What are some productivity hacks you use?

[Jeff Gibson]

I'm a big fan of tools or techniques to say productive. What are some of your favorites?

I'll share one of mine, if something takes less than 5 minutes, just so it immediately.

Even if it's not high priority I find that just doing it is faster than planning to do it in the future.

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

If I forget to do something more than once, I add it to my Trello board.  That way it shames me till I do it.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Jeff Gibson welcome to the Atlassian Community!

I've always had trouble with that articular hack - my day would just end up being a series of disjointed five minute tasks rather than focused on deep work.

Here's two of my productivity hacks:

1. No meeting Fridays

2. Keep a neat and a dirty notebook - the dirty one is where you put EVERYTHING - never afraid to mess up the order. The neat one is where you copy over all of the important information and details. When? On Fridays!

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_]

My hack is simply to have too much to do, so you cannot afford to not be productive ;)

certainly isn't sustainable for long periods of time, but I much prefer busy times over not so busy ones.

[Jeff Gibson]

I'm a multiple time founder and I agree. The less important stuff falls off your plate as it should. 

As a bonus when you grow a team you already have a backlog of things to hand off.

[Alex G]

I write what I need to do and also take small breaks when I can. I work for 30 minutes straight, then relax or stretch for 5, and then another 30 minutes. It helps me focus.

[Josh Shepherd]

Trello lists: Brain dump, sort and organize, prioritize, and suddenly you have a more manageable problem. :) 

Also an app called MeetingBar which puts your agenda at the top menu.. you can join your meetings from there and see whats up at a glance. Love it. :) 

[Leslie Barrett]

When I get a new project enhancement request from a user (via our backlog) I make sure to review and groom it within 24hrs. By adding a parent and component as part of the grooming, I've started organizing the next release and prevented having to reread through the issues over and over again.

[Stephen_Lugton]

One of mine is kind of the opposite to @Jeff Gibson, set aside time where you won't pick up other tasks, and then have an hour set aside later for the small things that come in; if you don't need the full hour then carry on your normal work.

[Gulshan Negi]

Well, in a very simple and straightforward point, staying productive doesn’t always require complex systems or tools.

Most of the times, small, simple habits can make a big difference in how much you get done each day. On behalf of my personal experiences, I can suggest below things to you, that might be very helpful to increase your productivity and keep your focus.  

• If it takes less than 10 minutes, then do it immediately
• Eat the frog first; it means you have to start with the hardest task first
• In-stead of doing multitasking, I will recommend you do one task at a time, and for doing this better, you can use a timer for 25–30 minutes and focus only on one task
• Keep only 2–3 important tasks for the day
• Turn off all kinds of notifications while working, such as facebook, instagram, games or other social media thigs. Specially block adult or distracting websites which can divert your mind and for this you can use free tool like blockerplus which has free options which have some basic features. 
• Make tomorrow plan by today EOD.
• Keep your workspace clean and simple
• Take short breaks to avoid burnout
• Start even if you don’t feel ready, momentum will follow.
• I also recommend you to read the book, which will sharp your mind. 

All of these are very simple habits or things that you can start easily. I hope these will help you.

Thanks

[Gargi Rana]

Keep things simple and work smart. My daily routine starts by picking the most important tasks and finishing them first, then i move onto smaller tasks and complete them right away instead of delaying them. I also manage the time by working for 25 minutes, resting for a short break, then working again and repeating the cycle, this will help you to stay focused, boost productivity and avoid feeling tired. And i make a list of my tasks so that i didn't forget or miss anything.