Weekly Round-Up #29: 11 + 4 ways to be more productive, TimeBoxing in the real world and how to Kill your To-Do list

Hello fellow productivity lovers! I hope you’re enjoying the weather wherever you are. We’ve been quite lucky in the U.K considering it’s been Wimbledon and the Ashes and it always rains when we have sport on over here!

Anyway, we’re taking another break from our Body Language Basics series and I’ve rounded up a bumper lot of productivity hints and tips for you. This week there’s no real theme, just some great articles that I hope you will get something from – Enjoy!

Time management is only making our busy lives worse – Quartz

Apparently by watching how we spend our time, we’re actually causing ourselves to have less time! Finding tasks to fill in any spare gaps in our schedules is having a detrimental effect on our productivity and happiness.

4 Facts You Need to Know to Improve Productivity – P.C Mag

Apparently big bonuses don’t help productivity (I happen to beg to differ) but being creative outside of work does (I happen to agree wholeheartedly). This article could be a bit divisive – let me know your thoughts on whether monetary (or time-in-lieu) bonuses work in the comments.

Two big-picture concepts that help me plan my days/weeks/months – The Modern Mrs Darcy

Read how “Mrs Darcy” uses Timeboxing to good effect in order to manage daily tasks,and how anchor events can save you from floating off into a sea of unproductiveness.

Recommended: Weekly Round-Up #80: Paper vs Technology for To-Do Lists, Tame Your Calendar And Earn Respect At Work

This week we take a look at 11 simple techniques you can use to gain more respect at work, some tools for Gmail (one of which will help you tame your calendar) and whether Paper or Technology is best for your to-do lists.

Read Article »

Waking Up Is Hard to Do – Kevin Roose on Medium

I hate waking up in the morning. I’ve been to classes about it, read books until they came out of my ears (shouldn’t that be eyes?) and I still struggle with the act of getting out of my pit (as my Father calls it) and venturing into the real world. If you struggle as I do, you’ll appreciate Kevin Roose’s take on building a successful morning routine – and yes, it’s all about routine!

This clever planner could solve your freelance woes – Creative Bloq

Are you a freelancer who struggles to map out your time and finances? There are plenty of Apps that help you keep track of you time and assist you in billing clients but for those of you who prefer something a little more tangible check out this post from Creative Bloq where they take a look at the new Freelance Planner.

Two Ways to Avoid Internet Time Suck and Get More Work Done – Productivityist

I’ll be discussing Time Suck in more detail in August, but until then check out the Productivityist’s post about how to stay more focussed when you’re on the Internet.

11 Things Ultra-Productive People Do Differently – Entrepreneur

You need to “Eat That Frog” and “Never touch things twice” apparently. There’s some good tips here that will help you become more productive and more relaxed as a result.

How to Kill Your To-Do List – Early To Rise

If you’re like me, you love making to-do lists, the problem can be though that no matter how organised and pretty they are we never accomplish anything. This post by Leo Babauta gives you some solid advice into how to turn nicely organised to-dos into great to-dones.

Hat Tip: Lifehacker

One simple change to your phone settings could radically improve your productivity – Business Insider

This is such a simple solution, and one that I have adopted for the most part. I won’t spoil the surprise as I really think you should read the article but if you’re a slave to your smart phone then this tip is definitely for you.

Recommended: Weekly Round-Up #81: Shorten Your To-Do List, Secret Habits Of Successful People and Stop Saying Sorry

In this week's round-up we look at how to prioritize your tasks, perfect career goals for the rest of the year and why you need to stop saying sorry so much and say what you really mean

Read Article »

Check Your Vibes: 9 Tips To Shatter The Motivation Myth And Stop Procrastinating – The Frisky

Do you start of feeling really productive and then suddenly find you’ve lost the will to live? You’re not alone! Check out this article which helps you realise why you may be putting off those tasks that should really be exciting you.

Have A Great Weekend

I hope you’ve enjoyed my round-up this week. If you have any comments I’d love to hear from you, and if you’d like to suggest an article please leave a comment or contact me using my contact form.

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About The Author

Katy is always trying to be more productive one day at a time! Whether it's analogue, digital, motivational or psychological who'll try any system that will help her get things done and get organised. As well as running FlippingHeck.com, she also loves making music and reviewing things.

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