Do you want to get more done?

I am always looking for ways to get more done in less time. To help you out (and to remind myself) I put together a list of life-hacks that are designed to help you get it done. Hope these tips give you more time to reach your personal and professional goals.

 

 

1. Prioritize in Terms of Dread

Schedule your day so that you get your worst task done first. That leaves you the ability to proceed without it hanging over your head, like when you haven’t changed your burnt-out bathroom bulb yet. Dread of any task can slow you down. Get it done and feel accomplished at the start of your day.

 

2. Set a Timer

How distracted are you during the day? Try an app like RescueTime to keep track of your time. The free version automatically tracks how much time you spend on certain sites, how much time you spend emailing, and how much time you spend working, and then it presents you with the results in handy graph form. Really want to focus? For $9, you get extra features—including the ability to block yourself from being able to go to those distracting sites that pull you away from what you need to focus on.

 

3. Just Start It

There’s a reason why you feel compelled to check Facebook instead of tackling that large project at work or putting together those eight billion pieces that will become your entertainment center. That reason is known as the Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological process that causes you to feel disturbed by an incomplete task. To avoid this uncomfortable feeling, your brain fills your time with “small tasks.” But, if you can force yourself through ten minutes of your project, your brain will “flip the switch” from interest in menial “tasks” into desire to work on the larger project.

 

4. Don’t Stress Your Flow

Don’t stress about deviations to your plan as this can cause the “Oh, what the heck!” effect, which can compromise your whole plan. In a 2010 study at the University of Toronto, researchers found that those who had thought they’d accidentally blown their diet “testing” cookies ate over fifty percent more cookies than those who weren’t dieting! Further research found this “Oh, what the heck!” effect was even stronger with short-term goals that weren’t diet-related.

 

5. Stop Multitasking

In studies, multitaskers got less done that those who focused on one task at a time. In a 2009 study by Stanford University professors, the researchers found that our brains aren’t as capable at shifting quickly as we maybe had thought, or wished. Multitaskers failed significantly in both memory and achievement, because when they moved between tasks, their brains were still attached to the thing they weren’t doing. To be more productive, complete one task and then move onto another.

(Need practice? Stop texting your friend right now and focus on finishing this article.)

 

6. Delegate

Are you hoarding all your tasks to make sure they are done “right”? Don’t be afraid to delegate. And don’t just leave delegating for work projects. Self-made millionaire Erica Douglass has often advised that you should value your time. Determine your hourly worth and if you can hire someone to clean your home, do your yard work, or tackle a chore for you for less than that rate, save yourself the hours. What about for small tasks like picking up dry cleaning?

 

7. Don’t Work Overtime

Working less hours a day can actually make you more productive. Carmaker Henry Ford famously discovered that his employees were actually getting more done in eight hours a day than when they put in overtime. Research by the Business Roundtable discovered that 40-hour-maximum workweeks are best for productivity. It prevents burnout, exhaustion, and with less time to get those projects done, you’re less likely to goof off.

 

8. Maximize Your Free Time

Look at the Adorable Kitten Meme. No, Really.

Yes, the Internet is a huge time suck. But, Japanese researchers recently found that subjects who looked at pictures of cute, fluffy baby animals were more productive than those who didn’t. But not any pictures will do. Those subjects were more productive than those who looked at adult animals or “pleasant foods.”

 

9. Use Robots

Are you using automatic bill pay options or auto-ship options, like Amazon’s “Subscribe and Save?” Whether it’s contact lenses, pet food, or medication, you can make sure you receive the products you purchase each month without having to go online and reorder them. Beachbody offers an auto-ship option as well with Home Direct so that you don’t have to reorder products like Shakeology or Results and Recovery Formula every month.

 

10. Calm Your Racing Brain

Can’t sleep because your mind is racing? Simply breathe deeply (deep breathing slows the heart and respiratory rate which can help you sleep) and write down those thoughts. Once they’re on paper (or in your phone), your brain will stop working so hard to remember them.

 

11. Your Bedtime is Non-Negotiable

This is one that is a challenge for me! Who knew it was awesome that our childhood bedtimes were enforced? Both the structure and the sleep will do you well. Sleep is one of the most important factors in being productive in your intellectual, physical, and emotional life. Experts have found that a regular “bedtime” is one of the most effective ways to stay productive.

 

12. Don’t Skip Breakfast

It’s not urban legend—breakfast is actually the foundation of your day. In addition to having a healthier weight and better cholesterol numbers, people who eat breakfast also have more energy and sharper minds than their breakfast-skipping peers.

 

13. Make Salad Bags

You can pre-make your favorite salads in bulk using three bags. In one set of bags, put your lettuce base and veggies, in another, put in your meat and cheeses, and then, use a mason jar for the salad dressing so your dressing doesn’t get soggy. If you love salad (or are trying to eat more of it), prepping these bags ahead of time so you can merely pour them into your bowl makes eating healthy fast and easy.

 

14. High-Intensity Interval Training

Want to get the best results in the shortest amount of time? Try High-Intensity Interval Training (or HIIT). This type of training—used in TurboFire and other Beachbody programs—can boost fat-burning and athletic conditioning by safely maximizing the amount of time spent above your anaerobic threshold. In other words, by pushing your body to its limits in a controlled, temporary way, you teach it to operate more efficiently.

 

15. Chow Down on Protein

To get the most out of your workout, you need to fuel your body with fats, carbohydrates, and protein. How much protein do you need? According to the University of Colorado’s Nutrition Education Specialist Janice R. Hermann, .8 grams of protein per kg (or .4 g per pound) of body weight. If you’re looking to build muscle, you can roughly double that number. Yoga Booty Ballet‘s Gillian Clark enjoys three hard-boiled eggs within thirty minutes of waking every day and eats “something light like fruit, whatever is organic and local, and comes from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), ‘Farm Fresh to You’” just before her workout.

 

16. Pump Up the Volume

Listening to music makes for a more effective workout. Costas Karageorghis at Brunel University in London went as far as likening music to a performance-enhancing drug. While listening to music, people biked farther, swam faster, and didn’t even realize they were having a better workout by working harder.

 

17. Go Outside

A study on the benefits of outdoor workouts pulled from the century-old work of biologist Sir John Arthur Thomson found that people had better and longer workouts when they did them outside. Strides taken outside differ little from those taken on a treadmill, so scientists are still unsure exactly why these outdoor workouts can be more effective, though theories suggest sunlight’s positive effect on mood may be a contributor.