As we settle into the first month of the new year, many of us are looking for ways to work smarter, not harder. Whether you are tackling a thesis, managing a team, or just trying to get through your personal to-do list, the “busy-ness” trap is real. We often feel like we’re moving fast, but are we moving forward?
True productivity isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what matters with focus and intent. To help you I’ve rounded up the 10 most popular and cited productivity tips that are most discussed. I’ll end by revealing my favorite and the thing that’s still on my todo list.
The Top 10 Productivity Power-Moves
- The Pomodoro Technique: Break your work into 25-minute “sprints” followed by a 5-minute break. It creates an artificial sense of urgency and prevents burnout before it starts.
- Eat the Frog: Do your hardest, most dreaded task first thing in the morning. Once it’s done, everything else will feel easy, and you’ll avoid the “procrastination cloud” hanging over your head.
- Time Blocking: Instead of a simple list, assign specific blocks of time on your calendar for specific tasks. If it isn’t scheduled, it rarely gets done.
- The Two-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes (like replying to a quick email or filing a paper), do it immediately. Storing it in your brain or on a list takes more energy than just finishing it.
- The Eisenhower Matrix: Stop reacting to “urgent” tasks that aren’t actually “important.” Use this 4-quadrant grid to decide what to do now, what to schedule for later, what to delegate, and what to delete.
- Batch Your Tasks: Group similar activities together—like answering all emails at 4:00 PM or doing all your errands on Tuesday afternoon. This reduces “context switching,” which can eat up to 40% of your productive time.
- Single-Tasking (Ditch Multitasking): Despite what we tell ourselves, the human brain cannot multitask complex work. Focus on one thing at a time to finish it faster and with fewer errors.
- Optimize Your Environment: Your brain associates certain spaces with certain behaviors. Find a “deep work” spot where you only work, and keep it clutter-free.
- The “Daily Shutdown” Ritual: Spend the last 10 minutes of your day reviewing what you finished and writing your top 3 goals for tomorrow. This lets your brain truly “switch off” in the evening.
- Prioritize Sleep and Movement: You cannot pour from an empty cup. Science consistently shows that a 20-minute walk or an extra hour of sleep boosts cognitive function more than an extra hour of “grinding.”
Hopefully, you found some inspiring tools to test! I know I’ve mentioned these before, but for this new year, I have to be honest: a basic to-do list, MS Planner, or Trello are still my most-used apps. From the list above, I mainly practice numbers 2, 3, and 4.
Even though I know other hacks and systems are clever, I can’t always fit them into my specific mix of projects and routines. As part of my ‘well-being project,’ I also set out to try new sports this winter, but it never seems to work out—maybe that’s just one of those goals that shouldn’t have made the list in the first place! 😅
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your current situation as a business owner, take a look through the site for more deep-dives into the design and innovation frameworks I use.
Or, maybe it’s a customer focused development framework and not a todo list that’s missing. Ask for information about coaching in innovation and designing thinking below. It’s online, assignment based and takes you from challenge mapping to testing new ideas in just weeks, and with a coach by your side.
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