Productivity Hacks from the Upwork Community

When it comes to productivity skills, entrepreneurs come unmatched. Meeting client deadlines while at the same time managing all the aspects of running a business takes dedication, hard work, and continuous self-improvement.

We asked the Upwork Facebook community for their most effective productivity tips for work and the answers did not disappoint! From the very simple–but effective–to the complex, here is just a sample of what they had to say.

---

[Freelancer Yang Rhea offers these six tips:]

• “Wake up early. I find that I am more productive when I start working at 5 a.m. So I am usually up by 4.
• “Create a daily to do list.
• “Limit checking your emails and social media notifications to twice a day, unless your client requires up-to-date emails.
• “Create a work playlist each week (I do it on weekends). Something that will last throughout a work shift.
• “Tackle one task at a time. It will cut down stress and anxiety and yield better results since you are focused on one task rather than juggling several at once.
• “Most of all, caffeinate but don’t forget to rehydrate.”

— Yhang Rhea

“Set a schedule. Stick to it.”
— Nikki Hansen

“Write your to-do list the night before. This helps you start your day with clarity. You know exactly which item you need to complete by 10 a.m. the next morning.”
— Daniel Cela

“Before you write a to-do list, you need to write a NOT to-do list [in order to recognize] what is decreasing your productivity.”
— Jasmin Kharimn

“Do some [exercise] early in the morning. It’s good for the mind and body. Plus, it will [improve] your disposition and your productivity by extension.”
— Guilherme Cazzonato

“Set deadlines to trick the brain into urgency, [listen to] lyricless music with a moderate-to-fast tempo (chill hop or electro swing for myself), and tell people to leave you alone… Also, set short to-do lists that are only high-priority items. Long to-do lists just make you busy, not productive.”
— Jacob Anderson

“Invest in off-the-rack productivity and collaborative tools like Slack, Asana, and the like.”
— Butch Balsomo

“Rest often. A simple nap could go a long way in enhancing ones productivity as you’re able to help keep stress at bay.”
— Jermaine Dimalanta Delos Santos

“Stop doing everything by yourself, start letting people help you. This means don’t [just] work in your business, you need to work on your business.”
— Adil Mehmood

“Pomodoro principle: Take strategic mandatory 3-to-5-minute breaks between 25-minute sprints of focused work. This’ll help you maintain your pace throughout the day without feeling too overwhelmed by the task at hand.”
— Lance Sison

---

What is your best productivity hack? Tell us in the comments!

Editor’s note: Responses edited for grammar, spelling, and clarity. The statements above are those of their authors and do not constitute the views or opinions of Upwork.

The post Productivity Hacks from the Upwork Community appeared first on Upwork Blog.

from Upwork Blog http://ift.tt/2vJj9x9