Note: This article is by Brandon Turner, who shares his experience improving his productivity.
They helped me make the past 12 months the most astonishing in my life. I will also share how you can apply them to make 2021 the best year you have ever lived.
Productivity tips that can change your life
1. Time-Blocking
While making a to-do list isn't inherently bad, why do so many people create enormous lists of things they need to do but never fulfill them to get around to doing them?
This year, I decided that the list alone was not enough, as I had to specify an actual time in my day to accomplish these tasks. This concept is often known as “time-blocking,” and it is so simple and effective that you may get upset because you did not apply it earlier.
Just set aside time to complete each task on your to-do list on your calendar. It doesn't matter if you're using an actual or an online calendar; just set aside time to work on each item on your list.
Then, don't let yourself get distracted when you're in the time slot for a task, turn off your phone, don't check your email (unless it's in the time slot designated for it), and get the job done.
2. Complete the most important tasks first
When I really list the things that are important in my day, there is usually only one or two things that need to be done to push the work forward, and although there are countless tasks and items on my to-do list, there are one or two things that are far more important than the rest.
I often postponed these things in the past because they required the most effort or because they needed a lot of things I didn't know. I would check email, schedule meetings, and do hundreds of other tasks before I reluctantly started if I did at all on my main task.
As a result, the only thing I needed to do to push my work forward was often not done, and business growth was slow.
I made a change this year; I decided to tackle the huge task first, before anything else, and for me, that was writing a book. I would wake up every day and write a thousand words before I did anything else. In 100 days, I completed my first draft on rental property investing, which we published in December, and we sold $150,000 worth of copies in just ten days.
You set the pace for the rest of the day by scheduling your most important task, and your work is likely to be at its best.
3. Apply multitasking wisely
Multitasking rarely works, despite what almost everyone says. When you multitask, you accomplish each task less effectively as your brain tries to switch between different tasks, wasting a large part of your day.
Last year, I committed to reducing multitasking simultaneously and tried to focus more on the task at hand. For example, when my wife was talking to me, I turned off the computer; while driving, I avoided texting; and when I made a Skype call with the rest of the Bigger Pockets team, I kept the browser window closed.
Of course, I still suffer from this because it is difficult for me to be totally present at work, as is the case for many people, but in the past year, I made a conscious decision to reduce multitasking and increase the focus on only one thing.
Naturally, audiobooks are the only exception to the rule. Listening to audiobooks or podcasts can be one of the best ways to change your life, and it does not require any additional time. You can listen to them while driving, exercising in the gym, cooking dinner, or sleeping. It is a great way to multitask effectively and to become a better person.
4. Invest in developing a methodology
This year, I started thinking of everything as a methodology, a system that could be documented, replicated, and outsourced, and instead of “doing a webinar,” I created a whole “webinar methodology” that allowed me to host more than 50 webinars on direct real estate investing, each of which was brand new and took just a few hours of work a week.
The best part about making everything systematic is that the work can be outsourced. I worked with a virtual assistant specifically on the webinar system, and it could carry 80% of my workload. It now prepares tutorials on the web, drafts emails, and tracks the conversion results. I only have to attend the webinar and start teaching.
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