4 Ways to Supercharge Your To-Do List

What’s one tool that can help you be more productive, lessen distractions and get more things done at the same time? If you’ve read the title of this post then you know that the answer to that would be a to-do list.

It sounds simple enough, right? Write down the things that you need to do for the day and you’ll boost your productivity. But then again, if it were really that easy, how come so many people are still distracted and unproductive? Here’s the thing. While to-do lists are widely known as an effective productivity hack, most people still don’t bother with it. Sure, a lot of individuals may start the habit, but most will fail to keep it up in a consistent basis and they’ll instead revert to their unproductive ways.

Don’t be one of those people. If you’re serious about boosting your productivity, commit to writing down your tasks or goals and stick to it. Every. Single. Day.

Already got a to-do list? Good. Now it’s time to work on supercharging it so you can get EVEN more things done and free up additional time. Below are a few to-do list hacks that you can implement to ensure that your list keeps you at your top performance level at all times.

Let’s start with your mindset: don’t think of your to-do list as just something that enumerates your tasks or chores. Instead, see it as a list of your GOALS for the day. This perspective is so much more powerful and can change the way that you approach your tasks.

Ensure that this goal mindset is also reflected on your list. For instance, instead of writing a task as “Blog post for client A”, write in an actionable statement so it reads something like “Submit blog post for client A” or “Finish blog post for client A”. The latter statements are more specific, actionable, and can condition you to perform better.

An unordered to-do is only about half as effective as a numbered one with clear priorities. Productivity isn’t just about getting things done; it’s about accomplishing tasks that actually matter. A numbered to-do list helps you do just that by spelling out which tasks should be done first. It helps you get the important stuff out of the way as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Always number your to-do list according to the importance of each task, and always do the important ones first. Avoid doing the easy tasks first. Trust me, putting off the more challenging tasks won’t make them any less difficult, so you might as well get started as early as possible.

Not getting your priorities straight can lead to decreased levels of productivity. You could just end up procrastinating on the big tasks by doing the low-level tasks on your list.

Here’s a tip for writing your to-do list: Take down all the things that you need to do, but don’t number them yet. Only number the items after you’ve written all the tasks and after you’ve read through them—this allows you to get an overview of the things that you need to do for the day and it gives you time to prioritize them properly.

The key to getting things done is focusing on one task at a time and not doing anything else until that task is accomplished. Multi-tasking doesn’t work, so resist the urge to do two or more things at the same time. It takes a certain amount of time and effort for your body to shift gears between one job to the next, so trying to switch back and forth between two tasks won’t help you complete them any faster.

To help keep your focus, “hide” the tasks on your list if you aren’t working on them. Cover them with a post-it or write down the one task you have on hand and put it in front of you. Doing so will keep you from being distracted with other things and will allow you finish your current task quicker and more efficiently.

Whenever you complete a task, make it a point to cross off the task from your list (it’s better if you can do it physically on paper) and really focus on the accomplishment and productivity that you feel as you do it.

This will give you natural productivity high that will pump you up for the next task, allowing you to be even more productive. Do it often enough to let your body get addicted to that high, and you’ll end up as a task-completing machine in no time.

Letting yourself feel that productivity high doesn’t just help you be more efficient, it boosts your overall well-being at the same time. As personal and professional development coach Brian Tracy put it, “Important task completion triggers the release of endorphins in your brain. These endorphins give you a natural “high.” The endorphin rush that follows successful completion of any task makes you feel more positive, personable, creative and confident.”

Here’s a bonus tip: Whenever you’re feeling lazy or having one of those slow days, think back to a time when you were ultra-productive and strive to bring the feeling of accomplishment to the present so you can get in the mood of task completion and productivity.

SEE ALSO: The Complete Guide to List and To-Do Apps

Featured photo credit: Courtney Dirks via Flickr

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5 Ways a ROWE Can Supercharge Office Productivity

A results-only work environment, often shortened to ROWE, may be the secret to supercharging productivity in your office. This management strategy was originally developed by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson for Best Buy; the two have since formed the CultureRx consulting group to help U.S. businesses transition to a ROWE.

As its name suggests, a ROWE focuses solely on results or output, not time spent at the office. This strategy is a bit different than telecommuting, flex time or working from home in that ROWE employees essentially have free rein to do as they please — so long as they complete their duties capably and in a timely fashion. That means traditional ideas of core hours, vacation time and sick days are all thrown out the window.

Here are five ways instituting a ROWE can boost your team’s productivity.

Because a ROWE doesn’t require employees to get vacation blocks approved, they’re incentivized to take time off as their workload allows. “When you consider when you can best take vacation as opposed to when you must, you end up able to take time without affecting performance,” said Consumer Marketing vice president Michael Mahoney in an interview with Fast Company.

In 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that U.S. businesses waste $37 billion annually on unnecessary meetings. Nothing eradicates such meetings faster than in a ROWE, where employees simply won’t show up if a meeting doesn’t help them complete their objectives. Michael Reynolds, president and CEO of SpinWeb, said that making meetings optional forced his team to essentially justify the purpose of and goals for each meeting with a clear agenda, instantly making them more effective.

CultureRx reports that its ROWE teams have up to a 90 percent decrease in voluntary turnover rates. Businesses with high turnover rates must constantly expend resources on hiring and training new employees, which hampers efficiency. Engaged employees are not only less likely to leave their jobs, they’re also far more likely to produce good work efficiently and consistently than disengaged workers.

Nothing sinks productivity faster than excessive stress. A study published in the December 2011 Journal of Health and Social Behavior found that employees who worked in a ROWE got over an hour extra of sleep each work night and reported less stress, fewer conflicts between work and family, and decreased psychological distress and other emotional signs of burnout. When employees are happy and healthy, they can focus on doing their best work.

Managers and employees alike must clearly communicate priorities, expectations and objectives to sustain day-to-day business in a results-focused office with optional meetings. Managers must also trust employees to spend their time wisely and outline clear consequences for missed goals or project milestones. These communication measures naturally promote efficiency by eliminating wasted work due to misunderstanding.

A ROWE may not make sense for every industry or business. For many traditional offices, however, this breakthrough model can unlock unparalleled levels of team productivity, employee engagement and organizational efficiency.

(Photo credit: Business meeting in an office via Shutterstock)

Marissa Brassfield is ridiculously efficient. She's a productivity expert, high-performance author and communication efficiency specialist whose workshops help cutting-edge teams do more in less time. Connect with Marissa on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

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Supercharge Your Mac with the StackSocial Mac Superbundle [Software Bundle]

StackSocial has been offering some pretty amazing deals, and their latest is no exception: The StackSocial Mac Superbundle. The amount of apps that they’re serving up that will aid you in getting work done faster and better is pretty astounding — there’s 10 amazing Mac apps worth $471 that they are offering for just $49. And while not all of them may seemingly fit into your work arsenal at first glance, you might find by diving in a little deeper that every app offered here certainly can improve your productivity in some form or another.

I’ve not had the chance to use every single one of these apps, but have put a few through the paces over my time as a Mac user. Here are some of the apps that I’ve used and how they’ve managed to level up my productivity on my Mac.

There have been times that I’ve needed to have a PC at my disposal when working at past employers, such as my stint using box office software for my city’s film festival. Our office was a Mac office, with only 2 Windows-based machines that were available to use for ticket selling. Luckily, I had Parallels Desktop for Mac installed on my MacBook Pro, and it proved to be a huge timesaver. I was able to run reports, check out statistics and ticket availability and get my work done without having to move to another machine or totally disrupt my workflow.

The best part about using this app was that I could flip back and forth between the work I had to do on the OS X side and the work I had to do that required Windows. The time saved on that alone paid for the software.

If you have to use a Windows machine for certain parts of your work — or perhaps even use a Windows environment for gaming so that you can take a break every once in a while, you can’t go wrong with Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac. This app normally sells for $80 on its own — so you’re already way ahead of the game by picking it up as part of the Mac Superbundle by StackSocial.

Realmac Software makes some really beautiful, essential and easy-to-use apps, and LittleSnapper is no exception. i’ve had to grab plenty of screenshots during my time as an online writer and editor, and LittleSnapper handles this job with effectiveness and ease.

And i’ve barely scratched the surface with this app over the years. Using it mainly for high-quality “screengrabs”, I’ve yet to take advantage of the other tools baked right into LittleSnapper, such as callouts and highlights. I’ve blurred out personal info for app reviews when testing apps, I’ve cropped screens to fit as imagery for various websites and I’ve kept them all organized into collections.

Well…that’s not entirely true. LittleSnapper automatically organized them all for me. That’s a tremendous timesaver unto itself — because there’s nothing quite like having something like that being automated for you.

LittleSnapper usually retails for $40, which is only $9 less than the entire StackSocial Mac Superbundle.

I’ve tried my share of money management apps, and only in the past few years has the Mac come into its own as a platform where you can really have some useful software to do so. Of all of the native apps I’ve tried, Chronicle isn’t only the easiest to use — I actually enjoy managing my money with it.

With iCal integration built right in, Chronicle does everything it can to keep you on top of your finances. The app offers debt reduction tracking, bill viewing and will allow many to make online payments right from within the app. And because I enjoy using Chronicle so much more than any of the past native Mac finance apps, I’m really keeping on top things when it comes to my money — often without even thinking about it.

Chronicle is $15 — a great price point for an app that is supposed to help you keep a handle on your finances — and it rounds out what is a very robust bundle offering by StackSocial.

There’s a lot more to the StackSocial Mac Superbundle than the three apps I just mentioned. Here are all of the apps in the bundle, along with what you’d pay for them separately:

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac – $80LittleSnapper – $40iStat Menus 3 – $16Flux 3 – $120iStopmotion Home 2 – $50Fantashow – $50Video Converter 2 – $46SyncMate Expert 3 – $40CuteClips 3 – $15Chronicle 4 – $15

Check out the video below to get an overview of all 10 apps offered in the latest StackSocial bundle that will supercharge your Mac — and your productivity.

If you’re looking to level up your productivity on your Mac, go out and get the StackSocial Mac Superbundle today. You’ve got a ton to save ($49 for $471 worth of apps) and nothing to lose — other than time.

StackSocial Mac Superbundle – [StackSocial]

(Photo credit: Power Button from a Mac via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.

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5 Workplace Strategies to Supercharge Team Productivity

Extraordinary management requires extraordinary thinking, and these creative workplace strategies are proven to supercharge team productivity over a sustained period. The following are innovative ideas used in companies all over the world to help high-performance teams crank efficiency up a few notches.

Australian software company Atlassian holds what it calls FedEx Days once per quarter to drive employee motivation and productivity. During these intense 24-hour periods, employees can work on whatever project they want so long as it doesn’t fall under their normal job responsibilities. The only other stipulation is that they must present their completed project to their colleagues the next day.

Atlassian cranks things up even further by enabling employees to vote on each other’s projects, giving an award to the winner and, in some cases, green-lighting top ideas for full production. The influence of FedEx Days on employee motivation and overall productivity is so strong that author Daniel Pink recommended it in his book “Drive.”

Second Life founder Philip Rosedale improved company culture by incentivizing employee recognition with the Love Machine. This series of video monitors lets workers leave short messages for specific individuals to recognize work well done, help given and other timely accolades. This system, as Rosedale explained, enables teammates to “tip each other for good work, and also to keep a very high degree of awareness about what everyone was doing, even as the company grew.”

Not all employees can function at their peak during the 9-to-5 workday; similarly, not all employees can focus in an office environment. A ROWE, or a results-only work environment, enables workers to essentially set their own hours and work wherever they feel most comfortable. Employees are measured solely on results, and preset quotas of vacation days, sick days or core hours are all thrown out the window.

The ROWE concept was devised by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson of CultureRx for Best Buy; CultureRx has since helped 40 more U.S. companies transition to this innovative workplace strategy. Michael Reynolds, the president and CEO of SpinWeb, saw productivity double after his company enacted a ROWE.

Another Second Life workplace strategy Rosedale revealed is that of employee-driven bonuses. Each teammate gets $1,000 per year to allocate to coworkers as he or she pleases. This peer performance review takes the onus of dividing bonuses away from managers, who may not be as closely connected with office leaders and peak performers.

Barry Glassman of Glassman Wealth Services doesn’t send his employees to pricey conferences; instead, he sends them home for a day once per quarter, with pay, to watch presentations on Ted.com and brainstorm ideas for the business. Glassman also dedicates a half-day each quarter to an all-staff meeting in which each employee presents his or her favorite Ted.com presentation.

Glassman reports that Thinking Days have supercharged team productivity and new ideas. They’ve also raised employee morale, kept teams connected and exposed workers to a bevy of keynotes from the world’s top thinkers.

The GWS Thinking Days also play on a phenomenon studied by Simone Ritter and his fellow researchers at the Radboud University Behavioral Science Institute: the role of the unconscious mind in creative output. Ritter asked two groups of university students to devise solutions to an everyday problem. One group spent 2 minutes on a distracting task before compiling their answers, while the other group got to work immediately.

Both groups came up with about the same number of creative ideas, but the first group was far better at picking its most creative idea than the second group. This pattern held up in subsequent experiments, leading the researchers to believe that the unconscious mind helps us determine which of our ideas are worth pursuing.

One of the toughest tasks managers have is fostering employee productivity and efficiency over an extended period. These strategies promote a productive office culture that organically motivates workers.

(Photo credit: Closeup portrait of group of business people with hands together via Shutterstock)

Marissa Brassfield is ridiculously efficient. She's a productivity expert, high-performance author and communication efficiency specialist whose workshops help cutting-edge teams do more in less time. Connect with Marissa on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

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How to Supercharge your Productivity the Richard Branson Way

Tim Ferriss wrote in his book The Four Hour Body about an occasion where a group of people were assembled on Richard Branson’s private island to brainstorm growth options for Branson’s Virgin Unite project. Branson was posed with the question, “How do you become more productive?”

Branson leaned back and thought for a second. Then he said, “Work out.”

He said that working out gave him at least four additional hours of productive time every day.

We are all familiar with the multitude of benefits that exercise can bring into our lives. Regular exercise can control weight gain, improve health, prevent illness, improve mood and reduce sleep problems. Doctors also say it leads to a better sex life. Need I go on?

But Branson has reminded us of a further benefit: Working out can assist us to become more productive. It increases our energy levels, reduces stress and improves stamina (and not just in the board room). But if you are already working out regularly what else can you do to become super-productive this year?

Having a clear vision for the future is a strong motivator when it comes to getting things done. If you have a plan, have set goals and know what you are working towards, it is easier to know what your priorities are and what you should be working on daily. One of the biggest problems when it comes to productivity is not that people don’t work hard enough but that they spend too much time working on the wrong things. Having a vision can reduce the chances of this occurring.

Leadership expert Robin Sharma says:

“Better awareness leads to better decisions, which leads to better results”

Knowing where you are now, how you currently work and how you currently spend your time can help you to make informed decisions about which tasks can be eliminated and which tasks you need to focus more on. When you know what you want to achieve and you understand how you time is best spent, the next step is to have a system.

What’s a system? Most of you who hang around Lifehack know what a productivity system is. David Allen has dominated the space with GTD (Getting Things Done).

But systems are not just about organizing your work.

Having a system for organizing your clothes, your life and your dinners all assist in making life easier and reducing stress. Minimalism has become a fashionable system of late. So instead of trying to organize your life, why not simplify it? Eliminate all that is unnecessary and your life will be simpler and easier to organize.

Technology has become an enormous benefit to productivity. It can help us to do our work more quickly and efficiently most of the time. But we must choose our programs wisely.

Firstly, we need to understand our personal requirements and then spend time understanding the programs we have chosen to help us. Spending time familiarizing yourself with your new programs can end up being a time waster, so choosing wisely is crucial. Technology is a great benefit — but can also be a huge distraction and a challenge to focus.

Social Media. It’s fun,  and can be beneficial for marketing and networking. But it could also be described as “public enemy number one” when it come to productivity.

Far too easily we get sucked into the flirtatious 140 characters, the unmissable articles that would prevent us from living a fulfilled life if they were to remain unread, the friends that can’t live without knowing what we did on Saturday night. We must take control and decide how much time we are going to spend on social media and then stick with it. The world won’t end if you resist to digg, stumble, tweet or post for a couple of hours each day. Turn off all message notifications — including email alerts — on both your phone and your computer. Remember to stay at the helm and not allow the waves to take control of where you go.

All of these tips can assist you in becoming more productive, happier and more successful, but remember it’s not sustainable to try too much at once.

So, if you were to change one habit this month then maybe it should be to work out more. The abundant benefits are undeniable — and if Sir Richard Branson does it…well, what more can I say?

(Photo credit: Jet Climbs After Taking Off via Shutterstock)

Ciara Conlon is a Personal Productivity Coach and author. Her mission is to help people achieve their best through working efficiently and being positive and present. “Through Productivity and Positivity I believe there is little we can’t achieve” go to Productivity & Positivity and get Free eBook called Clear the Clutter; Find Your Life

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