10 Productivity Hacks for Lazy People

[Music] hey everyone and welcome to top tank today we're going to learn about ten productivity hacks for lazy people now let's begin number one daily innovation hey how often do you let your mind wander what's that oh oh yeah maybe you doodle daydream or just get distracted by some random question now on the surface it seems like not being very productive right because you're not accomplishing anything important but is this mental deviation really a waste of time no not by a long shot when you let your mind wander you open the door for innovation you give yourself the unique opportunity to stray from your normal habits and routines when your mind is preoccupied by dreams and miscellaneous questions well then you take a more creative and spontaneous approach to life you play with fresh ideas you travel new paths and you can even discover hidden potential but your ultimate goal here probably isn't to reinvent the wheel you want to boost your productivity right well the good news is daily innovation does exactly that just start by simply blocking out some time to innovate you might set aside an hour each day to let your brain play with original concepts you can think about your job your goals or just some crazy idea that you've been fooling around with it doesn't really matter what you're mulling over because this time is supposed to be experimental and unstructured daily innovation should feel like a break from work you can and should use it to rejuvenate your mind when you're feeling lazy so unlike watching TV or checking social media innovation doesn't slow you down it gives your brain an outlet for all that pent-up creative energy without hurting your momentum you know that's exactly why Google encourage their employees to use a whopping 20% of their day for innovation it turns out their employees were more productive when they space to explore their own ideas not to mention the dozens of revolutionary inventions that came directly from these blocks of creativity so find some time during your work day to let your mind wander be original dare to experiment and most of all hey try to have fun number two power naps if you treasure every second asleep then this productivity hack is gonna be music to your ears taking a nap can actually accelerate performance as long as you don't sleep too much or too little researchers have broken down how much sleep you need to get the most out of your midday slumber to feel more alert you should go for a shorter nap somewhere between 10 and 25 minutes when you sleep for such a brief period of time your body can't enter a state of deep sleep that's why you feel energetic right after you wake up 30 minutes is when the grogginess starts you've entered deep sleep but you can't actually finish a REM cycle so when you wake up you feel worse than you did before if you want a longer nap 90 minutes let you complete one full REM cycle and not only does this rejuvenate your brain but it also amplifies creativity and procedural memory so by paying attention to how you sleep napping can be one of the most productive ways to spend your time number three phone free mornings what's the first thing you do after you wake up most of us instinctively reach over and grab our phones we respond to messages check our email and we take a quick peek at social media it doesn't usually take more than 20 minutes but those 20 minutes change how the rest of your day plays out so in order to be more productive keep your phone out of your morning routine especially right after you wake up those first few minutes when you're just opening your eyes and climbing out of bed are much more important than you realize you need that time to focus on your ultimate goals for the day whether it's a project at work or a personal dream it the very first thing on your mind and not whatever random messages or emails that you received the night before this is an especially helpful trick if you're already waking up early if for example you get up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning you probably won't receive many calls anyway so it's much easier to ignore your phone and just use that time to boost your productivity number four creating templates are you tired of doing the same busy work over and over again this repetitive grind can feel like a nightmare it doesn't leave you feeling motivated or fulfilled you just spend the whole day wishing you were doing anything else so how do you stop wasting so much time and effort on these boring responsibilities what shortcuts can you use to work smarts and not hard templates are a fantastic place to start if you find yourself doing the exact same tasks every single day one template can easily shave off hours of grueling work yeah it does take a little extra time to set up but that's a small price to pay remember that you aren't just doing this to save time it's about improving your mindset just think about how motivating it is to skip your least favorite part of a project you'll find yourself wielding a more positive attitude which makes you more enthusiastic about your work the more enthusiastic you are the more productive you'll be so by using simple shortcuts you can save yourself from days of frustration and fatigue and the best part is you can use this trick all the time no matter what you're doing if you ever notice patterns in your work find creative ways to minimize repetition and eliminate boredom number 5 sing in the shower singing in the shower can actually make you a more productive person oh yeah in 2004 researchers looked into the mental and physical effects of singing they found that it significantly elevates your mood while also improving the functionality of your body your immune system for example works more efficiently after Bell hangout your favorite song when you feel better your performance automatically goes up the physical and emotional boost from singing will carry you into a more productive day so if you like to go slow and take long showers in the morning just make sure you crank up the music you'll be doing your work ethic a huge favor number six premade lists do you have trouble keeping an organized to-do list is it always turn into a jumbled mess of outdated responsibilities and unfulfilled goals luckily there's an easier way instead of creating your own list just take advantage of the pre-made layouts at your disposal there are dozens of note-taking applications that offer fluid and functional to-do lists you can check off boxes or divide goals into categories creating the perfect list for your unique lifestyle and career then all you have to do is fill in the blanks yeah it may take some time to get used to but you'll be surprised how huge of a difference these applications can make number seven tiny crises what do you do when your motivation is nowhere to be found nine times out of ten you can fall back on raw self discipline to get you going but every once in a while you might need a little push now to force yourself to be more productive create an emergency many lazy people struggle the most when there's no rules to keep them in line if you have too much freedom you slack off yeah you procrastinate by creating a crisis you're supplying two extremely powerful motivators time and pressure many of us naturally work harder and faster to make sure we finish on time now you're probably at your most productive when there's only five minutes before the deadline why well because you can't stall any longer that's the beauty of a work-related crisis there's zero wiggle room it's now or never just like time adding pressure has a positive effect on your productivity the idea of failing or letting someone down will always outweigh the couple of hours that you'll spend working so whenever you're feeling lazy just use these powerful motivators to increase your productivity when those deadlines draw closer and their pressure builds you'll find yourself at the top of your game number eight do not disturb these days most smartphones come with a function called do not disturb all it does is prevent you from receiving calls or messages yeah I know it doesn't sound like much but just think about how often a random text ruins your workflow or how often a phone call makes you forget your train of thought flow is incredibly important throughout the day just like momentum helps you build motivation so don't let a pointless message stop you in your tracks but what if you're waiting on a call from your boss or a message from a client thankfully you can choose whose calls to ignore and who's to let through this lets you minimize distractions while ensuring that you never miss anything important number nine ergonomic flexibility around 70% of Americans spend the entire workday sitting in one place you've probably heard about how bad prolonged sitting is for your health it's associated with physical issues like obesity and heart disease and it's just as bad for your brain prolonged sitting makes you lazy and tired it clouds your mind which makes it even more difficult to focus on your work so instead of sitting all day regularly change your body position you might sit for an hour stand for the next and then lie down for a third the key is to relieve mental and physical fatigue by diversifying your posture it's a very small adjustment but that's all you need to get a fresh burst of energy number 10 individualize your lifestyle of all of the productivity hacks on this list this last one is probably the very most important you can use every single one of these tricks and still feel just as lazy why well because productivity ultimately comes down to personal preference you need to find the right combination of tricks for your lifestyle for example you might think napping in the afternoon will increase your productivity but if you go to bed early a nap won't make you more efficient it will just ruin your normal sleep cycle so before you put these life hacks into practice just consider what kind of person you really are when do you perform at your best what time of day are you the most productive what kind of environment do you work best in these questions not only help you prevent laziness but they'll also dramatically improve your work ethic hey thank you for watching top thing and be sure to subscribe because more incredible content is on the way [Music]

Channel: TopThink

Views: 132,742

Rating: 4.9289155 out of 5

Keywords: productivity hacks, productivity motivation, how to be more productive, how to stop being lazy, how to overcome laziness, lazy people

Id: 4Im0KrmiH0E

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 04 2019