![The Best Creative Productivity Hacks That Actually Work [13 TIPS]](https://notharder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pexels-karolina-grabowska-4210876-scaled.jpg)
We’ve heard the regular productivity tips–block schedule your day, set goals, do deep work sprints, etc etc. Let’s look at some more creative productivity hacks that you maybe haven’t tried before.
1. Flash Journaling
I just made up that term, but the idea is that you can spend a couple of minutes at the end of each hour jotting down what you’ve accomplished, what obstacles popped up, and anything you’ve learned. This helps keep you accountable throughout the day, plus provides helpful insights into your work and behavior patterns.
Taking this a bit further, our friend Sam actually keeps a document open on his laptop where he “talks” to himself all day. Not only is he logging what’s happening, but he’s working out his thought processes. Having an open dialogue with yourself, like we recommend for setting goals, not only helps keep your thoughts organized and speed up the problem-solving process, but if Sam needs to reference something that happened in April, he can search that month and skim to remind himself of what was going on at that time.
It’s helpful as a self-awareness and problem-solving practice, plus a great log if you need to reference thoughts or events later on. That said, you don’t actually have to save your document/page. I tend to “trash journal,” where I messily work out a problem for myself, then delete it.
2. Watch/Read List
One of my biggest distractions used to be happening across an article I wanted to read or video I wanted to watch, then dropping what I was doing to read/watch it immediately.
I started adding YouTube videos to my Watch Later playlist and was kinda floored about how much it focused my day. So I started doing it with articles I wanted to read, bookmarking them for a future time when I was wanting something quick to read.
It makes my downtime feel somewhat more productive as well. When I’m in the space and mood to watch something, I’ve got a list of videos that I’m interested in, so I don’t waste time poking around for one.
3. Sensory Breaks
If you’re easily overstimulated 🙋, it’s a good idea to plan regular sensory breaks throughout your day. Ideally, you step away from screens and work to immerse yourself in a different sensory experience.
This could be listening to music, taking a short walk outside, using a stress ball, getting a cup of coffee, or chatting with a friend or co-worker.
Regular sensory breaks can help you stay calmer and less stressed at work.
4. Mise en Place
Mise en place is a French phrase used in cooking that means “putting in place,” and it refers to preparing your ingredients ahead of time by chopping, dicing, cleaning, measuring, before you begin to assemble or cook anything.
This concept can be applied to other situations, like setting up your workspace with everything you need before you start working.
You can think of it in digital terms as well, like collecting all of the videos, audio tracks, and images you’ll need for a video project before you start editing.
Taking a few minutes to prepare before you being a project or a deep work session reduces interruptions and keeps you focused, improving your productivity and wrapping the project up quicker!
5. Theme Days
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog (subscribe for new post notifications!), you might know that we love themes. Yearly themes, monthly themes, weekly themes. I do hourly themes every day.
Theming sections of time can keep you directed toward a certain goal without trapping you into any particular process to accomplish it. It allows focus with flexibility.
For example, the premise of using yearly themes instead of New Year resolutions is that you choose one overarching thing (learning, kindness, recharging, fitness), then you can make decisions as they arise that serve that theme. It allows you to work toward goals without needing to plan out every step or stay strictly on one course.
I theme the hours of my work day. Each hour I deep focus on one particular type of work, project, or client, with 30-minute breaks between. For example, if I’m in an hour dedicated to one of my pen names, I could be working on my next book, creating a marketing plan, writing up a quarterly publication plan, or whatever is on my to-do list for that pen name.
For most people, it’s more helpful to assign one theme for your entire day. The logic follows task batching, where you group similar jobs together. Here’s an example week:
- Monday: planning, goal-setting and maintenance, admin tasks
- Tuesday: deep creative work on current project
- Wednesday: meetings, sending big emails, writing proposals
- Thursday: FREE DAY (whatever needs your attention most)
- Friday: goal-setting and maintenance, admin tasks, wrapping up loose ends from the week
Staying on one type of task/idea each day lowers switching costs and improves focus. Some of you will see the above example and scoff at the idea of only having one day a week where you do deep creative work (or whichever thing on that list is most important to you). Often it makes sense to do a morning and afternoon theme when you have a constraint like that. So if you need to do deep creative work every day, that’s your morning every day. Then your afternoon can rotate between all the other things you have to do.
6. Digital Detox Hours
Designating certain hours of the day as digital detox times can improve your mental health, sharpen focus, and prevent burnout. You might use your non-digital time for offline activities like reading, journaling, drawing, socializing, or being outside. This should apply to all days, not just work days.
It’s important to disconnect from the information overload to manage cortisol and other stress hormones that can have serious consequences on your mental and physical health if ignored.
TOUCH GRASS.
7. Sit So Still
This is a great tactic if you find yourself puttering around with things to procrastinate a task or scrolling on your phone to avoid work. When your task just seems soooo boring and tedious and uninteresting, try sitting with nothing.
No phone, no book, no person to talk to. Just sit there until you’re so bored you want to do the task. It’s stupid effective.
8. To-Done List
You can probably guess what a to-done list is–a retroactive to-do list of things you’ve already completed. This is a great way to salvage a bad work day. Typically I employ this strategy if I’m unfocused and floaty, maybe because I didn’t set a particular goal or theme for that day.
A to-done list is the work version of muttering “okay” blearily into the bar mirror. It’s the rally call.
Reflecting on the things you’ve already accomplished that day–or that week, if you need to reach further back–can give you a little boost of dopamine to kick the ball into a roll again.
9. Digital Reset
“How many times can you recommend going outside in one list?” SEVERAL.
Technology takes a bigger toll on us throughout the day than we might realize. It’s a constant noise with way too much information. You can access absolutely anything in the world, and that’s way more than our brains evolved to absorb, not even considering what blue light does to our eyes and brain.
So take frequent digital resets. I don’t mean a big 2-week digital detox, but micro breaks throughout your day. Take five minutes to walk outside (leave your phone, Ethan!) and breathe real air and touch real grass. Then you can get back to the grind, cog.
10. Themed Playlists
I cannot stress the importance of a good Sound. If you’re a cool cat who can work with music playing, put something on that gets you on a roll for that job/project.
Right now I’m listening to a loop of Chronically Cautious, which is a 119-second song by Brandon Bales. I’m on hour 3. If you’re too neurotypical for that, make an actual playlist.
If you can’t focus with lyrics, try a lo-fi playlist, nature or rain sounds, or brown noise.
Consistent sound just does something to most people’s brains that helps them clip into whatever they’re working on, plus drowning out auditory distractions.
11. If-Then Planning
Planning your schedule with if-then notes can help you anticipate and alleviate problems before they even happen.
For example, say you’re giving a presentation to potential investors. If they love the pitch, then you’re ready to implement. But what if they hate it? Your if-then plan might be: If they reject my idea, then I’ll offer Alternatives B and C.
If-then plans can keep your day structured while maintaining controllable flexibility.
Say you’re supposed to meet up with your friend at a coffee shop to discuss your new start-up. Your friend, while a hard-working sweetie pie and excellent business partner, is often two hours late to things. Since there’s a good chance she doesn’t show up on time, you can throw an if-then plan: If she’s on time, then we’ll go over this quarter’s plan. If she’s late, then I’ll work on our media kit until she arrives.
If-then planning gives you an immediate solution if Plan A falls through.
12. Parallel Play
Parallel play refers to when two or more children play in proximity to one another, but they’re not interacting. Everyone has their own separate toy or activity. It’s a low-effort form of socialization with a lot of the mental and emotional benefits.
You can apply this concept to work! If you don’t work in an office, you might enlist a friend or colleague to join you in a work sesh. You both do your own thing, but having another person there can help hold you accountable and motivate you.
I guess you could call this “co-working,” but is that as cute? Is that as whimsical? No, Ethan, it isn’t.
13. Schedule Personal Check-Ins
Life is full of experimentation. Even your current job is an experiment–if you absolutely despise it, you’ll probably quit! That’s an experiment. Anytime we make a decision is a little bit of a guess, and if things go a certain way, we’ll stick with the decision. If they go another way, we might not.
This makes scheduling personal check-ins helpful. For example, if you’re starting a job in a new industry, and you’re not sure if it’ll be fulfilling–you can schedule a check-in for a certain date (like a year from your start date), and even write down a few questions you want to ask yourself at that time.
A year after my starting date, I’ll ask myself:
- Do I feel excited to go to work?
- Am I living comfortably on the salary?
- Is my stress unmanageable? (Or something more specific, like, did that anxiety rash come back?)
- Ask spouse if I’ve gotten crankier.
Usually when we make a decision, we do have criteria like that in mind, but as we fall into the habit of that decision, it may be a slow fade as we just accept the path of least resistance and never even notice that we’re unhappy.
Setting up those questions and a date to check back in keeps you accountable to your past and future selves, so you can be sure you’re not just comfortable in a less than optimal situation or avoiding the cost of change.
If this list didn’t scratch your productivity hack itch, check out these 10 proven tips to boost daily productivity.
