27 Best Productivity Hacks & Tips That Actually Work in 2024

27-best-productivity-hacks-and-tips-that-actually-work-in-2024

Productivity means doing what you intend to do by aligning your actions with your values and ensuring you focus on traction—actions that move you toward your goals—rather than distractions that pull you away.

While researching how to combat distraction and increase productivity for my book Indistractable, I’ve uncovered a list of the best productivity tips and strategies, and I’ve relied on them ever since. By implementing these hacks, you can streamline processes, reduce wasted time, and enhance focus, ultimately boosting overall productivity and achieving more with less effort.

From adjustments to your phone, desktop, email, and more, these productivity tips will help you minimize distractions, train your brain to work effectively and build an efficient schedule that boosts your efficiency.

The Importance of Being Productive

Productivity means prioritizing tasks that lead to traction—actions that draw you closer to your goals and values. When you focus on traction, you minimize the impact of distractions that pull you away from your intended path, thereby enhancing your ability to accomplish meaningful work. This approach not only boosts your efficiency but also ensures that your efforts are directed towards achieving your personal and professional aspirations.

Moreover, being productive allows you to reclaim your time and use it more effectively. By focusing on high-value activities and eliminating unnecessary distractions, you create space for what really matters in your life. Whether it’s spending quality time with family, pursuing hobbies, or simply relaxing, being productive helps you maintain an intent-based life. Embracing the principles of productivity as defined in Indistractable empowers you to take control of your life, ensuring that your time is spent in ways that are truly meaningful and fulfilling.

How to Be More Productive: 27 Best Productivity Hacks

Becoming more productive isn’t as simple as finding the “perfect” productivity app or trick; it’s also about learning how to be more productive through deliberate practice and experimentation. You can try out a few of these top hacks, evaluate their effectiveness, and discover which ones truly enhance your productivity.

1. Customize Focus Modes on Your Smartphone

Modern smartphones are equipped with features that can help you stay focused. For example, Apple iOS offers a range of focus modes that silence disruptions while you’re driving, sleeping, or working. Android’s Digital Wellbeing’s focus mode allows you to preset schedules to mute certain apps during personal time or focused work sessions.

2. Set Hourly Reminders

Program your phone to chime every hour to help you stay on track with your timeboxed calendar. This reminder will alert you if you need to adjust your work pace, ensuring you maintain your productivity throughout the day and can keep up with your schedule.

3. Timebox Your Schedule

Timeboxing is a powerful method to ensure you spend your time on what truly matters. Allocate specific time slots for different tasks and stick to them. This approach not only boosts your productivity but also helps prevent distractions by keeping you focused on one task at a time.

4. Create a Distraction-Free Workspace

Set up a workspace that minimizes interruptions. This might include using noise-canceling headphones, placing a “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door, or creating a dedicated workspace that’s separate from areas used for relaxation.

5. Declutter Your Desktop

Visual clutter can lead to mental clutter and decreased productivity. 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 tip may seem like too quick a fix, but I’ve 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.

6. Bundle Tasks

You can accomplish simple tasks simultaneously by grouping together activities that don’t require your full focus and attention, helping you use your time more effectively. For instance, you can walk and listen to a podcast or do laundry while brainstorming for your next blog post.

7. Remove Unnecessary Apps

Kick to the curb all apps that no longer serve you or align with your values. Purging these apps will create more space on your phone and reduce potential distractions, helping you stay focused and productive.

8. Replace Problematic Apps with Scheduled Use

Rather than give in to the temptation to constantly check problematic apps like X, YouTube, and Facebook, consider replacing them with a 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.

9. Rearrange Your Home Screen

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. 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 mental space you need to refocus on your real task.

10. Reclaim Your Notifications

Turn off the visual and sound notifications for all apps, except for those that share urgent messages, like phone and texting apps. This simple, one-time action can significantly reduce distractions and improve your focus, paying lifelong dividends in productivity.

11. Use Do Not Disturb Mode

Activate the “Do Not Disturb” mode on your devices during focused work periods to block all but the most critical notifications. This helps you maintain a distraction-free environment.

12. Schedule Email Time

Allocate specific times of the day to check and respond to emails instead of allowing them to interrupt you throughout the day. This helps you stay focused on more important tasks.

13. Use Website Blockers

Install browser extensions or software that block distracting websites during work hours. Tools like StayFocusd or Freedom can help prevent you from accessing time-wasting sites.

14. Filter Your Emails

Don’t open and respond to all emails in the same span of time. Instead, rely on the two-touch hack for emails. At the first touch, you’ll open the email and tag it for a response either later in the day or week, unless it needs an immediate response. Then you’ll close it without replying and set a specified time to reply. Tagging emails in this way frees your mind from distraction and boosts your productivity because you know you’ll reply during the time you’ve allocated for the task.

15. Manage Interruptions at Work

Set clear expectations with colleagues about when you can and cannot be interrupted. Use signals, such as wearing headphones or scheduling “office hours” for when you are available for questions or discussions.

16. Set Clear Boundaries

Creating boundaries around your work and personal life is crucial. Inform colleagues and family members of your focused work times and the importance of minimizing interruptions. This hack helps you protect your time and maintain high levels of productivity.

17. Use Precommitment Pacts

Make precommitment pacts to prevent distractions. Use effort pacts to make unwanted behavior more difficult or price pacts to put money on the line, encouraging you to stick to your commitments. Alternatively, create identity pacts to align your self-perception with your goals and values.

18. Master Internal Triggers

Identify and understand the internal triggers that lead to distraction. Write down these triggers and explore the negative sensations associated with them. Addressing these internal triggers can help break the cycle of distraction.

19. Plan Your Day in Advance

Allocate specific times for tasks, breaks, and personal activities. Planning your day in advance ensures that you’re intentional about how you spend your time, making it easier to stick to your schedule and avoid distractions.

20. Use Implementation Intentions

Set clear intentions for what you will do when faced with a potential distraction. For example, “If I feel the urge to check social media, I’ll take a five-minute walk instead.” This helps you stay on track and resist temptations.

21. Conduct a Time Audit

Track how you spend your time for a few days to identify patterns and areas where you can improve. Understanding how you currently allocate your time can help you make more intentional choices about how to use it effectively.

22. Use the 10-Minute Rule

When you feel the urge to get distracted, use the 10-minute rule. Tell yourself that you can give in to the distraction after just 10 minutes. Often, by the time the 10 minutes are up, the urge will have passed, allowing you to stay focused on your task. This technique helps manage internal triggers and increases productivity by delaying gratification.

23. Create a “Ulysses Pact”

A Ulysses Pact is a type of precommitment that binds you to a course of action. For example, use website blockers that require a third party to unlock or schedule activities that commit you to a specific task, making it harder to deviate.

24. Optimize Your Work Environment

Design your workspace to minimize distractions. This might include keeping essential tools within reach and maintaining a clutter-free environment to enhance focus and productivity.

25. Reflect on Your Progress

Regularly review your progress and reflect on what works and what doesn’t. This practice helps you adjust your strategies and stay aligned with your goals, continuously improving your productivity.

26. Conduct a Distraction Audit

Perform a distraction audit to identify the external triggers that frequently interrupt your workflow. Keep a log of when and why you get distracted throughout the day. By understanding these patterns, you can take proactive steps to eliminate or mitigate these triggers, leading to a more focused and productive work environment.

27. Engage in Deep Work

Set aside dedicated time blocks for deep work, periods of focused, uninterrupted work on cognitively demanding tasks. This practice enhances your ability to produce high-quality work and make significant progress on important projects.

Becoming Indistractable with These Productivity Hacks

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 become 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 maker template.