What are the quick, simple, and maybe a little “weird” productivity tricks entrepreneurs use to get more done?
Well, I’m always curious about that myself so I decided to ask 26 of my most productive and successful friends for the “hacks” and tools they use every day.
(And I added in one of my own to round out the list.)
This episode was a ton of fun to put together and I owe a huge thank you to everyone who participated! I know I learned of a few new tools to try and I’m sure you will to.
If you like this style of show, you might consider checking out last year’s round-up episode as well, which asked 25 people how they made their first side hustle or business income.
You can see the participants and the approximate timestamps of their advice below. Enjoy!
Related: I created The Progress Journal to help me focus on my most important work and be more effective every day.
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Sponsors:
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Participants:
- Pat Flynn – (2:02) – Keep a 1-word Post-It note where you can see it. The word? Start.
- Kate Erickson – (3:56) – Get rid of your dirty dishes.
- Jaime Masters – (5:35) – Prioritize your schedule to reduce decision fatigue.
- Robert Farrington – (7:47) – Start by checking yesterday’s earnings for motivation.
- Jon Haws – (9:36) – Use Google Calendar to manage your life.
- Claudia Pennington – (11:15) – Stop using your calendar as your to-do list. (Use Trello instead!)
- Madalyn Sklar – (12:02) – The 6-Pack: Your top 6 priorities on a Post-It note each day.
- Derek Doepker – (13:36) – 3 magic words: “Can I just” + a micro commitment.
- Mark Horoszowski – (14:45) – Get some movement in first thing in the morning.
- John Corcoran – (15:55) – Use a standing desk.
- Benny Hsu – (17:36) – Consider renting an office.
- Joe Saul-Sehy – (22:17) – Give yourself some background noise with a site like Coffitivity.
- Matt Marr – (25:26) – Consider getting rid of your desk. Think of your hustle theme song!
- Mike Greig – (28:44) – Work in places without an Internet connection.
- John Lee Dumas – (29:56) – Use the Pomodoro method and set an actual timer for it.
- Austin Netzley – (31:01) – Start your Pomodoro sprints by clapping your hands.
- Monica Louie – (23:35) – Always have your earbuds in while you’re working.
- Amber Hurdle – (34:39) – Set different playlists for different tasks.
- Nina Babel – (36:18) – The 20/20/20 Rule: Every 20 minutes walk at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
- Pete McPherson – (37:57) – Speed up your mouse sensitivity and use voice recognition software on your computer to write even faster.
- Brock McGoff – (39:57) – Learn the keyboard shortcuts for every program you use.
- Danielle Cuomo – (41:45) – Use RescueTime to see where your hours are really going.
- Nate Hirsch – (43:07) – Use Yet Another Mail Merge to send email more efficiently.
- Brandon Turner – (44:15) – Track the time you spend on your phone with the Moment app and try turning your screen black and white.
- Grant Baldwin – (46:43) – Have a way to capture your ideas.
- Bethany Bayless – (48:17) – Keep separate notebooks to compartmentalize different areas of your life and business.
Links:
- How to Make Time for Your Side Hustle
- LastPass
- ClipX | CopyClip for Mac
- HabitShare app
- Five Minute Journal
- Asana
- TextExpander
- Boomerang for Gmail
- Drip
- Trello
- Evernote
- Varidesk
- Magnet app for Mac | AquaSnap was the Windows alternative I found
- Apple Pencil
- Good Notes app
- Coffitivity
- RainyCafe.com
- Process Street
- Rize app
- Brain.fm
- Canva
- Tailwind
- Tomato-Timer.com
- Vidyard GoVideo
- Dragon Dictation
- CloudApp
- Freedom.to
- PhraseExpress
- RescueTime
- Yet Another Mail Merge
- Moment app
- Slack
- Screencastify
- Nomatic Planner
- Bullet Journal
- Zencastr
- Unroll.me
What do you think?
Any favorite ideas from the show? New tools you’re going to test out? Let me know in the comments below!
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Nick, love the roundup here! Thanks so much for the opportunity to participate, and kudos for putting together one heck of a “weird” – but very helpful – list of productivity hacks! hahahah – I love it!
Thanks for the mention, such an honor!
Great episode, Nick! I’d like to throw in my latest favorite app: Braintoss
You can record an audio note, take a pic, or type a note and then it will send it to your email. I use it to record notes for myself of thoughts, ideas, the name of that restaurant I just drove by, etc.
Cool – thanks for sharing John!
Great resource for background noise here
https://mynoise.net/
Great list, thank you for sharing
Hi all! A ‘weird’ productivity tip I’d like to share is that I bought myself a gaming keyboard and I have set up macros for things that I type a lot during the day (e.g. the date). It doesn’t sound like much but it saves me a tonne of time every day!