Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a series of the Top 10 Productivity hacks, to be published every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks.
We’re all bombarded by “stuff” these days.
We’ve got several hundred channels of cable, which includes a hundred sporting events and reality episodes every day – not to mention DVRs which will hold a hundred more hours of shows.
Gmail accounts now hold almost 8 gigs of email for us to reference at any time.
600 tweets are posted every second.
It’s no wonder we’re overwhelmed and feel like we can’t get everything done in 24 hours.
It’s more important than ever to be selective about what we allow in our lives, so we can pursue those things that are actually important to us. So I propose that this is the most efficient way to do so.
Cut off distractions at the source
I used to be a big American Idol fan. I think I stopped watching the year Taylor Hicks won, which I think was 3-4 seasons ago.
Crazy thing is, I still had my DVR scheduled to record the show until early this past season.
So that means I probably took the time to delete 100 episodes of the show individually – something that could have been accomplished with a couple clicks had I made the decision earlier.
What else can you do this with?
- Email newsletters
- Recurring subscriptions
- Paper bills
- RSS feeds
- Social media followers (add people “on purpose”)
What’s the bottom line?
Minimize (read “eliminate”) anything that’s not adding value to your life – especially those recurring events that you’re currently knocking off one at a time.
I think you’ll find yourself with plenty of extra time to spend on the things you really do value.
What else can you cut off at the source? Let me know in the comments!
