I want to share with you five tips that can dramatically increase your productivity. These tips can literally double your productivity, if done consistently.

We live our lives in a rush, always feeling out of control, missing things by minutes. I think we need to understand how to increase our productivity so we can do things more easily and effortlessly. This will mean we will have more room in our lives to do the things that actually matter. Right?

Here are my 5 Big Productivity Hacks:

1. Appointment with Self — Most of my clients, when we initially start working together, have so many appointments with everyone else. They’ve got meetings all over their calendars but they don’t have an appointment with themselves. Make an appointment with yourself around key critical things you want to get done. This is called an appointment with self.

2. Set a Timer — Don’t just work from 9-5. Set a timer on your phone for 30 minutes or 50 minutes or an hour, and work to the timer rather than just work to your day. This tricks your brain into thinking it’s in a hurry, so it prevents procrastination.

3. Voice Recognition Software — This tip has changed my life. If you’re on Mac, you can use Siri. If you’re on a PC, use something like a ‘dragon’ naturally speaking. This alone can save you 60-90 mins a day (especially if you’re only an average to good typist).

4. Five Musts — You need to have five things that you want to achieve each day. I would write these down before you start your day (which we all know is code for ‘before you open your emails’).

5. Weekly Planning Time — On a Monday, have some weekly planning time for yourself to map out your week. You only need about half an hour, but it will make a dramatic impact on how productive you are.

These are the five tips that will dramatically increase your productivity. They have for me and for many of my clients.

What is your most useful productivity hack? What’s the thing that works for you? I’d love you to share it in the comments below.

I’ll speak to you soon.