8 Productivity Hacks You Can Do in 30 Minutes

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews, and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

Eight productivity hacks you can do in 30 minutes by near Ayle Narrated by Johnny Heller they're part of the secret of becoming indistractable Got a few minutes? Then why not use them to implement these quick fixes that cut distraction and aid productivity? I uncovered these productivity fixes while researching how to combat distraction and increase productivity for my book Indistractable, and I've relied on them ever since. From adjustments to your phone, desktop, email, and more, these productivity hacks all take less than 30 minutes to complete, and they'll help you thwart those external triggers that are usually the culprit for your struggle with distraction. Caveat Becoming more productive isn't as simple as finding the perfect productivity apps or hacks. No app or hack is so magical as to instantly morph you into a super productive, always focused person. To become indistractable, you'd have to follow my indistractible model. Step 1 Master internal triggers Step 2 Make time for traction Step 3 Hack back external triggers Step 4 Prevent distraction with packs so let's file these productivity hacks under step three and get started. Here are eight productivity improvements to make in just 2 to 30 minutes less than 2 minutes use your phone to your advantage. Apple iOS has a range of focus modes that silence disruptions while you're driving, sleeping, and working. It also lets you create custom focus modes for when you're exercising, reading, meditating, and more. Android's Digital well Beings Focus mode lets you preset a schedule to automatically mute certain apps during personal time or your scheduled focused work sessions. Every hour, a chime goes off on my phone to help me stay on track with my timeboxed calendar rather than let the hours slip by. I know when I need to speed up my work pace, and I can correct my pace before it derails the rest of the day. Declutter your desktop Visual clutter can lead to mental clutter. Therefore, it's important to have a clean workspace. How you go about this depends on your preferences. Are you someone who chooses to properly organize every file taking up space on your desktop? Fine. But if you're like me, you might cheat and simply throw everything on your desktop into a desktop file marked, well, everything. This may seem like too quick a fix, but I found that sorting files into folders is an unnecessary step. My desktop is clean and I can search for whatever document I need in my Everything folder. Less than 15 minutes Filter your emails don't open and respond to all emails in the same span of time. Instead, rely on the two touch method for emails. At the first touch, you'll open the email and tag it for response either today or this week. Then you'll close it without replying unless it needs an immediate response. Tagging emails in this way frees your mind from distraction because you know you'll reply during the specified time you've allocated for this purpose. In your time boxed schedule, I set aside time every day to reply to today emails in three hours at the end of my week to respond to this week emails Bundle Tasks it's okay to multitask if you follow my rule for multi channel multitasking. For instance, you can walk and listen to a podcast. At the same time, you can do laundry and brainstorm the opening lines for that next blog post. Personally, I exercise and use the Pocket app to listen to online articles I flagged earlier. Spend a few minutes thinking how you might bundle your tasks to save time. Less than 30 minutes, implement the four hours of hacking back your smartphone. The first three hours might take you 30 minutes combined, and the last takes about 30 minutes on its own. Remove Kick to the curb all apps that no longer serve you or align with your values. Purging these will create more space on your phone and shrink the potential for distraction. Replace Rather than give in to the temptation to constantly check problematic apps like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, consider replacing them with the new system. Delete those apps from your phone and instead add time for social media or whatever qualifies as your problematic app to a timeboxed calendar. That way you can indulge your social media craving at the allotted time without guilt. Rearrange Create your essential home screen. Tony Stubblebine, editor in chief of the popular medium publication Better Human, says to sort your apps into three categories, primary tools, aspirations, and slot machines. Primary tools are those you rely on frequently, the ones that get you a ride or directions to a location. Limit this category to six apps, aspirations are for healthy habit building apps for meditation, exercise, reading, and more. Slot machine apps are the problematic ones that drive you to distraction and if you don't delete them, then you should remove them from your home screen. In fact, I recommend hiding them from your display screens altogether and instead using the search function on your phone to access them. Not having that app just one click away may give you the breath you need to refocus on your real task reclaim. Turn off the visual and sound notifications for all apps except for those that share urgent messages like the phone and texting apps. It's a one and done act that pays lifelong dividends. My hope is that implementing these tips will not only help to save you from distraction, but also give you the results and motivation you need to pursue becoming indistractable. By the way, the timeboxed calendar I mentioned throughout this post is the most powerful productivity hack in my repertoire. Building it from scratch takes no longer than 30 minutes, and you'll get a great start by using my free Schedule Marker template.

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