Productivity Hacks that worked for me

Ever since I got to college, I have been obsessed with productivity and this has made me look for a lot of tips and tricks all over the internet. I have seen tons of videos by productivity YouTubers like Ali Abdaal. Some of the tips I got from there have worked in my favor, but some always make me doubt my potential.

One of those tips which make me think I am a loser is using some kind of a to-do list or time block. I have tried those and failed so many times. I will be sad after seeing my undone task all over the to-do list app I preferred to use.

Through time I have gotten used to the fact that using a to-do list or some sort of calendar doesn’t work for me. This may be because I lack self-discipline or I don’t plan smart goals while I try to follow that trick.

That’s enough for the measure that hasn’t worked for me. And I would like to underline that the method by itself has no problem. Because some of the most respected entrepreneurs and business magnates use this productivity hack and their success seems to have no stop.

Well, what worked for me? What has worked for my modest college grades, personal projects, and other hobbies? I will start from Wisdom 0 and go up to Wisdom 4. Let me enlighten you!

Wisdom 0: Do what you love! Or learn to love what you do!

Unfortunately, we are not destined to always get what we love in life so the first part of this “wisdom” is kind of BS and useless. However, the second part tells you to enjoy what you do and find some good in your studies or jobs. Cherish the fine parts of the thing you do. Adapt to the situation because evolutionarily we are meant to be adaptive creatures.

This is the hardest part of the tricks to be used to be the productive man/woman you always aspire to be. Trust me! I have had my fair ups and downs in the process of accepting and loving what I do. You just have to embrace the fact and move on.

Wisdom 1: Learn things! Even those things that seem irrelevant to your career paths…

After the industrial revolution, the concept of specialization is worshipped by many and it is still the operating philosophy in almost every company and workspace. While specialization makes things much easier for the industries and the employers, it makes us these dull robots that are skilled in certain areas only and only know to do that thing.

Naval Ravikant in an interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast said “Specialization is for insects.” We have to make it out of our scope and learn things that seem completely irrelevant and things that wouldn’t come in handy soon.

Instead of giving you an example from my own experience, I want to support my point with the famously known experience of Apple’s founder Steve Jobs. Jobs learned calligraphy in college when he dropped out of the courses he had registered for that semester. He seemed to like it and did that. After years he and his colleagues at Apple used his stylish handwriting and lettering in the design of the fonts to Mac.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in the future”. –Steve Jobs

Wisdom 2: Get your daily dose of caffeine!

Don’t be an addict, but drink one or two cups of coffee to get you boosted and full of creative ideas. You need to be conscious about it though. Skip coffee for one or two days a week. This will keep you out of developing tolerance to caffeine. Knowing this has changed my life for the better.

Wisdom 3: Use snippets of time here and there!

You may undermine the effectiveness of this tip at first, but it is the most powerful one of all the listed measures to become productive. I have found this on one video that lists lessons from Bill Gates and I have tried to incorporate it in my days.

The next time you are on a bus or a train going to places, pick up your phone and read that blog you have saved on your browser but had no time to read. If you have a stable connection around, listen to that teaching podcast by your favorite online personality.

I told this tip to one of my friends and he tells me it was helpful. You don’t have to force yourself on only productive things in your leisure time but you can look for a design idea on Pinterest, read an entertaining blog on Medium or even post your thoughts on Social Media.

Wisdom 4: Delegating tasks is gold!

You may be a pro at many things, but there’s this part of your projects you suck at. Calm down! Look around and I am sure there’s a perfect guy or gal out there for that particular part of your project. Give it to them.

One thing I have learned in my school years and working on assignments and projects is that trusting in people as if they are experts in it and giving them the credit for that makes your life easier and does great on your work-life balance.

My teammates and I had to develop a Desktop Application and present it to our lecturer last semester. And I noticed that if I do it on my own it may take longer and I am not good at designing apps. Therefore, I looked around and saw that one of my friends (teammates) was into graphics design and stuff like that. So I delegated the whole UI/UX Design and Front-end of the app we were going to build to him and trusted him in the process. He did a significantly great job at it that made our lecturer clap his hands with admiration.

Let’s wrap this up!

Pretty sure you have learned one thing or two from my experience and lessons in my journey to be somehow a productive person. I know I have a lot to learn and do through the process. The above tips may help you a lot in getting things done and they are practical and easy to do. Have a productive day you all!