My 10 Productivity Hacks Everyone Should Know

I’m no Robin Sharma or Tim Ferris when it comes to applying productivity hacks on a daily basis. But I figured out a number of things that improved my productivity over the past couple of years.
So, I thought, why not to share some of these basic things with everyone else.
I never know who I end up helping through this blog post. The reason I’m sharing these productivity hacks with everyone is that I’m confident about these simple tactics that helped me become a better freelancer, blogger, and YouTuber.
Here are 10 productivity hacks everyone should apply:
1. Sit Comfortably
I’m not giving advice on how to sit because I’m not a chiropractor or a medical expert; you should consult a professional on this. All I’m talking about is my personal experience.
I stumbled upon a video on YouTube regarding sitting comfortably to avoid back pain and other muscles disorder. After watching that video, I started to sit comfortably at my office as well as at home.
The science behind sitting comfortably is that it affects your body. I felt that sitting comfortably not just makes you productive, but it also keeps your body muscles relaxed. Inspect your chair that how it affects your back and legs. If you’re at home and sitting on a couch, use cushions to keep your back as relaxed as possible.
I noticed that my productivity got improved ever since I started paying attention to sitting areas and body positions while working.
2. Sleep Well
One of the things I learned from Arriana Huffington was that sleeping is the key to success. Her point is that if you sleep well, you’d be ready to conquer the challenges the next morning. I was the guy who often slept for 4 to 5 hours and spent the day miserably. Then, I listened from other entrepreneurs and self-help experts; perhaps Robin Sharma and Tony Robbins also talked about sleeping well in their books. So I decided to sleep for 7 to 8 hours. And, it did help me in improving my productivity. There was no fatigue, headache, or frustration during the day.
I learned that sleeping is so important for your body and mental health. Although I don’t take naps during the day as well as work late hours, I try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep.
I don’t vouch for oversleeping, though. If I ever sleep for 10+ hours, it messes up everything. I hate it because it makes me lazy, dizzy, and unproductive for the rest of the day.
3. Bake or Cook
Whenever I’m frustrated with something or badly need a reset, I leave everything behind and go to the kitchen for cooking or baking. I’m no expert at cooking or baking, but I love trying out new stuff. I recently made a chicken sandwich and loved it. Food preparation really is therapeutic. It all started a couple of years ago when I was anxious and stumbled upon a Netflix documentary called Cooked. It was so relaxing to watch; I fell in love with food preparation after watching that.
Later on, I realized that food preparation always reduces my stress and frustration. So now I often make an omelet, chicken sandwiches, and salads. Plus, I also try to bake cupcakes and sponge cakes.
4. Adopt a Puppy
I’m a dog parent and I can tell you that it’s like parenting a child. But the minute you step into the home and your dog sees you and gets excited for you, your mind starts to relax. The reason is that when you’re with your pet like a dog or cat, you feed them, take them out for a walk, it cuts you off from everything, which makes you feel relaxed.
When I adopted my labrador puppy, I didn’t know how therapeutic owning a dog could be. Instead, I was worried about the schedule as I had to change my timings for a bit. But I managed it well perhaps because I’m self-employed. If you’re a couple, you may also be able to adopt a puppy because you’re two people to take care of it.
5. Watch Movies
Movies? Really, Hassaan?
Yup. A great movie can cheer you up when you need it. I noticed that sometimes watching a good film made me relaxed, which led to working hard the next day. I loved movies like Chef, Due Date, Wrong Turn, Taken, and School of Rock.
Let’s not get into the genres; it’s up to your taste. So pick your favorite genre and find great movies to watch. The goal here is to get productive after having a great time while watching movies on your couch. Go to your Netflix and check the top trending movies to watch.
6. Read Books
I started off reading books back in 2015 when I was window shopping and came across a book store in the mall. So I decided to kill my 15 minutes in a bookstore. Then, a book called Give and Take caught my attention. I bought that book the very next day and found it very helpful in my freelancing career. Before buying that book, I wasn’t a book reader at all.
If you want to be productive, you have to spend at least 20 minutes every day reading the thoughts and ideas of successful people. I don’t read every day these days, but I used to do that in 2017. Now I try to read a few times a week.
7. Travel Occasionally
I wasn’t the biggest fan of traveling, but a few years ago, I started attending seminars and meetups related to blogging, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship. Then, it turned everything upside down. I started enjoying traveling afterward.
You don’t have to do everything from this list, but I can tell you from my experience that I liked traveling out of town after a few weeks. I felt good to take a break from the same routine and do something different for a day. I go to books exhibitions, seminars, and meetups.
I highly recommend traveling at least once every three months to another city and spend time there. Take photos, try out the food, meet local friends there, and have fun. You’d start to feel that your productivity level would improve once you add up new activities to your to-do list.
8. Meet New People
I love meeting new people at conferences, meetups, and weddings. You never know who you end up meeting at a tech conference. I managed to build great relationships at the conferences and bloggers’ meetups.
What it does is that it gives you the confidence to walk up to someone and say hello to a stranger. Plus, you start to absorb the knowledge and experience of others when you build relationships with them. It does make a difference when it comes to improving your productivity.
9. Find a Side hustle
A side hustle could be anything you like to do for fun. There is a money-making aspect of it but it doesn’t matter much because you want to do something to be happy. For instance, I make vlogs on YouTube as a side hustle; it refreshes me when I feel overwhelmed or tired due to my freelance writing work.
So once you have a side hustle, you can spare a half-an-hour every day for something different than your work. It could be baking, playing badminton, going to the gym, or photography. Find out what makes you happy and start doing it, you’ll notice that your productivity at work would improve along the way.
10. Jog or Walk
I don’t jog but I love taking 15 minutes out of my day and going on a walk. I do this at work as well as home because it’s necessary to leave your desk for a while and get some fresh air. When I’m working from home or doing video editing for a while, I often go on a walk. And, when I come back, I feel fresh and mentally ready to get back to work. The walking does make me productive for some reason. So try that out too and see for yourself.
What will you do?
The point is that I’ve given you 10 things that I do to be productive.
Now, it’s up to you what you try out first or find something of your own.
You don’t have to follow my productivity hacks. Instead, you can discover something you can do to make you mentally healthy and refreshed.
Do let me know this: what will you do to be more productive?