2670: 5 Simple Productivity Hacks That Will Change Your Life by Julianna Poplin of Simply Fiercely on Eliminating Distractions

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep?

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the idea behind our new podcast Good Sleep.

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So, press play on Good Sleep Tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a Good Night's sleep.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Health Daily Episode 2670, 5 Simple Productivity Hacks That Will Change Your Life by

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Julianna Poplin of SimplyFiercely.com, and I'm Dr. Neal.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another Sunday bonus episode. This is where I share an episode from another podcast and

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: our network, and this one today is coming from my Brothers Podcast, Optimal Living Daily.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: You could find that podcast wherever you're hearing this. So with that, here's my brother Justin

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_01]: as we optimize your life. 5 Simple Productivity Hacks That Will Change Your Life by Julianna Poplin

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: of SimplyFiercely.com. It's frustrating to get to the end of the day and feel like

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: nothing you wanted to get done was accomplished. There are constantly so many distractions

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: that you may not even realize they're happening. To help you regain your focus,

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: here are 5 Simple Productivity Hacks That Will Change Your Life. 5 Simple Productivity Hacks

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Set Your goals, Reassess Your Schedule, Plan ahead, Focus on your priorities, and stack your

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: habits. 1 Set Your goals Your first Simple Productivity Hack is to set your goals.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01]: You can't get to where you want to go if you don't know where it is you want to get to.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Start by taking the time to think through your goals. This step is imperative.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Imagine that you want Google Maps to give you directions. You have to give it a destination

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: or has no way of knowing which streets to go on and what directions you need to take to get there.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: What is your desired destination? Vague goals aren't very helpful either. To maximize your

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: likelihood of success, you need specific and measurable goals. I like the smart method.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: This approach gives you a framework for setting clear and more focused goals. Smart stands for

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: 2 Reassess Your Schedule Does your current schedule match up with your goals for your life?

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It's so easy to get caught up in a default life. Different things are asked of you constantly

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and it can be hard to say no, particularly if you're a people pleaser. There are various reasons

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: while your life may be busy and clutter. The problem comes when you spend all of your time doing

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_01]: things you didn't intend to do and you don't have time left for the things that matter most to you.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: There are always a variety of events, obligations, and opportunities being presented to you.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: With social media it's easy to feel like you're missing out. But when you say yes often

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: you're still missing out. It may be the things you need most like rest and time with family

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: that you're missing out on by being so busy with all of the other commitments.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Every yes you give to something by default means no to something else.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: This second simple productivity hack is to take some time to reassess your schedule and think

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: through your commitments. If you want to be able to work on your goals and be more productive

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: you need to set aside the time and space to be able to focus on the tasks that go along with that.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_01]: 3 Planning a Head After you've created some space in your life

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Your next simple productivity hack is to set aside time to plan.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution. This gives you 1000

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: percent return on energy. Brian Tracy. Planning your day simply and effectively

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: takes some practice but if you stick with it and set aside time regularly to plan the upcoming day

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_01]: or week you will notice results. When you plan ahead you're able to be more efficient and

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: purposeful with your time. While you're planning keep in mind what your priorities are for that period

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: of time. Planning gives you the ability to set your priorities intentionally ahead of time.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: It helps you to be purposeful with your time and keeps your goals at the forefront.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Planning also provides clarity. I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to work without a plan

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and then wasted hours getting distracted by various things because they didn't have a clear intent

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: to begin with. When you designate time in your schedule for a specific task you make it clear what

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: you'll be working on for that time block. 4 Focus on your priorities

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Planning ahead helps you set aside time for your most important tasks. When you're in those time

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01]: blocks the most important thing you need to do is focus. This may seem like a simple productivity hack

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_01]: but it may be the most challenging one to actually do. We've become so used to being distracted

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: so much of the time that we hardly know what it feels like anymore to spend a significant amount

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: of time focusing. Instead we try to multitask by jumping from one thing to the next and the

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: result typically fewer things accomplished and less than optimal result. About a month ago I

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: challenged myself to spend a three hour time block when my husband and children would be gone

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: to focus on one single task, writing. Two things really surprised me after those three hours

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_01]: were over. One was how difficult it was to stay focused on the task while so tempted numerous times

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: to just check Facebook real quick. However I kept forcing myself to focus and didn't allow

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_01]: myself to give in to distraction temptations. The second most surprising thing was how much I

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: never would have guessed that I could have come up with ideas for 20 different posts and have

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_01]: outlines for all of them and how could I have known that without the experience of making myself

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_01]: stay on task try focusing. This challenging and takes practice but it works and number five

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_01]: stack your habits. One easy way to work towards your goals and be more productive is to work

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: not only on your schedule but also on your habits. I recently finished reading atomic habits by

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: James Clear and learned simple ways to change your habits. One of my favorite ways that he mentions

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_01]: is called habit stacking which is your last simple productivity hack. The idea behind habit

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: stacking is that you're taking a habit that you already have and stacking a new habit you want with it.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: It feels less effortful to start a new habit when you're pairing it alongside something you're

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: already doing. For example let's say you have a goal of drinking more water and let's imagine that

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: you eat breakfast at 7am every morning. If you add drinking a glass of water to your pre-existing habit

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: of eating breakfast at 7, it'll seem pretty easy. Attaching a new habit to a current habit is an

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: easier transition than trying to create an entirely new habit by itself. When you work on your habits

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_01]: they eventually become second nature. That means that once you have those habits in place

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_01]: they feel less effortful because you no longer have to think about them. These five simple

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_01]: productivity hacks of setting your goals, reassessing your schedule, planning ahead, focusing on

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_01]: your priorities and stacking your habits will change your life. Each of them takes some time,

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: practice and intentionality. However the payoff for how much more productive you will be in working

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: towards your goals makes it more than worth the effort. You just listen to the post titled

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_01]: five simple productivity hacks that will change your life by Julianna Poplan of SimplyFairSlee.com.

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_01]: If they get a Julianna my personal favorite is habit stacking. It's something we already do pretty

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_01]: much unconsciously but when thinking about building a new habit it's like we forget that it's even a

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_01]: like our morning routine most of us have already stacked certain things into our morning. We turn off

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: the alarm clock, maybe look at our phones, get up, use the restroom, brush our teeth, it's all stacked

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: in one on top of the other and I'd be very surprised if you don't do those things in a certain order.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Same with nighttime. Probably something similar you brush your teeth, use the restroom,

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: set your alarm. Again likely in the same order every single day and yes of course sometimes we don't

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_01]: do one for one reason or another but it's been stacked that way for so long that will jump right

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: back into the routine next time around. So if only we could just slide in something into the middle

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: of that stack, right? Like a nice healthy habit where for instance in the morning before we get to

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_01]: even just 10 squats. It's still simple it takes one minute and we can definitely add that to the

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: stack. Now if we can do that just for a couple of weeks, the next thing you know will be just another

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_01]: thing you do like eating breakfast or brushing your teeth. And we can't do it. It just takes one

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: small baby step today to add something into your routine. So try it out with anything you'd like to add

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: to your routine. I hope you have a great Friday if you're listening in real time. Thank you for listening

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'll see you tomorrow over the weekend where you're optimal life awaits.