The Complete Guide to Planning Your Day
Most of us understand the value of planning and preparation. A sports match without a game plan means fumbling on the field. A big event…
Productivity
The Complete Guide to Deep Work
Based on Cal Newport’s book Deep Work, this comprehensive summary and guide teaches you to harness focus, ditch distractions, and improve your productivity.
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How to Just Say No: 4 Frameworks from the Pros
Although it’s uncomfortable, saying no is how we begin to pursue what matters to us. Learn 4 strategies successful people have devised for saying no and sticking to it…
How Adobe Principal Designer Khoi Vinh Gets Things Done
After 25 years in digital design, Khoi Vinh is still pushing creative boundaries. As a Principal Designer at Adobe, he was named one of Fast…
What to Do When Your Brain Is Too Tired to Think Straight
Chess grandmasters burn up to 6,000 calories a day during tournaments, just by sitting there and thinking. When I reach a point of mental exhaustion,…
The 5-Step Plan for Overcoming Your Productivity Addiction
It’s easy to think that the secret to unlocking our productive potential lies in the next article, video, e-book, or tool. But the (ironic) truth is that reading about productivity takes time and energy away from actually moving our important work forward…If you still feel compelled to click on this article, you need to read it! :D
The Case for Making Gratitude a Year-Round Habit
Gratitude is something our parents try to instill in us as children. Don’t forget to say thank you! Mind your Ps and Qs! As adults…
How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To
Learn the three reasons you have trouble working and what you can do to stop procrastinating and get yourself motivated and productive.
Productivity Advice, Based on Your Enneagram Personality Type
As someone with significant personal goals and a track record of incompletion to match, the productivity advice I’ve consumed over the years melts together into…
I Declare To-Do List Bankruptcy! (and you should too)
Sometimes I fantasize about quitting my job. For the record (and the benefit of my boss who is probably reading this), I love my job.…
“Sitting is the smoking of our generation.” While it seems a bit dramatic, there’s a rock solid reason this quote is thrown all over the…
15 Incredibly Simple Desk Exercises You Can Do at Work
How to (Actually) Read More Books in 2024
Each January, I think: this is going to be the year I read a lot of books. And each December, I wonder why I didn’t.…
The 20% of Productivity Advice That Produces 80% of the Results
What minimal, basic changes can I make today that will bring about the most results? There’s no shortage of productivity advice out there on the…
It’s 10:00 at night, you’re getting ready for bed (because you’re trying really hard to get those 8 hours of sleep you know you need…
Why Unplugging During the Holidays is Imperative for Your Health
How To Stop Feeling Productivity Shame
Stop the cycle of productivity shame, and learn to feel satisfied with how you spend your time — with 5 actionable tips from the editor of RescueTime.
10 Things You Can Do to Literally Change Your Brain
We used to think that intelligence is innate. Some peoplehaveit, and others just don’t. The brain we’re born with is the one we’re stuck with…
What Resilience Really Looks Like and How to Build It
Five methods to keep going when you just want to quit
Why Sleeping Is the Most Productive Thing You’ll Do All Day and How to Do It Better
Go from tossing and turning to restful sleep.
“Hey Siri, add a task to my Todoist”
It’s that time of year again. Pumpkin spice lattes, not one but two brand-new iPhones, and the latest and greatest in the world of iOS. Of course, this means all-new powers for your iOS devices (whether you shell out for the new iPhone X or not). This year, there are a couple of big changes with iOS 11 that will make organizing your life with Todoist that much easier. Read on to learn all the details (and enter to win a pair of Apple AirPods)…
Quantify Yourself: (Mostly) Free Tools & Strategies to Track (Almost) Every Area of Your Life
That which is measured improves…
10 Productive Things You Can Do in Under 10 Minutes
Who says there’s no such thing as a quick fix?
How The New York Times’ Smarter Living Editor Gets Things Done
Alan Henry is no stranger to productivity. He spent six years at Lifehacker and served as their Editor-in-Chief until 2017. Now the Editor of theSmarter…
Learn How to Learn: 4 Repeatable Steps to Master Any New Skill
A real-world guide to mastering any new skill
How to Learn Anything with the Feynman Technique
Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning physicist who made significant contributions in areas such as quantum mechanics and particle physics. He also pioneered quantum…
The next time your boss asks why you missed a deadline, blame it on your brain. The Planning Fallacy refers to our tendency to underestimate…
The Planning Fallacy
How Context Switching Sabotages Your Productivity
You probably won’t finish this article. In fact, I may have already lost you to another tab in your browser. Or an email from your…
How to Vanquish Busywork and Spend More Time on What Matters
These five tips and strategies will help you to improve your focus and productivity and avoid getting sucked into never-ending busy work.
How Presidential Campaign Strategist Alex Witt Manages Her Day
Alex Witt is a political strategist for U.S. Democratic Party candidates and progressive causes. She most recently worked on Cory Booker’s presidential campaign as chief…
10 Insights That Will Change the Way You Set (and Achieve) Your New Year’s Resolutions
The year is very quickly coming to an end. It’s the perfect time to evaluate what you accomplished in 2019 and begin planning for how to make 2020 even better.This time around, resolve to take a smarter approach to setting and achieving your New Year’s resolutions with these 10 science-backed, battle-tested pieces of advice from the experts.
How Lifehacker’s Founder Gets Things Done (and Stays Sane)
Gina Trapani, serial entrepreneur and the founder of Lifehacker talks about how she structures her workday for maximum focus and deals with procrastination and other challenges.
The Best Productivity Apps – A Complete List
For iOS, Android, Mac, & Windows. Doist’s annual recommendations for building a complete productivity stack includes 35 apps for time tracking, scheduling, note-taking, and more.
The Art of Manliness’s Brett McKay on How He Stays Productive
The founder of the prolific and popular life advice website uses Todoist for setting and sticking to routines in his work and family life .
Forget About SMART Goals: 5 Unconventional Goal Setting Methods to Try Instead
“New year, old me.” That’s not quite how the saying goes, but it might just resonate with you. Most of us start the new year…
The Complete Guide to Mastery
Begin the lifelong journey to become the best at your craft, with guidance from greats in the arts, sports, sciences, and more.
Comic artwork by Anaïs Pirlot-Mares 🎨 Written by Becky Kane ✏️
Work-Life Balance vs. Work-Life Integration
Why choose a simple explanation when a complex one will do? Complexity bias describes our tendency to prefer complicated explanations and solutions over simple ones.…
The Complexity Bias
Those of us who struggle with procrastination are intimately acquainted with the Present Bias. The Present Bias describes our tendency to choose a smaller, immediate…
Present Bias
We will always have more tasks to complete than time to complete them. How do we decide what to prioritize? It turns out, not rationally…
The Mere Urgency Effect
The Top 9 Productivity Myths That Just Aren’t True
These 9 pieces of productivity advice often lead people astray. Try out 9 actionable alternatives that will help you stay productive — and sane!
Ask Doist: How Do You Stick to a Routine When Life Is Constantly Trying to Break It?
Now I come to you with another one, which has been bugging me for a few months. I work for a remote company, so I…
I am currently sitting in a Starbucks, working on my second grande cup of Pike Place. I came here because I needed to focus, to…
How Coffee Actually Affects Your Productivity
How Tech Founder Jim Morrison Gets Things Done
Jim Morrison is the Founder of OneSub 💛 , a news platform that uses artificial intelligence to help readers understand the bias in the news…
How to Organize Your Life
Keeping life organized often feels like a juggling act. Just as swiftly as you move to catch one ball – say finances, family commitments, or…
How to Stay Focused in an Age of Distraction: A Beginner’s Guide to Meaningful Productivity
Cut distractions and start doing your best work.
A Masterclass in Getting Stuff Done, Straight from the Experts
When our Editor pitched me on writing a piece narrowing down productivity advice essentials, I was excited. Inspired by a NYT piece doing the same…
The 15-Minute Habit Worth Making Time For
If you’ve ever:– Wondered why people – including the likes of Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, and Sara Blakely – would spend so much of their precious time writing things that will never be seen by another soul; – Dismissed journaling because the thought of plumbing the depths of your soul and spilling it out on paper makes your skin crawl; or – (Upon being convinced that keeping a journal is, in fact, a worthwhile pursuit) gotten stuck on just how the heck to get started, …this article is for you.
The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity Methods
The right productivity method can make a huge difference in your work. A friction-less workflow can take you from feeling overwhelmed, unfocused, and unproductive to…
Hedonic adaptation is our tendency to quickly return to our normal levels of happiness after both positive and negative external events. We pursue a promotion,…
Hedonic Adaptation
Present Bias: Why You Don’t Give a Damn About Your Future Self
It’s not a lack of self-control, it’s the way your brain works.
In the 1920s, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik observed an odd thing. While dining out, she was impressed by the complex orders the wait staff was…
The Zeigarnik Effect
The Science of Analysis Paralysis
When in doubt, Google it. This is my first instinct whenever I face a problem I don’t know enough to solve. As a Millennial, I…
How to Prioritize When There’s Always More To Do
When you’re overwhelmed with everything work and life has lobbed on your plate, simply deciding what to do first can require as much time and…
Digital Minimalism and the Radical Power of Unplugging
On December 5, 2017 I was presented with an interesting opportunity: the chance to undergo a voluntary digital declutter during the month of January. The…
How your time zone affects your productivity– and what to do about it
Fine tune your productivity based on where you live.
An In-Depth Guide To Choosing The Best Online Learning Sites
The number of online learning options is overwhelming and can quickly lead to analysis paralysis. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you choose the best sites to reach your learning goals.
12 Surprising Things I’ve Learned From 100 Interviews With Top Productivity Experts
Productivity podcaster Erik Fisher shares unexpected tips, like why procrastination can be a good thing and how work-life balance obsession can derail you.
How I Learned to Suck Less at GTD
Like many, I’ve attempted to follow David Allen’s famous Getting Things Done or GTD productivity method too many times to count. I might maintain my…
How to Organize Your Home in 2024
We’ve spent a lot of time at home the past few years. You may be feeling a bit understandably tired of your space. Given the…
The Art and Science of Loving Your Job
When you’re struggling to feel good about the work you do, quitting your job to “follow your passion” isn’t your only course of action. Discover what the research has to say on how we can all be happier in our work, regardless of what we do for a living.
Why Focus Is Your Greatest Competitive Advantage at Work (Plus 19 Ways To Actually Do It)
The science is in and the results are undeniably bleak: Context switching — constantly shifting your attention from one app, screen, or task to another…
Beyond Time Management: Why We Really Procrastinate and How to Finally Stop
Overcoming procrastination isn’t about better time management. Discover what the latest research in psychology and neuroscience says you should be doing instead.
Have you ever started reading a book and decided it was terrible, only to keep reading it anyway? If so, you’ve fallen victim to economists’…
The Sunk Cost Fallacy
Improve Your Focus and Find Your Calling by Working in Seasons
If you’re struggling to find your purpose, or you’re stuck with too many options and can’t choose one to focus on, try working in seasons. A seasonal commitment has lower stakes than a lifelong pursuit. It gives you time to experience a skill, hobby, or job with full focus. And it gives you the freedom to decide when that season is over and you’re ready to try something new.
Use the Two-Minute Rule To Stop Procrastinating
Nestled within 267 pages of David Allen’s famous time management book, Getting Things Done, is a powerful and often overlooked productivity tactic. Between advice on…
Paralyzed by Perfectionism? Try Rethinking Your To-Do List
Perfectionism has, time and again, undermined my efforts to achieve what’s most important to me. Until recently, I put off pursuing what I longed to…
How to Craft the Perfect Daily Schedule
I’ve always been a productivity optimizer. It’s a bit of a hobby of mine to gather data about my productivity in order to track progress,…
Five Powerful Techniques and Tools to Achieve Work-Life Balance
These powerful tips and tools and techniques helped the Productivityist achieve genuine work-life balance.
5 Ways To Stop Hating Your To-Do List
For some, just the idea of having a to-do list feels like a burden. It’s a list of chores and long overdue assignments, things that…
What Planners Can Learn from Doers… and Vice Versa
Do you consider yourself a planner or a doer? Wondering which side of the divide you fall into? Just like in poker, a few key “tells” could give you away. Once you know which way you trend, learn how you can become a much more productive person by picking up a few habits from your opposite-workstyle teammates.
How to Declutter Your Digital Life & Reclaim Your Attention
Our digital lives today are seemingly limitless worlds of people to follow, music to stream, articles to read, and so on. The flip side of…
A Realistic Guide to Time Management
You don’t really have 24 hours in a day. Subtract the time you need to sleep and you’ve already eaten up one-third of your day.…
To Inbox Zero or Not to Inbox Zero?
How your personality affects your ability to manage your inbox.
My 23 Go-To Productivity Tools for Remote Work
Get more done with these tools…no matter where you work!
Use “Temptation Bundling” to Achieve Your Goals
Use the power of instant gratification to get through your least favorite tasks.
The free version of Todoist is incredibly robust. It has been designed that way intentionally because we want to empower as many people as possible…
The Complete Guide to Todoist Pro
The Complete Guide to Staying Productive Using Voice Assistant
Most people try their voice assistant for a few simple tasks—asking Siri the weather, or Google a random factoid—but don’t dive much deeper. Maybe it…
15 Essential Chrome Extensions for Staying Productive in 2020
When it comes to getting stuff done, your web browser can be your greatest friend or your worst foe. Most often, it manages to be…
