As many techniques and hacks you learn to improve our productivity and life in general, it more or less boils down to one thing: are you motivated enough to follow them? So here are some motivational quotes about productivity and time management to kick your butt nudge you in the right direction.
These quotes are from well known productivity pundits as well as highly renowned leaders in their field. Some of my all time favorites are in here too.
Motivational quotes about productivity and time management
Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. – Stephen King
Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. – Peter Drucker
Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before. – Franz Kafka
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. – Bruce Lee
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade! – Tony Robbins
Never mistake motion for action. – Ernest Hemingway
Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week. – Charles Richards
It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? – Henry David Thoreau
Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks. – Warren Buffett
Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest. – Leo Babauta
How often do you find yourself losing track of time, only to find that you have run out of time in a day? Saying we need more than 24 hours in a day is no longer a joke, since everyone is feeling that these days.
And it is called time management for a reason, because no matter what we say there are only so many hours in a day. Measuring is the first step to managing your time. Without understanding how and where we are spending our time, we can’t try to control it. And today, let us talk about how to find more time in a day by doing a time audit, to track our day.
As someone who works from home, on a computer and a phone all the time (read as on the couch, in front of the TV) I know how easy it is to get distracted and lose track of time. One minute you are allowing yourself to watch ten minute of Friends re-run and before you know it is dinner time. With a bunch of deadline reminders.
Happens to all of us. But it is time to take control of our 24 hours and manage the heck out of it.
What is time audit?
Time audit means we are gonna track everything you do in a day down to the T and understand where your time flies, as we keep saying. We are going to find out what is your most time consuming activity and what is your optimized schedule like.
How to track and manage your time?
What are planning to do is: track your activities every thirty minutes every day for a week or two. You don’t have to change a thing about your schedule, but just note down what you are doing every 30 minutes.
Sounds interesting? Let us dig ahead.
Setting up a system to track
Setting up a time tracking system is not difficult. While there are numerous (free and premium) apps that would help you track your day for you automatically, I prefer a more mindful approach.
In the first columns, write down what your standard day looks like. Again, it doesn’t have to be your 100% productive day, but it has to be achievable regularly.
Estimate the number of hours you plan to spend working and sleeping. Give yourself breaks and pauses to breathe.
Make it easier to track
Okay, so the goal is simple. Stop whatever you are doing and check in every 30 minutes or so to write down what you were doing. Also take “stop whatever you are doing” with a salt.
You don’t have to pause cooking in the middle but you should be noting mentally how long it takes for you to cook. Note what you are doing every 30 minutes and write them all down on the sheet as a batch.
Use your discretion
And when I say write everything down, you can be as specific as you want. Do not forget to fill in your meal times, coffee breaks, commute, and other regular activities.
You probably will be tempted to say ‘blogging’ but it is better if you write down ‘Writing post for Friday’ or ‘graphics for Friday post’. So now you will be able to see how long it actually takes for you to create a Friday post from coming up with the idea to actually scheduling or posting it.
At the same time, use your discretion when it comes to using acronyms and batching things. ‘Emails’ sounds good enough for me, rather than writing ‘replying emails and emptying inbox’. But you do, you.
Analyze the results
Here comes the most interesting part of the exercise. The result.
While it is good to wait till the end of the week or time period you have chosen to audit yourself, it is quite natural to take stock of your activities by the end of each day. It is a good way to plan for the next day, right?
So be it a week or month, once you have a list of activities and the time you spend on them on average available with you, identify the activities that are
Time wasters
They do absolutely nothing for you and you didn’t even know you were doing it. Well, what a waste of time. This is not to be confused with things that you do for fun (like those ‘Friends’ reruns) Example: mindless scrolling on social media, Waiting for a reply email
Distractions
These activities may not give you much returns but you do them because they seemed like a good idea then. Or a great way to procrastinate what you ought to be doing. Example: Checking inbox or phone for mails and messages
Procrastinated repeatedly
Identify what kind of work or activity that you keep putting off until the last moment and why. Is it fear of failure or something else.
Involves deep work
These activities are best done when you have fewer distractions around. You can find out when you are at your best, based on your time tracking sheet.
Unscheduled
How much ever you try, there would be some things that are unanticipated. Say, a new request in your work or a last minute change in your design, may have to be accommodated.
But your time audit sheet will help you know if it was becoming a trend. If so can you do something about it.
Routine tasks
Identify the routine tasks and habits that work like a clockwork for you.
Often when we get into our to do lists and plans, we tend to forget the big picture about if we are working on the right direction and pace. Conducting an audit of our habits, routines and tasks in terms of the time spent is a perfect way to start taking control of our time.
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Have you heard time audit as a time management tool? How do you track and manage your time? What are the activities that take most of your time? Let us talk.
Do you often start projects/habits/hobbies passionately, and then leave them unfinished and unforgotten? Been there, done that. But what matters is do you do this too often? If yes, what are you doing to finish what you start – be it a new personal project, a business or a hobby?
Why don’t we push ourselves to finish what we started?
While there are different reasons ranging from “I forgot about it” to “life happened” for each of us giving up on various things, the underlying reasons can be only one of these
Found a new shiny thing to do,
Realized it was harder (in terms of time, efforts or resources) than you assumed, or
Before starting a project, think through. Why do you want to do the project or start a new habit? Do you have the time to add in a new hobby to your life?
Envision your end result. What are you going to achieve through this additional project? Is it going to add to your portfolio or add in a new stream of revenue? Is it going to help you be a better you and if so, how?
Be choosy of your projects
Speaking of connecting the means to an end, if the project doesn’t add value to yourself, say no to it recklessly. This is very important when it comes to large projects.
Credit: Gifer
For instance, a few of my friends wanted to started a podcast earlier this year. I joined them because, FRIENDS! We spent hours and days on perfecting it but eventually life happened and one by one we all dropped out.
The time, effort and resources we spent on it, could have better utilized elsewhere.
If you are accepting to do projects that you really want to finish, your completion will be higher.
Break into action plans with deadlines
Now that you have chosen what you want to do and don’t, let us break your large projects into size-able chunks.
You know what the end result of the project, say learning basic Korean in 60 days. Split the goal into action plans and assign timelines, say learning 50 new words each week.
You can go further and break it down to tasks for each day, if possible.
Credit: Gfycat
These weekly goals will help you assess your performance and change course of action. And mainly to keep you on track.
Estimate what you need to finish
Another main reason for people quitting new projects is that they grossly underestimate the resources in terms of money, effort and time the project will demand.
So even before you start a project do a deeper investigation into the requirements. Basically, do not be me while I was in the quick BuJo phase (and let us not talk about my shelves that are not filled with pens, tapes and notebooks).
Also if you think you will need help from or have to coordinate with someone else, ensure they are available and discuss your goals and timelines with them also.
Track progress
Sometimes we lose motivation when we don’t see the ball moving. If our efforts do not turn into tangible results, why should we slog our asses off?
This is why I insist on tracking and rewarding progress towards a goal and just completion. Read 10 pages in a book? Give yourself a pat on the back, even if you have not finished the book yet. Now you have an incentive to read at least ten pages each day.
Announce your goals, or don’t
When you start a project, commit to completion. When that doesn’t seem good enough, get an accountability partner, maybe a friend, family or announce via social media.
Credit: Tumblr
Ask them specifically to hold you to your commitment by frequently checking on you.
But for some people, like me, just talking about their goals to others is enough satisfaction that they never go back to working on it.
Figure out what works best for you and use that strategy to keep yourself accountable.
Understand YOU play the major role
But understand that you are working for yourself. It is YOU who wants to finish the project. And it is YOU who wants to break the pattern of not finishing what you start.
And that motivation should be coming within YOU, not from others holding you responsible. Or the peer pressure about it.
Just think about how YOU would feel after you finish the project and how it would help YOU in terms of your larger goal in life.
Perfection is not enough
One excuse people often give when they don’t get to doing what they started is that they are waiting for it to be perfect or the fear that the result won’t be as perfect as they imagined it to be.
Credit: Wifflegif
First of all, STOP THAT.
Realize while you are waiting for perfection, others are doing something about it and you are missing out on the lead.
And you can always edit, change and perfect it once you are done. All you have to aim is for “good”. It need not be perfect, right now.
Perfection is the enemy of the good!
Also, unless you keep doing good enough work repeatedly, you will not become best or even better.
It is okay to quit
When all is said and done, it is okay to fail and okay to let go.
Our interests change and our priorities shuffle. And it is quite normal to drop the projects once in a while. You are a mere human, for that matter.
And I know this might happen after you have spent a considerable time working on the project, but all is not lost, right? Whatever you have worked on should have been a learning experience and who knows, maybe some day you might pick it up again.
But just ensure to study why and what made you leave the business unfinished, and that it is a rational decision.
What projects have you stopped abruptly and never worked to finish? Do you know the reason behind it? What are your tips to finish what you start? Let us talk.
Do you ever feel that you are working for such a long time but the work never gets completed? Or you wish you had 27 hours in a day just so you can breathe a bit more? If you are constantly looking to be more productive in life and getting things done you are in the right place.
And also I know that feeling and I use to run like a headless chicken trying get my things in order, until a year or two ago. But then I started doing a few small changes to my routines, and then some.
You guys know that I love my lists and I probably cannot get through a day without a to do list or two. And yes, those lists usually have about 10-20 things to do each day. Quite out of control, to be honest.
Credit: Tenor
But then I made a small change to my to do list and that has brought a great change.
I started adding three most important things that I had to do, each day.
Basically if I am done with those three things, I can slack a bit. Usually that means I can binge watch Netflix just after I tick them off and get to those other things on my to do list at my leisure.
Guess what, I usually want to finish those three important things as the first thing in the morning, CUZ NETFLIX AWAITS.
You can not evade deep work
Speaking of most important things, make sure you are doing something meaningful in terms of your goal each day. It is easy to do 10 little things every day and still not moved towards your goals. Trust me, been there, done that.
Instead schedule an hour each day to work on things that are hard and demand your full attention- be it writing or studying.
Credit: Tenor
Cut out all distractions, keep your phones away and focus on the work in hand.
Create a vision and break it to action plans
We all have too many things going on in different part of our lives and we are all running towards a lot of things. Sounds overwhelming right? Maybe this is the right time to be strategic about your long term goals.
What are your projects for, say, the month? Be it decluttering your closet or churning out that 5000 word post, either way you need to be S.M.A.R.T about the goals AKA Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time bound goals.
Credit: Southpark.cc
So break that post into smaller sections and set a deadline to get that written. Mark on your calendar how long it is going to take for you to declutter each shelf and ensure you get it done by then.
Reward progress, not just completion
Your task is taking too long to complete in a day? That is okay, just recognize the progress you made today, instead of waiting for the completion of entire task.
You wrote five pages of you twenty page essay? Wowza, you did a great job and treat yourself with a cup of coffee or a ten min walk. Acknowledging and rewarding the progress and just not completion can act as a huge motivation.
Better your systems and environment
If something keeps tripping you from achieving your goals, check your system rather than being hard on yourself.
Are you filling yourself with junk food while you binge watch? Keep unhealthy snacks out of your reach aka near your couch. Now you have to walk all the way to the kitchen to eat anything which will automatically reduce your consumption.
Credit: Dlink
Too many snoozes? Keep your alarm away from the bed. Hate the huge pile of clothes on your chair? Change the place of the chair.
Ensure your system is not failing you, despite your good efforts.
Habit stacking
Another cool method I found to get things done, even tasks that you are not fond of is habit stacking, otherwise called as creating a routine.
The idea is to put a bunch of activities one after the other in a sequence. This way you can “hide” a habit you need to do but you are not interested to between habits you like to do anyway.
For instance, I love my morning coffee and posting on my Instagram stories, but I procrastinate clearing up my coffee table until it becomes an eye sore. So now, as soon as I fill my morning coffee cup, I clear my coffee table, which hardly takes 2-3 minutes. And then proceed to post on Instagram while I drink my coffee.
Pick coffee – clear table – post on Instagram- drink coffee. Habits stacked!
2 Minute rule for beating procrastination
As someone who is well versed in procrastination, here is a trick that has helped me time and again called the 2 minute rule.
While preparing the to do list, if you come across a task that takes less than 2 minutes, do not add it on your to do list, just do it right away.
Answer a mail in brief? Will it take less than 2 minute to send it? Do it now, don’t wait for later. At the least, your to do list will be under control, unlike mine.
Find yourself an accountability partner
When all else fails, do not hesitate to get a partner who will hold you accountable. That is right, tell someone what you will accomplish each day and then share what you have done.
Credit: Tenor
I know it might sound weird at first but it is effective.
Charvi from Not Just Fiction and I do this quite regularly. We send each other our to do lists each morning and then assess our day before we go to sleep.
To be honest, just imagining how she might judge me if I don’t do at least half my to do list is what keeps me running most days. In her defense, she is the best and she never ever judges the weird things I put on my to do list.
These are some of the things that I learned out of experience and have made my life easier. If you feel them useful, I would appreciate if you could share the post on social media.
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What are your tricks to be more productive in general and getting things done? Do you ever feel the slump and how do you get out of it? Let us talk
If creating a new habit or ditching an old habit is hard for you, then should give Atomic Habits by James Clear a try. The book is brilliant and offers many practical solutions to habit building problems.
But Atomic Habits is long and about 400+ pages, making it harder for people, especially the ones that do not read regularly. And that is why I have summarized Atomic Habits for your use.
This is just a book summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear to help other people who would not be able to read the entire book by themselves. These lines are taken from James’ book for academic purposes only. I am not posing as it is my work or my ideas. The copyrights rights are with the author only.
THE 4TH LAW Make It Satisfying
15 The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
Pleasure teaches your brain that a behavior is worth remembering and repeating.
What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
Consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate.
Brain prioritizes NOW
If you delay watching television and get your homework done, you’ll generally learn more and get better grades.
The feeling of success is a signal that your habit paid off
Whenever they skipped going out to eat, they transferred $50 into the “Trip to Europe” account.
Select short-term rewards that reinforce your identity rather than ones that conflict with it.
Goal is saving; buying a jacket is not the reward
Goal is exercise; Ice cream is not the correct reward. Reward: Massage
16 How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
Paper Clip Strategy – move from one container to another as you finish the task
“Don’t break the chain” is a powerful mantra.
Habit tracker follows the rules
makes the habit obvious
is attractive.
satisfying.
Habit tracking
Only for important habits
immediately after habit
After I hang up the phone from a sales call, I will move one paper clip over.
never miss twice.
when successful people fail, they rebound quickly.
The problem is not slipping up;
the problem is thinking that if you can’t do something perfectly, then you shouldn’t do it at all.
Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.
It’s easy to train when you feel good, but it’s crucial to show up when you don’t feel like it—
even if you do less than you hope.
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” – Charles Goodhart,
17 How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
Even if you don’t want to create a full-blown habit contract, simply having an accountability partner is useful.
ADVANCED TACTICS How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great
18 The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t
The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition.
Habit to align with your natural inclinations and abilities.
genes do not determine your destiny.
They determine your areas of opportunity.
Genes can predispose, but they don’t predetermine.
Your personality is the set of characteristics that is consistent from situation to situation.
Openness to experience: from curious and inventive on one end to cautious and consistent on the other.
Conscientiousness: organized and efficient to easygoing and spontaneous.
Extroversion: outgoing and energetic to solitary and reserved
Agreeableness: friendly and compassionate to challenging and detached.
Neuroticism: anxious and sensitive to confident, calm, and stable.
build habits that work for your personality.
lower on conscientiousness will be less likely to be orderly by nature
need to rely more heavily on environment design to stick with good habits.
you are more likely to enjoy the things that come easily to you.
you are more likely to enjoy the things that come easily to you.
explore/exploit trade-off:
The goal is to try out many possibilities, research a broad range of ideas, and cast a wide net.
In relationships, it’s called dating.
In college, it’s called the liberal arts.
In business, it’s called split testing.
shift your focus to the best solution you’ve found—but keep experimenting occasionally.
Google employees spend 80% of the workweek on their official job and 20% on projects of their choice,
What feels like fun to me, but work to others?
What makes me lose track of time?
Where do I get greater returns than the average person?
What comes naturally to me?
When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different.
By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition, which makes it easier to stand out.
Our genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it.
They tell us what to work hard on.
genes can’t make you successful if you’re not doing the work.
19 The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.
Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
When you’re starting a new habit, keep the behavior as easy as possible so you can stick with it even when conditions aren’t perfect.
Once a habit has been established, however, it’s important to continue to advance in small ways.
These little improvements and new challenges keep you engaged.
You need to regularly search for challenges that push you to your edge
while continuing to make enough progress to stay motivated.
You need just enough “winning” to experience satisfaction and just enough “wanting” to experience desire.
Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated.
It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.
You have to fall in love with boredom.
20 The Downside of Creating Good Habits
When you know the simple movements so well that you can perform them without thinking, you are free to pay attention to more advanced details.
the benefits of habits come at a cost.
When you can do it “good enough” on autopilot, you stop thinking about how to do it better.
You can’t repeat the same things blindly and expect to become exceptional.
Habits are necessary, but not sufficient for mastery.
It is precisely at the moment when you begin to feel like you have mastered a skill—right when things are starting to feel automatic and you are becoming comfortable—that you must avoid slipping into the trap of complacency.
The solution? Establish a system for reflection and review.
W/o reflection, we can make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves.
In the beginning, repeating a habit is essential to build up evidence of your desired identity.
As you latch on to that new identity, however, those same beliefs can hold you back from the next level of growth.
Vegan developing a health complication, can not move further.
Veterans after return
Redefine yourself such that you get to keep important aspects of your identity even if your particular role changes.
“I’m an athlete” becomes “I’m the type of person who is mentally tough and loves a physical challenge.”
“I’m a great soldier” transforms into “I’m the type of person who is disciplined, reliable, and great on a team.”
“I’m the CEO” translates to “I’m the type of person who builds and creates things.”
A lack of self-awareness is poison.
Reflection and review is the antidote.
Conclusion
The Secret to Results That Last
Little Lessons from the Four Laws
Happiness is simply the absence of desire.
Reward – Satisfied
It is the idea of pleasure that we chase.
Peace occurs when you don’t turn your observations into problems.
Not craving to fix everything
With a big enough why you can overcome any how .
Why are you doing what you do
Your actions reveal how badly you want something.
If you keep saying something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don’t really want it.
Self-control is difficult because it is not satisfying.
Our expectations determine our satisfaction.
Desire initiates. Pleasure sustains.
Hope declines with experience and is replaced by acceptance.
Other parts of the summary of Atomic habits
That brings us to the end of the summary Atomic Habits by James Clear. Catch up with the other parts of the three part summary of the book here!
Was the summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear useful to you? What other books do you want me to summarize for you? What is favorite non fiction? Let us talk.
