by priority and speed of completion. I also make sure I'm prepared for the days meetings.
After the work day, around 5, I gear up for my side projects for another 3 hours and then I crash out and do it all again the next day. Saturdays you would think are longer days but I mainly use Saturday for education and reflection, also family time.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@robert_lee_dixon When do you go to bed? :D When you wake up at 2:30? :D
minimalist phone: creating folders
@voizematic What do you do with the "saved time" afterwards?
Doing the hardest things first thing in the morning has made the biggest difference for me. Once the most important task is done, the rest of the day feels lighter regardless of what else comes up.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@ahana_gandhi But doesn't it take the most time? :D I mean, when it does, it can be very demotivational because most of the day is gone. :D
I’ve noticed prioritizing gets tricky when it’s not just work vs work, but work vs life.
What helps me is writing everything down first, even small things, and then deciding fresh each day what actually matters.
Some days it’s “fix a bug”, other days it’s “remember to drink water before the headache kicks in”.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@susanne_ertl Not gonna lie, I am so work work work person that I mostly forget about my healt :(
ProdShort
We struggled a lot with productivity. What actually worked for us was weekly sprint planning. On Mondays: all tasks are ready, scored (based on the estimated time needed), and we set a clear objectif for the week. Then we have daily calls where each team member answers 2 simple questions (about 2-3mins each):
What did you do yesterday?
What are you doing today?
The hack here is accountability. When you tell the team what you are going to do, it becomes harder to show up the next day without having done it. Everyone is kind of "tracking everyone", in a good way. For us, this was a real game changer.
We also started using this outside the team (accountability as service :D), with founders and entrepreneurs who struggle with productivity. And honestly, the feedback has been great. People feel more focused, more accountable, and they actually get things done. Join us for a 1 week, and give us your feedback about it 😂
Great list, Nika. My biggest productivity hack lately has been removing "Decision Friction."
I’m building a tool for founders (RoastMyLanding), and I realized that having a "credit system" was actually a productivity killer for my users. They’d spend 20 minutes deciding if a page was "ready enough" to use a credit on, instead of just shipping the work.
I nuked the credits entirely. Now it’s Unlimited for $19.
My hack: If a process (like auditing your own design) makes you overthink, change the system so you don't have to think at all. Your email is the key, you just enter it and go.
Are you still using Toggl to track the 'thinking' time, or just the 'doing' time?
Cold shower in the morning even 30 seconds - I know no one would want to try it but it really does help,
Make your bed - atomic habits if ykyk,
I use a habit tracking app on my phone which encourages me to do more as I don't like breaking a long streak,
I write down one task I want to do without fail the next day on a post it note, pay a parking fine or anything really and I have to do it no matter what,
Working out definitely helps
Great thread!