By Parker Davis
There are just so many distractions lurking around every corner. One second you’re working on an important task. The next thing you know, you’ve been watching YouTube for 3 hours! Time flies when you’re distracted and procrastinating.
That’s why as an entrepreneur, productivity is one of your greatest assets. If you can master it, you can do the work that matters, and do it efficiently. If not? Well, it won’t bode well for your business. With this in mind, here are five productivity hacks for entrepreneurs.
1. Use Pomodoros
The Pomodoro technique is one of the most popular time management hacks. It works like this:
- You split your time into 25-minute increments throughout the day. After each 25-minute increment, you take a break for five minutes.
- Then, after four of these 25-minute Pomodoros, you take a 15-20 minute break.
- To make this easy, you can use one of these Pomodoro timer apps.
Here’s how this technique can help you be more productive:
- By taking short breaks, you avoid burnout while maintaining your flow.
- It can help you crank through projects faster.
- You can spread big tasks over multiple Pomodoros, to keep you from getting frustrated.
- It keeps you accountable for your time, and so you’re much less likely to waste it.
We recommended giving the Pomodoro technique a try for a few days. It just might be the big productivity booster you’ve been looking for.
2. Do the Hard Things First
When do you usually do your least desirable tasks? It’s easy to put these kinds of tasks off and do the easy tasks first. But this can kill your productivity. You know you’re putting them off – and so, they’ll be on your mind throughout the day. As a result, you’ll be less productive with the easy tasks and waste more time.
Get the hard tasks out of the way first. This will pave the way for a more productive day. And if you’re not sure which tasks to get started with, ask yourself, “What’s the one thing I can do today such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
3. Limit Distractions
Like we said at the beginning, there are tons of distractions you’ll face on a daily basis. A lot of these distractions will come in the form of email and social media. Some will be due to your work environment and other elements.
Here’s how you can start limiting distractions like these:
- Set rules for when and how often you check email. That way, you’re not going back to it every 5-10 minutes, or getting distracted by new email notifications.
- Put your phone on “do not disturb” mode so you don’t get notifications while you’re working. We all know how distracting those “new message” notifications can be.
- Experiment with your work environment. One work environment can be a source of creativity for one person, while it can be a huge distraction for another. Experiment with your work environment to see where you work best (and feel the least distracted). Perhaps it’s in a home office, café, or a co-working space.
4. Track Your Time
We’ve said it before: What gets measured, gets managed. That’s why it’s so important that you track your time.
We recommend installing a time-tracking app that tracks how you spend your time on certain websites, apps, and work, and gives you a productivity score at the end of each week. Most will also allow you to block distracting websites, and alerts you when you’ve spent a certain amount of time on an activity. That way, you won’t accidentally waste 3 hours surfing through YouTube videos!
5. Start with a Solid Morning Routine
The way you start your morning has a huge impact on the rest of your day. If you spend your first few minutes lying in bed and scrolling through emails/Facebook, you’re setting yourself up to be exhausted and groggy.
But if instead, you meditate, exercise, eat a healthy breakfast, and make a quick plan for the day, you’ll set yourself to be much more productive. So, pick out a few healthy habits, and try to plug them into your morning routine. This will put your mind in the right place to get the most work done.
Productivity is essential as an entrepreneur. It allows you to do the best work in the least amount of time. While your competition is distracted, your productivity can help launch you ahead. Use these 5 hacks to see an instant boost in your productivity and start getting more done.
