How to Be More Productive (6 Simple Life Changing Hacks)

These 6 productivity hacks will help you so much in the new year!

Trying to figure out how to be more productive during your work day? These 6 productivity hacks will help you be more focused so you can unplug and unwind when your work is done.

It’s a new year, and you might be trying to figure out how to be more productive

In the new year, I think we’re all working on setting intentions, improving ourselves a bit, etc. So I wanted to share six productivity hacks that answer the question “how to be more productive.” They might help you be a little more focused in 2020, whether it’s in work, with your family, in your home, or wherever it may be.

I implemented all 6 of these to some degree in 2019 with my job, and I’m hoping to implement them even more in 2020 so I can be more productive during my work time, and more focused when I’m with my family.

6 Productivity Hacks to help you be more focused

1. Time batch your work

I listened to an episode of the Goal Digger podcast earlier this year and she taught about time batching. She batches her time by category and day, and I’ve tried to implement this into my life this year. I’m not great at it yet, and my biggest struggle is when last minute things come up and throw off my day. But here’s my basic time batching schedule currently:

• Monday: write blog posts for the week and schedule them in advance. Also write or film upcoming sponsored content that’s due this week (even if it’s not scheduled for this week). Includes social media posts and instagram stories.
• Tuesday: phone calls with my assistant and manager, and anyone else. This is my call day. I don’t take phone calls any other day of the week.
• Wednesday. Photoshoot day and film Get Dressed with Merrick videos.
• Thursday. SEO day – optimize old posts, research. Also once a month I write my newsletters for the whole month.
• Friday. Work on Merrick White clothing brand

I try to keep these categories as simple as I can, but also narrow. My struggle is where to fit emails and social media posting in there without them taking over my day. Still working on that.

2. Turn off your notifications

This was a simple change that I made this year that made a big difference. On my Macbook I turned off text notifications during my work hours so I don’t get a little slider popping into the corner of my screen when someone texts me. I also turned almost all notifications off my phone so I don’t get any alerts for new emails, texts, instagram posts, etc. I am very easily distracted, and taking these distractions away frees up my brain immensely. Try it.

3. Turn on a sound machine

I have so much going on in my brain while I work, and I’m very easily distracted. Somehow turning on white noise instantly clears the clutter and helps me focus. I use either my Echo Dot (“Alexa, play white noise.”) or my White Noise app on my phone.

4. Do a 5 minute clean up

Does anyone else work so much better with a clean office? I try to take 5 minutes at the beginning of my scheduled work time to clear the clutter. I swear it’s like cleaning my brain and helps me focus while I’m working.

5. Stop multi-tasking

I used to think multi-tasking was the only way to be super productive. I’d have lots of tabs open, I’d work on several projects at once, aaaaand….everything took twice as long. Our brains are not meant to do two things at once, and flipping between several things makes your brain take more time. Instead, I’m working on focusing on one thing and finishing it, and then switching to something else.

The problem for me with this is that I think of something I need to do, but then by the time I’m finished with my current task, I’ve forgotten when I needed to do. And that leads me to productivity hack #6.

6. Write everything down.

I cannot function unless I write everything down. My brain is going a million miles a minute basically all the time, so doing a “brain dump” before I start working to help me remember everything I need to accomplish, is really helpful for me. I always have a planner or a piece of paper on my desk, or a list in the Notes app in my phone, so I can write things down right when I think of them, and then come back to it later. It’s so much easier than trying to hold on to that information for an hour (or a day, or a week) until you can get to it.

Try some of these this year and see if they help you be more productive!

You might also like: 

• 10 Life changing podcasts you must listen to right now

• Some more tips for time management