1396: 4 Simple Habits To Become Better Organised And More Productive by Carl Pullein on Productivity Tips

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, Episode 1396. 4 Simple Habits To Become Better Organized And More Productive by Carl Pullein of carlpullein.com. And hello again! I am Dan. I am here with you every single day of the week, including weekends like today.

[00:00:40] And we're going to hear from one of our regular contributors today, Carl Pullein, and of course I'll tell you more about him after the post. But right now, let's get to it and optimize your life.

[00:00:53] 4 Simple Habits To Become Better Organized And More Productive by Carl Pullein of carlpullein.com. Over the 25 years of having a seemingly unhealthy fascination with all things to do with productivity and time management, the biggest lesson I have learned is that to become better organized

[00:01:10] and more productive is not something that happens by accident or overnight. It's an interesting idea that if you could just find that perfect hap or the perfect system, somehow a miracle will happen and without doing anything, you become amazingly productive and all your stuff will organize itself.

[00:01:26] Of course this is not going to happen. No app or system is ever going to do that for you. Even the growth of artificial intelligence won't help you. AI will still require you to input data in some form or another, and you will still have

[00:01:38] to make decisions on how best to organize your work before any machine will be able to do anything with it. If you are serious about becoming better organized and more productive, you're going to have to do your work and change your habits.

[00:01:49] The biggest reason you find yourself disorganized and unproductive are the habits you practice every day. When you're asked to do something and you rely on your memory to remember it, you should not be surprised when you forget to do it.

[00:02:00] Likewise, if you have no idea what work is important and what is not, you will gravitate towards doing the easy, non-important work. These habits destroy productivity, and unless you identify them and change them, you are not going to become more productive.

[00:02:13] There are a number of best practices you can follow that have been tested by millions of incredibly productive people and proven to work, and many of these best practices have been backed up by science.

[00:02:23] You are never going to change the laws of physics or the laws of human nature. That being the case, once you are aware of them, you can develop habits that will counter these human deficiencies. Here are a few to get you started. 1.

[00:02:37] Don't trust your brain to remember things. Your brains are not great at reminding us to do the things that need doing at the right time. This is why when you use the last of the milk for your morning cup of coffee, on your return

[00:02:49] from work at the end of the day, your brain is not going to remind you to buy milk as you pass the convenience store. Your brain recognizes patterns very well and notices when things are different.

[00:02:59] That is why you always remember you need milk when you go to get the milk from the fridge and you discover there's no milk. Your regular pattern of having milk in the fridge has changed, and now your brain recognizes something is wrong and you get an alert.

[00:03:12] Unfortunately, at 7am, desperate for that morning caffeine hit, is not when you want the alert. Get into the habit of writing everything down on a list. It does not have to be a complex list either. A simple list on your phone will do.

[00:03:24] Before you leave work at the end of the day, have a look at the list to see if there's anything you need to do on your way home. Simple, but incredibly effective. 2. Putting things away in their right place. This one I see with my wife all the time.

[00:03:38] She wears glasses at home, and contact lenses when going out. My wife leaves her glasses all over the house, sometimes in the bathroom, sometimes the bedroom or living room. When she wants her glasses, she can never find them.

[00:03:49] Now we don't live in a huge house, so it usually only takes a few minutes to find them. But over time those few minutes spent looking for her glasses add up. For a more stress-free, easier life, I discovered that if I put my glasses in the same place

[00:04:01] every evening when I go to bed, I know exactly where they will be the next day and never have to waste time searching for them. You can use the same method with keys, your work bag, and other items you need to take

[00:04:11] with you when you go to work. Always put things away in the same place, and you'll save yourself a lot of time. 3. Create a morning and evening routine. Our brains love routines. Regular routines don't need a lot of energy to maintain or think about.

[00:04:26] Simple routines like looking at your calendar before you go to bed to see where you have to be and when the next day, or doing the dishes before you sit down and relax after dinner.

[00:04:36] Once all these little things are a routine, it saves energy and allows your brain to use its energy to think of other, more important things. Routines also help you to make sure you have everything you need for the day.

[00:04:46] Make it a routine to charge your phone at the same time each day, to exercise or to make and pack your lunch. All these little things, once routine, help you to become better organized. And 4. Do a weekly review and identify the things you want to complete next week.

[00:05:02] One of the most effective ways to create amazing momentum in your life is to spend an hour each week reviewing what you have done and what you want to get done the following week. This is a habit that changes lives because it focuses you on what is important.

[00:05:14] It is very easy to drift through life not achieving much of anything. Even if you never set goals, a weekly review will give you some indication where you're going and where you are right now.

[00:05:24] If you are not excited by the destination, your weekly review will give you time to think more clearly about where you want to go, what you want to achieve, and what you want to accomplish in the following week.

[00:05:34] It helps you to identify the important things and tells you if you are spending too much time on unimportant things. These are just a few things you can do to help you become better organized and more productive.

[00:05:44] By adopting these tiny best practices, you will see an immediate improvement in what you achieve. You will have a clearer picture of what is important to you and you'll be able to take steps to eliminate those things that are not important and are wasting your time.

[00:05:56] Your brain is hardwired to take the easy road and to drift. It is easy to change that by adopting a few simple best practices and habits. Once these have become ingrained, you will find your productivity and organization improve

[00:06:08] and there will be nothing to stop you from achieving amazing things. You just listen to the post titled, 4 Simple Habits To Become Better Organized And More Productive by Karl Palin of KarlPalin.com This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

[00:06:26] Do you ever find yourself getting caught up in comparison, seeing the successes of others and wishing your life looked the same? If so, then you know how difficult it can be to manage these feelings.

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[00:07:05] Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Stop comparing and start focusing with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash workdaily today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash workdaily.

[00:07:26] And thank you so much to Karl once again for another terrific post. Karl is a renowned productivity and time management coach who has helped thousands of people around the world get better at managing their time and become more productive using technology they carry around with them every day.

[00:07:40] And Karl has a podcast of his own which you can check out. It is called The Working With Podcast. He's also written three books on productivity and time management, and he's got a couple of courses available as well. They're called Time and Life Mastery and Your Digital Life.

[00:07:53] His stated purpose is to help people learn how to manage their time so they can enjoy their lives and build a life they are truly proud of. And he's featured over on Optimal Living Daily as well, so you can check out that show for

[00:08:04] more and be sure to come by KarlPullein.com to show your support. You can see more about him plus get his podcast, coaching, courses, webinars, books, and more right there at the site. Again, that is C-A-R-L, Karl Pullein, P-U-L-L-E-I-N dot com. But that wraps up today's episode.

[00:08:23] I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you right back here tomorrow for our Sunday show and that is where your optimal life awaits.