We’ve all been there before. Days turn into weeks and you can count the number of hours you’ve slept all on two hands. Running a business or being a startup employee can be exhilarating, rewarding but also burn you out if you’re not careful. Find a process that works best for you, whether it’s a set of productivity apps, waking up earlier, or brainstorming ideas in the shower. Here are a set of tips to help get you started towards a more manageable schedule.
Pencil in a few offline hours
It’s a bit unconventional since we live in a time where multitasking is highly valued, but try logging out of your inbox for a few hours a day. Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50% longer to complete a task and makes 50% more errors in the process. Dedicating uninterrupted time to just one project can make for a more productive rest of the day. Take a look at what makes most sense for your business and when you’re most productive to determine whether to go offline early morning or in the evening.
For example, I’m more of a morning person, so I like to take an hour or two before everyone gets into the office to punch out some writing. By the end of that short session, I’ll have had a completed piece or an outline to revisit later, and emails will have just started to trickle in.
Enlist the help of productivity apps
Don’t be afraid to ask for help! In this case, I’m referring to using apps to help organize your calendar, inbox and to-do list. Let these apps do all the grunt work so you can use that time for bigger, better projects. I spoke with some team members at Mailjet and the top three tools that made the cut were; Focus@will, Wunderlist and Mailbox.
A lot of us listen to music while working, but did you know we might be listening to the wrong music? Use Focus@will to hack your productivity with “attention amplifying” music channels that will engage your brain’s limbic system to increase attention span.
Wunderlist brings you a portable to-do-list you can sync across devices. Gone are the days of intimidating projects; simply break it down into an actionable list of steps and set calendar alerts along the way.
Inbox zero is no longer a dream for us with the Mailbox app. Easily boomerang your unread emails to resend to you at a later time so you can focus on something more important at hand.
Scheduling all of your meetings to one part of the day
Another tough hurdle that prevents us from properly managing our workweek, is meetings. Research shows that after being interrupted, it takes a worker an average of 25 minutes to refocus on the original task. Try arranging for all of your meetings to take place during one chunk of the day, to create longer stretches of time to work on projects that require more concentration like brainstorming, coding or designing.
Maintaining a three sentence limit
This one’s a rule we try to stick to at Mailjet: writing emails like you would text. We use the handy tool three.sentenc.es to keep us disciplined in spending less time on email (three sentences only!), which in turn limits overflow in our teammates’ inboxes.
What if you can’t get your message across in three sentences? This is a good indicator that this topic is probably more effectively discussed in person.
Keeping a productivity journal
Lastly, keep a notebook of what you want to accomplish for the day/week and what you ended up completing. At the end of every week, you’ll be able to look back and celebrate your small wins. This will also give you an idea of what you can improve on when planning for the coming week.
What are some other productivity hacks you use to schedule your busy workweek? Would love to hear them in the comments below!