Four Simple Tech Hacks That
Will Make You More Productive
Reclaim your productivity and squash procrastination with these tools.
While technology’s omnipresence in our lives
affords us the opportunity to get work done from anywhere at anytime, being on
devices all the time can lead us down time-wasting tunnels, making us less
productive.
Thankfully most of the smartphones and
computers we use now also have built-in settings or additional apps that can
help you reclaim your productivity so you can get back to using your devices
for work.
Here are four tech hacks to make you more
productive.
FIND OUT HOW YOU ARE REALLY
SPENDING YOUR TIME ONLINE
Recently I spent a week tracking how I
spent every hour of my day. I was surprised to find
that I was spending five times more time on some tasks than I thought, and not
spending as much time on other tasks as I assumed. But at the end of the
experiment, I at least had data I could use to help enact change.
There are a host of time-tracking apps that
give us insight into just how many hours we are spending surfing the web and
using various apps. The best thing about these time-tracking apps is that they
run in the background and automatically log your usage. After running the apps
for at least a week, you’ll then have a good idea of whether you are truly
being productive on your devices, or if you are using them to procrastinate
more than you thought.
One of the most robust is ManicTime, which not
only tracks how much time you spend in each app, but in each document you open.
This means you can see if you are giving one project more time than another,
and can decide whether that project actually deserves the additional time. ManicTime
also tracks which websites you visited and how long you spent on each. It even
tracks the time you spent away from your computer. It’s available for PC,
Mac, Android, and even Linux.
RescueTime is another useful time-tracking app for PC, Mac, Android, and
Linux that allows you to set productivity goals for the day, and even gives you
a daily productivity score. If you have an iOS device, give Moment a look. It tracks how much you use the apps on your device each
day, and even logs how much time you pick up your phone every day. If you’re an
Android user, try QualityTime for similar features.
USE PARENTAL CONTROLS TO KEEP
YOU FROM PROCRASTINATING
If you find that you are wasting a lot of
time on social media sites, you don’t have to rely on willpower alone to avoid
them. Instead, you can block them. While the main operating systems (macOS,
Windows, and iOS) don’t offer app or website blocking functions per se, they do
all offer parental controls that you can enable and use for yourself.
- If
you’re on iOS, go to Settings > General > Restrictions to turn
parental controls on and set blocked websites.
- macOS
users should go to System Preferences > Parental Controls.
- Windows
users can find them under Windows Settings > Accounts > Family &
Other People.
- Android
users can download the TrendMicro app, which allows users to easily block
access to certain websites.
ENABLE DO NOT DISTURB MODES
DURING THE DAYTIME
The solutions above work great if you’re the
one to blame for wasting your time. But if you find your time is being wasted
by your friends who won’t stop texting, or by apps that keep
sending social media or news alerts during work hours, you need to block
them from doing so. The good news is that you don’t even need to make those
friends and apps aware of your tactics.
All the major OSes have versions of a “do not
disturb” mode built into them. When activated, these modes prevent
notifications being sent to your device. By default, do not disturb modes are
usually set to turn on at night when you should be sleeping. But a great hack
is to flip the schedule on its head and turn them on during the day when you
have work to do, so even if your friends keep texting, or those social media
sites keep pinging you, there’s no way you’ll get the distracting notification
until your work is done.
- On
a Mac, go into your Notification Center, swipe down and toggle Do Not
Disturb to “On.” Toggle it to “Off” when your work is done for the day.
- On
an iOS device, go into your Control Center and tap the present moon button
to enable Do Not Disturb.
- On
a PC, right-click on the Action Center icon in the taskbar notification
area. Select “Turn On Quiet Hours” to enable do not disturb mode.
- On
an Android device, swipe down from the top of the display to open the
notification screen and tap on the Do Not Disturb icon.
FORCE YOURSELF TO TAKE BREAKS
WITH “TIME OUT” APPS
Even when you’re focusing on work, it’s still
important to remember to take breaks. Science shows breaks actually make us more
productive, not less. Thankfully there are a few free apps that
you can install on your work machines that will automatically tell you when
it’s time to step away from the keyboard.
If you’re on a Mac, Time Out–Break Reminders is an excellent app that lets you schedule “normal” five- to
10-minute breaks every hour and a seconds-long “micro” break every 15 minutes.
PC and Linux users can get the same capabilities from the excellent
freeware Workrave.
BY MICHAEL GROTHAUS
https://www.fastcompany.com/40529532/4-simple-tech-hacks-to-make-you-more-productive?utm_source=postup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Fast%20Company%20Daily&position=6&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=02152018
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