11 High-Impact Strategies to Get Rid of Time-Wasters and Uplevel Your Productivity

I see so many people going crazy because they want to become more efficient, save time, get more things done, and uplevel their lives every day.

And I love it because I believe that we should always aim to improve ourselves and our lives. There is no reason not to do so, and honestly, growth is fun.

However, the problem with this kind of self-optimization is that people often set incorrect expectations and take wrong actions. They don’t spend much time thinking about what to do but instead just try to do a lot.

It’s not that hard to properly manage your time and make the most out of it. You just need to stick to a few simple rules.

1. Plan Ahead

Honestly, planning might be the holy grail of time management.

If you are not well prepared, it’s going to be hard to cope with unexpected situations. Having a look at your calendar in the evening and scheduling your next day might take you less than five minutes, but it can save you so much stress.

I am using Google Calendar as well as a physical notebook. Every night I check my calendar and transfer essential tasks and appointments to my journal.

By doing so, I already go through the next day in imagination, and as a result, I feel much better prepared. That way, I can also spend more time thinking about my eating or sports schedule for the next day.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being flexible and spontaneous. However, I believe that being organized, prepared, and disciplined will give you more flexibility and freedom in your life.

I also do this kind of planning for the whole week. On Sundays, I open my Google calendar and transfer relevant appointments to my journal, so that I just have to check for the updates throughout the week.

This strategy works very well for me, and I can highly recommend it. If you don’t want to keep a physical calendar, you can still have a look at your digital one and write down your to-do’s for the next day.

Without preparation, we often end up being confused and inefficient.

2. Set Priorities

Setting the right priorities is difficult for many people. I see so many people being extremely busy but not productive at all.

They are masters in coming up with new tasks every day, but they hardly complete the things that will actually produce results. Learning how to set priorities (and ignore a lot of tasks) was a real gamechanger for me.

When I feel stuck, I often use the Eisenhower Matrix. By doing so, I identify my critical tasks and get rid of those who don’t bring me closer to my goals anyway.

The Eisenhower Method helps you to identify which tasks you should focus on, which to delegate and which to get rid of entirely. By categorizing your tasks according to importance and urgency, you can more easily decide on what to do next.

Generally, my daily to-do list is concise. I used to have very long to-do lists with tons of items on them because I thought that would be productive, it definitely wasn’t.

If my to-do list is short, I know that I am focusing on essential things instead of just being busy.

I usually write my to-do lists according to the Ivy Lee Method. I found out that this works best for me, as it is overseeable and short.

This is how it works:

• In the evening, write down a maximum of six to-do’s you want to tackle the next day.
• Get a small piece of paper and split it into three sections on each page.
• Now prioritize your tasks. Write down your #1 priority, then your #2, and so on.
• When you start your next workday, first focus on your #1 task. Once that is done, start working on #2.
• Finished all your tasks by the end of the day? Awesome! If not, just put what’s left on your sheet for the next day.

It is as easy as it sounds. However, for me, this method works wonders as I always know precisely what to focus on.

3. Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself

We all make mistakes, and all of us have unproductive times. Being hard on yourself won’t make things any better during these situations.

Instead, appreciate your wins and give yourself some time to recover. We can’t be giving 100% each day of the year. Breaks and self-care are needed. If you ignore those needs, your body will sooner or later backfire.

After all, great time management definitely doesn’t mean overstressing yourself. On the contrary, it means that you can manage everything well, including your personal wellbeing.

You can’t produce good results if you always feel stressed out. This just doesn’t work. Instead, give yourself regular breaks.

Yes, I am a huge fan of productive work, but we simply can’t be productive all of the time. Of course, you can push your limits, but in my experience, punishing yourself doesn’t make much sense at all. It is more efficient to relax, take some time off, and get back to work once you feel refreshed.

4. Learn From Your Mistakes

Don’t waste your time repeating mistakes. Even when we have bad experiences, we often repeat the same mistake over and over again. That’s because, after some time, the consequences don’t feel that worse anymore.

Thus, we repeat mistakes, and of course, we waste time.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

What helps me to avoid these situations is regular reflection.

At least every week, I reflect on my days and try to figure out what went well and which mistakes I make.

I write down what consequences my actions had so that I really remember how painful a mistake was.

For me, wasting several hours for a project, meeting, or phone call that doesn’t bring any value is a significant loss.

I could use my time otherwise.

That doesn’t mean that every appointment I have must end up with a monetary win and business opportunities, on the contrary.

When I see no value, I mean that spending my time on something didn’t come with any benefits. It didn’t make me feel good, and I didn’t fulfill any good cause or anything likewise.

Scheduling some time to reflect on my accomplishments and mistakes helps me to avoid repeating mistakes.

5. Be punctual, or even early

In 2019, I learned that punctuality is a powerful value.

I always tended to be punctual; however, I often arrived just a few minutes before an event, or a meeting started.

Thus, I was quite stressed on my way there because I didn’t know if I’d be on point or not. And I hate being late.

If people are late (repeatedly), I assume that they have poor time management and self-organization skills, which I don’t admire at all.

Instead of arriving one minute before a meeting, I now arrive 10 minutes earlier.

To some people, that might sound like a waste of time, but for me, it’s a complete win.

If I am early, I am relaxed. Thus, I can be more present at the moment and more focused on the topics that I discuss.

Plus, if I am relaxed at the beginning of a meeting, I also tend to be relaxed at the end.

Otherwise, if I enter an appointment wholly stressed out, I often keep that stress, even if the meeting is over.

Being on time and well prepared helps me to stay focused and be more productive once my appointment is over.

Additionally, if your meeting starts on time, it will also end on time, and that’s super precious because you can schedule the rest of your day accordingly.

6. Expect punctuality

If you clearly communicate that your time is valuable, people will be on time when meeting you.

That’s of high value because your punctuality is useless if your partner isn’t on time.

When you schedule meetings, tell your partner when you need to leave. If they know that you just have one hour to stay, they will be on time, and they will appreciate your time much more.

Of course, I don’t do this with my friends and family. However, if I meet people for business purposes and especially if they want to meet me, I like to give a specific time frame, so that I can leave if I feel like there’s no match and not much to talk about.

7. Stop procrastination

Easier said than done, I know.

Studies have shown that disciplined people are happier than those who always procrastinate.

That’s because those with great discipline can create their lives according to their wishes and dreams.

People who procrastinate, however, don’t feel in control and are producing fewer results. Thus, they feel more stressed.

If you want to be more productive and waste less time, figure out what leads you to procrastination.

Maybe it’s your workspace.

Or your phone is your most significant disturbing factor.

Or it’s because you are not focusing on the right tasks to complete.

Whatever it is, the first step lies in understanding it.

Once you are aware of what leads you to procrastination, you can find solutions for overcoming it.

E.g., cleaning your desk, putting your phone away, using the Eisenhower Matrix to find the most important tasks.

8. Stop gossiping

In many people’s lives, gossiping is the ultimate time-waster.

This activity is pure nonsense and doesn’t come with any benefit.

It just drains your energy and kills your time.

Next time you find yourself gossiping, be mindful and decide to stop. Just tell your conversation partner that you don’t want to gossip anymore.

My boyfriend and I are also business partners, and we are spending almost all our days together. So we have a lot of time to talk about things. And we often found ourselves gossiping about people.

When once of us opened Instagram and saw a picture of a friend, it quickly happened that we started judging.

However, a few months ago, we decided that we don’t want to be like that.

We agreed that every time one of us starts gossiping, the other one would kindly ask to stop because of our non-gossiping-deal.

And it works!

Of course, we still talk about what other people do. Especially in a business sense. But we don’t judge anymore. We spend way less time talking about others and instead focus on ourselves.

9. Set rules for your phone usage

For most people, the smartphone is the biggest time-killer.

Often, we don’t even realize how much time we spend on our phones.

But trust me, it would shock you if you knew.

On average, we spend 3 hours and 15 minutes a day on our phones.

Just imagine what you could do with an extra 3 hours per day.

Quite a lot, right?

If you are mainly doing business, of course, that number is fine.

Or if you are an Instagram influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers and that’s your primary income, of course, you will spend several hours on your phone.

However, most of us aren’t influencers. At least that’s what I think of Medium readers.

On average, we check our phones up to 60 times per day. I even think that I still check it more even often than that. And that’s embarrassing because I know that not even 1/3 of the time I spend on my time is productive.

Setting rules for your phone usage and minimizing the time you spend scrolling through news feeds is a great way to win a few extra minutes (or even hours) per day.

What helped me is to change my screensaver to something that reminds me of my intention.

For example, put a screensaver that says, “My time is precious.”. Every time you want to use your phone, you will see it and automatically you will consider if it’s really worth it.

10. Avoid distractions

Besides our phones, we often surround ourselves with many more distractions.

I am genuinely grateful that I learned how to avoid most of these.

Again, I am far away from being not perfect, but I figured out how to create a space (in my mind, home, and workplace) where I can be highly productive instead of busy and distracted.

Any distraction throughout your day might cost you several minutes.

Seeing a push-notification on your laptop (or phone) can cost you several minutes, even if you don’t react to it. By just seeing it, your concentration gets disturbed, and you need some time until you can entirely focus again.

On my laptop, I don’t have any push notifications at all. If I want to check emails or messages, I do it consciously, not because of a push-up.

Also, on my phone, I just get push notifications of Whatsapp messages, but not of anything else, and I believe that would be a gamechanger for most people.

I see so many people receiving a notification for any Facebook alert they receive, that’s so absurd. All of this costs you time and energy. It’s more than enough to see your notifications when you open the app.

Besides your digital devices, also make sure to keep your physical spaces clean and arranged. By doing so, you ensure not getting distracted by small stuff that comes your way.

11. Learn to say no

Saying no is probably the most excellent time-management technique that exists.

There is nothing that can save you more time than saying no to things that don’t serve or benefit you.

Way too often, we accept offers and do things because we think we must do them, and it would be impolite to say no.

However, as mentioned several times, your time is your most precious resource.

By saying no to things that don’t fulfill you, you respect yourself and your own energy.

There is so much to do and explore on this planet. Why would you do things that don’t excite you?

The answer is simple: because we never get taught how to say no. Especially how to say no in a respectful way.

Most people grow up believing that they need to be liked by everyone.

That’s not possible, anyway. No matter what you are doing, there will be people who’ll dislike you or your results.

You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.

― Dita Von Teese

So, instead of trying to be liked by saying yes to everyone and every opportunity, start saying no.

Being able to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant meetings, projects, etc. can save you a shitload of time and transform your life.

Just imagine you said no to everything that didn’t excite you in the past 12 months.

You would have saved quite a lot of time, right?

Imagine spending all these hours on things that are important or exciting to you.

What I want to say can be summarized quite shortly:

While managing your time and getting rid of unnecessary tasks, don’t forget to enjoy yourself.

Don’t waste your time on things that don’t excite you, but make sure to leave some time to enjoy your life.

In the end, we hardly make our most remarkable memories during work. We make them when we are around loved ones or when we are doing something that we are passionate about.

Let’s get rid of all the unnecessary things and make more time to actually live.

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