These easy-to-follow tips will improve your output dramatically. 1. Remove Notifications ๐ Check your phone after a couple of hours. Keep an eye on the app with the most notifications. Block them. Don't fear . FOMO Choose your shots. You are going to lose some content around. Deal with it. Watch . The Social Dilemma 2. Slice your time ๐ Use blocks of time without interruptions (timeboxing). My favorite is . Pomodoro Technique If you come across new tasks write them down. Don't multitask. You cannot switch until time is up. 20 minutes it's a good slice. 3. Inbox = 0 ๐ฅ Keep your inbox ALWAYS empty. Unsubscribe to all irrelevant mails (most of the time is a just-one-click). Create filtering rules - out of the inbox. If you need to action on mails: (keep the list out, create a special folder). Inbox is not a To-do list. 4. Find your Flow ๐ฏ๏ธ Creative work happens on . flow state Takes some time to enter flow (about 15 mins). Takes one second to leave it and go to the queue again. Remove all external flow interruptions, notifications, noise. Control all internal stimulus. 5. Use ๐ญ Zenware Use simple software. Minimalistic tasks editors like and simple managing software like . writemonkey Trello Don't procrastinate gold plating your articles. 6. Close Your Browser Tabs ๐ Manage to-do lists and items. Do not open multiple tabs. No operating system or web browser handles them very well. Neither you. Don't multitask.If something takes less than two minutes do it. Else add it to To-Do list. Web tabs are not to-do lists. 7. Find for everything ๐ Homes Every object (real or virtual) should have a home. We can keep inboxes (or incoming places) for things a couple of days. We need brief processes to empty those inboxes. When emptying those inboxes we should define new 'homes' if necessary. 8. Keep a Daily Agenda ๐ Start each day with a short daily agenda. You can mix personal and work items or keep them in two separate lists. Plan for unplanned work. Revisit hourly to keep up. And close it at night. Never reuse it for the next day. Start from scratch. 9. Automate Repetitive Tasks ๐ค Find repeatable shortcuts. Automate repetitive tasks. It is a two sharp blade. Never automate when DOING a task. Automating is more enjoyable than doing (Procrastination). Automate only tasks made on daily basis. Don't automate infrequent things. 10. Avoid Unproductive Meetings ๐ค Schedule meetings for 25 or 50 minutes. So you can have time to switch. Meetings without agenda are useless. Avoid meetings with more than three people. The outcome of the meeting should be action items. Commitments must include: who / what / when 11. Avoid Multitasking ๐จโ๐ผ Donโt multitask. Work on one task at a time. Multitasking is a myth, and trying to do it only splits your focus. Human Brain is monotask. Context Switching for neurons is too expensive, so you are thrashing most of the time. Focus -> Flow. 12. Avoid Voice Calls ๐ Voice Calls are interruptions. Interruptions are our worst enemy. Avoid unscheduled voice calls. If it is not urgent you can talk via messaging in an asynchronous way. If it is urgent, double check it is urgent. If you wanna talk, schedule! 13. Early in the Morning ๐ค๏ธ Eat the Frog Do the annoying tasks early in the morning. Plan for the day. Review everything accomplished the day before. 14. Don't reuse Daily to-do Lists โ๏ธ Start each day with a different one. With this method there's no carry over. Daily check yesterday's unfinished goals and evaluate if they deserve being on the new list. 15. Measure Objectives ๐ Set long term, middle term and short term goals. They should not be fuzzy. Set a realistic and measurable metric. If it is not measurable with exit condition it is not a goal. Keep track on them on a weekly basis. Change it if need it. 16. Don't Save for Later ๐ Save for later is a myth. There are excellent apps like , , , etc. Pocket Inoreader Evernote But unless you consume the list often this will grow forever. Don't save content, consume it. Don't . Hoard I'm sure there are plenty of productivity tips I haven't mentioned here. Which ones work best for you? Update Article was a huge success! See part II Simple Tips to Boost Your Productivity in 2021 (Part 2) : https://medium.com/dev-genius/16-simple-tips-to-boost-your-productivity-x10-5977e2a00697 Also published on