Underrated/Rarely Discussed Productivity Strategies

Last Updated: 5/26/2024

Introduction

When we are more productive, we accomplish more in less time, meaning we can adjust our goals upward and stay ahead of deadlines. This has positive effects on goal-setting and stress management.

Listed below are some productivity strategies with an emphasis on ones I feel are rarely discussed or surprisingly effective. I have done many but not all of these.

My general theory of short-term decision making is based on friction. Individuals usually set long-term goals just fine, but we divert from them when it is convenient to pursue more rewarding short-term goals, even if we know we shouldn’t. That’s why these strategies all broadly increase executive functioning (i.e. napping) or make it harder to make bad short-term decisions (i.e. blocking).

Do I need to use these techniques?

No. I find the ones I have used useful and that’s due to who I am as an individual (easily distracted, avoids low-stimulation activities, bad at managing the time I fall sleep (relevant for the napping advice)). Nevertheless, I’m sure at least a few of these are broadly useful.

⚠️⚠️Specific strategies/implementations I have not done myself are marked with a ⚠️ symbol

🚩🚩Specific strategies/implementations I am skeptical of are marked with a 🚩 symbol

Ordered most to least helpful by my estimations…

“Napping” (or, alternatively, napping)

• “Napping” = lying down in bed with my eyes closed and lights off as if sleeping but usually for too short of a time to sleep (I can take a while)
  • In my experience, this has a >50% chance of improving my short-term (next 30 min to 2 hrs) performance, including when sleep deprived
  • Aim to rest longer when more sleep deprived
  • My current theory is that the best strategy is short naps very frequently (i.e. 3 min every hour), but this does require more self-discipline and hasn’t been tested much by me or anyone else I know of
• Comfortable lengths: very individual-dependent (but for me… 3-25 min, 40-60 min)
• NOTE: health risks
  • All sources I have seen have not controlled for other variables; also, the action of napping without sleeping is similar physiologically to meditation, which is well-practiced and does not seem to have adverse physical health risks. it seems like the main takeaway is that if you have chronic fatigue, napping is not a cure. here are some examples of the correlation of napping with negative health risks if you care:
    • NIH Article
    • AHA Article

Changes to your phone

• Blocking (much easier to do on Android, doable on iOS with the help of iOS parental controls (I don’t know much about iOS options otherwise))
  • Soft blocking = increasing the friction to navigate to distractions while not making it impossible
    • AppLock [Android]
      • locks apps with passwords (making them longer makes this more effective)
      • Preferred
      • Also great
    • Auto App Off [Android]
      • closes apps after a certain amount of time
      • very powerful when used with AppLock
      • Link
    • Placing a phone out of reach/in another room
  • ⚠️Hard blocking = fully (or close enough to fully) preventing you from navigating to distractions
    • (Android) Google Family Link
      • Can block sites, apps, and more
      • Can be implemented by having a friend hold onto the master password
    • Lockbox
      • Physically removing yourself from your phone for a period of time (timed lockboxes available on Amazon - choose one that is difficult to break)
  • Replacing social media/web browsing with another form of the same information
    • RSS Feeds
      • Use RSS readers to read your favorite blog content to help replace/mitigate social media usage (the idea is to gradually shift towards longer-form content) - This strategy works best if you have a large overlap between favorite bloggers and favorite Twitter users, for example
      • I suggest feeder.co (browser) and Feeder (Android)
• ⚠️Do not disturb/limiting notifications
  • I like to respond quickly, so I have not tried this method.
• Grayscale
  • Supposed to make using your phone (especially consuming media) worse but still accessible
  • would probably work better if I could lock it (maybe using a physical screen filter or Family-Link-like tool)

Task-based alarm clock

• use alarm app that forces you to perform a given task to dismiss it
• this can prevent oversleeping (especially for naps (see above))
• for me, the best part is preventing you from lying in bed excessively after waking (i strongly prefer the task of “scanning a barcode/QR code” for this reason)
• apps: Alarmy [Android + iOS], I Can’t Wake Up! [Android] (allows multiple barcodes in free version), etc.

Melatonin as a way to sleep (not nap) earlier than usual (without relying on lots of self-discipline)

• 🚩melatonin 0.5-1 hr before desired sleep time
• Begin dosing at <0.5 mg. May cause excess drowsiness in some people (myself included) the following day, especially during naps.

Conclusion

I don’t have much experience with most of these, so take it for what it’s worth. I recommend trying the lowest-effort strategies first since they may have a higher ROI (since the “I” is smaller in the “ROI”).