Seven productivity hacks to achieve more in Q4 2023

Many of us are working harder than ever in 2023 to become the best possible version of ourselves. This often translates to doing something new, different, or uncomfortable in order to achieve a goal or resolution. But how can we make sure that this year doesn’t fall short like many other previous years? Here are seven productivity hacks that will help you to achieve more and get things done before the end of 2023.

Map Out Your Plans

Buying a gym membership won’t immediately get you into shape just like wearing a suit can’t immediately land you a dream job. Long-term goals require a dedicated mindset, which means substantial thought and consideration. Consult friends, family, or colleagues about the goal you want to achieve and get input on what it takes to get there. This way, you can better chart the course for your journey.

Many excellent apps exist that can help you track your progress and keep your eye on the prize. Strides allows you to monitor your habits and routines for better self-management and improvement. Goals can range from improved sleep, to exercise, to dieting and more and provides users with quick at-a-glance metrics for better performance. Coach.me is another app that utilizes habit tracking, but also introduces an element of accountability by allowing users to become “coaches” who can offer advice and support in exchange for a fee.

Maintain a Routine

Just like mapping out a plan is vital to the success of long-term goals, maintaining a consistent routine will help you to enjoy the day-by-day growth process. Develop a cadence and rhythm to your day to make it more healthy and predictable. Wake up early, stretch and go for a walk, eat a balanced meal and give yourself ample time to prepare for work. Having multiple points of reference can help prevent mental and physical exhaustion as well as a quick burnout.

Alarmy is a unique app that forces your brain to become more active and alert from the moment you wake up. When the alarm goes off, users must fulfill a number of missions like math problems, sentence writing, or physical workouts to shut it off. This eliminates the sudden reflex of hitting the snooze button on your phone, but increases the chances of throwing it across the room. Download at your own risk.

Take Advantage of Resources

Got one or two hours of free time each day? There has never been an easier time to learn a new skill or trade! Websites like Udemy, Skillshare, and Coursera contain thousands of affordable and informative video courses for subjects like coding, design, marketing, engineering, or management. Moreover, completing courses can net you certification as proof that you committed the time and effort to achieve something new. This can go a long way towards that new promotion you’ve been after or completing the project you’ve been putting off.

Stay Organized

While organization may seem simple enough, it can often be the downfall of many would-be achievers. Consider a house that’s neat and tidy versus one that’s in complete disarray. It’s so difficult to focus when surrounded by so much chaos! The same thing applies to our digital assets as well. If our documents, folders and files are shamelessly occupying every inch of valuable real estate on our phones and computers, we will never be able to focus on what’s really important.

Apps like Amaryllo Cloud provide an affordable “safe haven” for all your photos, videos, and files that you want to be able to access immediately, but don’t want to occupy precious space on your devices. Amaryllo Cloud also lets users share storage space with up to nine others, meaning that friends and family can also get ample space they need to store and organize their own content privately and securely. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Focus on Short-Term Goals

We don’t give ourselves enough credit for the amount of effort we put in on the reg. Hand in that report on time? You’re amazing! Finally cleaned out the garage? Super! Managed to make it to another of your son’s soccer games? Awesome job! Lofty goals and ambitions are great, but we also do impressive things each and every day that should be reflected on. Reinforcing this mindset of daily successes will help prepare you for bigger and better things in the future and help build confidence as well.

Work for Shorter Periods of Time

Anyone who has read an article about productivity is probably familiar with the Pomodoro technique:

1. Identify a task and the total estimated amount of time it takes to complete.

2. Work for short periods of time (30 minutes or less) with 5-minute breaks in-between.

3. Take a longer break after completing multiple tasks.

This method helps make big projects much less intimidating and gives you time to breathe in-between sprints. After all, the answer to the question “How do you eat an elephant?” isn’t “One big bite.”

If you’re looking for an app that will help you break down projects and continuously update progress, check out Monday.com and Asana. These project management apps are incredibly useful for keeping teams up-to-date on group and individual progress and allow you to update things like project status, deadlines, and more with a single click.

Recap

While there may not be many original nuggets of wisdom or adages to offer here, that doesn’t make what’s mentioned any less valuable. Sometimes we just need a kind reminder or a kick in the butt that sets us in the right direction. The trick to achieving more is to constantly be aware of your situation and assess your progress. Just aim to be a better version of yourself than last year and you’ll come out on top as a winner.