Time for some more personal productivity cheats. Because the best personal productivity cheats are new ones, I have quite a few of them that have helped me out.
The first one has gotten me over some huge mental blocks in the past. Some tasks, usually unfamiliar tasks, just seem to repel me from getting started. But of course they’re easy once you just commit to doing it.
This productivity cheat makes it super easy to commit to getting started.
It consists of 3 timers which are used to time breaks and work sessions. The first timer is a mere 3 minutes, which is just small enough that it’s impossible to say no to… and just big enough to gather a tiny bit of momentum.
At first the frequent breaks are welcome, but they quickly get annoying as you build momentum. Wa-la, now you feel anxiety NOT working rather than the other way around.
Second is the online stopwatch. Simply start this when you first sit down at the computer to work and see how long it takes you to complete your first major task of the day.
If the number starts to balloon, you’ll feel pressure to finish quickly. This helps to eliminate “prep” time, the dreaded email/facebook/twitter cycle and other small distractions.
For the online stopwatch I use the full screen option. And I use it in Google Chrome where I can pin the tab in the corner so it’s out of the way while I work.
Hope you try these and leave a comment letting me know how they work for you. Cheers!