Productivity Hacks for People with Multiple Interests

Illustration showing a man juggling so many activities.

• If you are reading this right now, you probably are looking to learn new ways to stay productive and get more work done within the available time frame that you have. Let’s face it, there will never be enough time to do all the various things that you want to do. There wouldn’t be enough time to learn all the new skills, languages, information or fun things that you want to do.

1. If you are tired of putting off all the things you want to do because of your super-busy schedule, then you are definitely going to need to ramp up your productivity skills.

• Within the last 11 months, I completely changed my career from Digital Marketing to Design, worked for a boss in the UK, freelanced for a startup in the USA, networked with great designers and developers in tech, completed an international Bootcamp, gained new skills (user research, UX design, interaction design, others) and landed a full-time job, all while being a full-time student at the University of Lagos. No doubt this year has been my most productive year as I have managed to command a level of focus I have not been able to command in previous years.

1. In this article, I briefly describe some hacks that I believe have helped me so far. I am, in no way, close to commanding the level of productivity I would love to command but I am grateful for growth. So, what were the things I did differently this year?

1. Not trying to do too many things at the same time.

gif showing a man that’s multitasking…Credit — Lottiefiles

• I know this is over flogged, however, it is one of the most important steps I took. In January when I decided to upgrade my skills, I literally dropped everything that didn’t lend credence to my new goals. This included me pulling out from certain groups, relinquishing certain positions I was holding and dropping off certain programs I was involved in. I even resigned from a job I had then. Now, this doesn’t have to be you. You don’t have to follow the same steps I took. For me, it was about asking tough questions and making tough decisions. Some of the questions I asked myself then were — Does activity XYZ go in line with where I want to see myself in the next 2 years? Does it help me in actualizing my next key goals? Am I learning from and growing through this activity? Are there things (that are more important to me right now) that I could spend my time doing?

1. All these questions helped shape the decisions I made 11 months ago in dropping certain activities and programs.

• Once I cleared out my life, I quickly realized I had enough free time to focus on my newly found love.

1. Okay, so that is one part. Did I mention that there are 3 parts to this? I didn’t? Well, now you know.

• The second part is limiting the amount of access people have to my time. Selfish, right? But this is really important if you really want to get enough done, especially, if you have an activity like full-time schooling or work taking up a monstrous amount of your time. It also helps you properly plan your time. Being very selfish with my time helped me refocus my scarce and limited energy into areas and activities that matter the most to me. I typically know what I want to do within a specific period of time, places I should or shouldn’t be, events I should tune in to, people I should talk to etc. It also prevents me from getting distracted and just living each day by going with the flow.

1. The third part is setting realistic goals and a timeframe for the goals. Typically, at the start of every year, I list out 1001 areas of my life I desperately need growth in, as per a sucker for personal development. I don’t just list them out, I try to simultaneously work on improving all those things all at the same time. This turned out to be a messy and lousy way to work towards growth as, eventually, I only get to see very little change at the end of the year. The reason for that isn’t far-fetched. I try to distribute my energy into too many areas all at once, leading to burnout and frustration. I took a totally different approach this time. I was going to choose just ONE area and give it all my shot. I chose career. I am glad I did because it’s paying off. I also experienced growth in other areas too. 🚀

• So, over to the next point.

2. Create optimal conditions that support you.

Gif showing someone working at a work desk. Credit — Lottiefies

• This was a tip I got from reading ‘Atomic Habits’, a book by James Clear. I totally think you should check it out. In that book, James Clear talked about creating an environment that drives you towards your goals. Humans, by design, are master procrastinators. We aspire to be great but find it difficult to take the necessary steps and actions that we need to achieve the level of greatness, happiness and success that we desire. James also mentioned that successful people actually do not have any superpowers, they are just very skilled at creating environments that make it easy for them to achieve success. For clarity, let me give you an example. If your goal is to build a solid fitness routine, it might be helpful to put your workout outfit in a place such that it is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning. You might want to find people with similar goals to have as accountability partners as you build your routine. They will help you stay motivated and accountable. Even something as little as following fitness celebrities that you greatly admire might help and motivate you (be careful with this though).

1. So then, how did I apply this tip? Easy. I invested in getting a simple workstation that I can work on. It was a small investment that massively paid off and is still paying off. If you know me then you know me working from the bed is the ultimate path to unproductiveness and falling asleep. My work table and chair help me tune in to work mode or focus mode. I can be at my desk working deep into the night. Is this healthy? Well, that depends. But if your day is typically filled and you need to steal some time into the night, then a proper, comfortable workstation will be very useful for you.

3. Leverage digital tools to buy yourself more time.

Leveraging Digital Tools. Credit — Lottiefiles

• If you are like most millennials out there, social media and chat apps are an important part of your day. You use them to de-stress, catch fun and keep yourself up to date on the latest, buzzing trends and information. That’s cool. The thing about most social media apps though is that it is easy for you to get lost in them, swiping from one content to another and from one screen to another. At least for me, it is always a struggle. I quickly realized that rather than relying on self-will, I can put measures in place to ensure my use of social media doesn’t get in the way of the things that are most important to me at the present moment. With this at the back of my mind, I established some of my principles for social media use. Do bear in mind that, I mostly, strictly adhere to this during critical phases or times like writing important exams and meeting task deadlines.

1. So, what are these principles I follow?
2. First of all, I turn off all notifications on social media apps. Since I discovered this, I’ve been way less anxious. I turn off all distracting notifications. One thing I learnt is that, almost always, it’s never as important as it seems. In most cases, you can attend to them in your own time.
3. I set up a priority list for people whose messages are of priority to me. This list contains people who I would leave my focus mode to attend to. For me, this list includes family, one or 2 deserving friends, work (bosses, some crucial clients, colleagues) and mentors. Every other thing is secondary.
4. I set aside time daily for social media. If social media is important to you, you can set out time for it. More on this later in point (d). Just keep reading.
5. I use digital solutions to help me overcome human in-built laziness.

3 apps have been super helpful to me over these past 11 months.

These are

1. Task app — this app has a simple interface and helps me manage all crucial engagements. It is my digital to-do list planner. Another thing I have noticed is that trying to remember many things or activities that you are supposed to do each day takes a lot of effort, energy and brainpower. Well, I could pen those things down, but I am not a big fan of carrying jotters everywhere I go. So, I just stick to my task app. I so much love this app because it is totally free and includes no ads. At all. It also has a reminder feature. Seriously, you should check it out.
2. Stay Focused app — This app helps me set time blocks for when I would or wouldn’t want to use certain apps. Majorly, I use it to restrict access to my social media apps. I get to use Twitter, Instagram, and the likes for a maximum of 30 minutes each, daily. With this in mind, I quickly scout for information I need and move on. Peradventure, I get trapped or lured by the algorithm, after a stipulated amount of time I am rudely shaken back to reality, lol. There is a vast range of options to choose from. You can use this app to force yourself to read a book or watch an online course for an hour a day. It’s up to you. I must mention though that to get the most out of this app, you need to get the premium version of the app. It costs about $5 (around that range) and is a lifetime subscription. Totally worth it!
3. Pomodoro app — This app operates based on the Pomodoro principle. The Pomodoro principle helps you switch healthily from focus mode to relaxed mode at specific intervals. The focused and Relaxed modes are times during which your brain respectively does deep work and catches a break. For more details, you might want to check out ‘Learning how to learn’ — a free course on Coursera that teaches how to leverage time blocks (the Pomodoro technique) to do deep work or learn fast. If you are anything like me and/or like to procrastinate on certain things like reading a new book or even academic books, then this app will help you overcome that to a large extent.

1. Wheeew! I guess that’s everything I have for you for now. As mentioned earlier, I am still testing many waters to improve my productivity. I strongly believe it can be wayyy better than it is right now. In the spirit of sharing, some of the things I am so much hoping to learn and master are:

• Being able to command a level of deep work. This is a super-power to have. Some of the others are speed learning and speed listening.
• Increase my consistency with meditation and journaling. I am less anxious and way happier on days where I start my day with meditation and journaling. Staying consistent has been my biggest struggle.
• More ability to say no and jealously guard my time and attention. Yes, exactly. Cheers to more ‘NOs’ and selfishly guarding my time.
• Learn super-hacks to help me use some of my work tools really fast and, if possible, cut down the time I currently spend on tasks by half or three-quarters.

1. Final words

• Perhaps in months from now, my principles, routine and how I approach productivity might change because change is the only thing that’s constant. However, for now, they keep me really sane.

1. Thank you for reading. If you found this useful, please share so that others may learn from it too. Don’t forget to bookmark it so that you can easily access it later on.

• If you’ve got tips and resources that have helped you stay in your super-productive self, do share. Please!

1. Profile

• Gift Abah is a UX Designer who is passionate about UX and interaction design. When she’s not designing, you’ll find her catching up on Design trends. Presently, she’s very keen on XR and the UX of XR. She’s currently a Design tutor at Google Developers’ Student Club and a designer at Reeddi Inc.

Connect with Gift on Linkedin and Twitter.

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