How To Make More Time – Three Productivity Hacks

In today’s world where time is of such importance, it’s difficult for many business owners to find the time in the day to get everything done.

Therefore, I thought it would be useful to share three productivity tools, which I use to try to make the most of my time.

1. Otter

Now, this may come as some surprise to you but I’m “writing” this blog post as I’m walking the streets.

No, I don’t have my laptop with me.

No, I’m not walking head down, furiously typing this into my phone.

Whilst trying to avoid walking into a lamppost.

Rather, I have my headphones on and talking into my phone.

I am using the otter app to transcribe what I’m saying and it’ll then email to me when I’m done.

I can then simply copy and paste into a blog post – saving massive amounts of time.

I have recently started to experiment with writing blog posts, writing long form social media posts and even writing emails.

And when I say writing, I guess I really mean transcribing.

How much time could this save you?

This is perfect for those who don’t have the time to write blog posts, even though they know it’s good for business.
The app is completely free to use free to download and on the free plan, you get up to 600 minutes of transcription time, every month.

Well worth checking out, and you can do that here.

2. Trello.

I often come under fire in some of our private coaching groups for how regularly I mention Trello.

In fact, it’s often a standing joke in our household, as I am always suggesting to Hollie that we should use a Trello board for this that and for that – in all areas of our life.

Trello is a series of productivity boards to do lists, reminders, checklists and everything else you could imagine.

I have Trello boards for almost all areas of my life.

I have a board with what I need to complete in the upcoming week.

I have a board for my bucket list.

I have a board for my goals.

I have a board for each upcoming project that I’m working on.

I have a board for each event we’re going to run.

I have a board for places I would like to visit.

I have a board for things, I would like to do.

You name it and I most probably have a board for it.

It helps organise my life, to ensure that I’m focusing on the right activities.

You can add reminders, you can add category labels and you can set due dates. And it all syncs with your calendars.

You can even collaborate with others on various boards. So it’s great for organising your team.

As we have team members for this business based all over the world, it is perfect for people with teams in different locations to be able to work on the same projects.

Again, it’s free.

Disclaimer – it’s also addictive!

You can click here to sign up for a free account.

3. Do Not Disturb.

So whilst this technically may not be an app as such, it’s one of the most useful functions on any mobile phone for helping with your productivity and your ability to actually get stuff done.

So your phone’s do not disturb function means that your phone will not send you all those relentless and draining notifications.

And it will only ring if you are being called by someone from your favourites list.

(Or if you get a call from the same number twice in a couple of minutes, in case of emergency).

Therefore, non essential telephone calls, WhatsApp messages, Facebook notifications, and anything else will not bother you when you’re trying to get some work done.

It’s so important for our productivity, for us to get in the zone, as much as possible.

And indeed, studies have shown that each time we are disturbed from what we are doing it can take the brain up to twenty minutes to get back to the task at hand.

This means, if our mobile phone is permanently pinging reminders and notifications for us then we can get easy into the situation where we don’t get any work completed.

Imagine how much more productive you would be if you can work in set blocks of time without being disturbed.

And because essential calls still come through, you don’t run the risk of a real emergency breaking your flow.

Find it in your mobile settings.

What are your essential productivity apps or hacks?

Why not let me know in the comments below?

Photo by Murray Campbell on Unsplash