The Most Underrated Productivity Hack and How I used it..

Summary

The speaker shares their struggle with unproductive days and weight loss, leading to the discovery of time boxing as a productivity hack used by successful individuals and companies. They explain how they adapted time boxing into their daily routine using Google Calendar, emphasizing its simplicity and effectiveness. The video offers a step-by-step guide on setting up time boxing in Google Calendar, including categorizing tasks, setting reminders, and using emojis for a more engaging experience. Additionally, the speaker recommends brain.fm for focused music to enhance productivity.

Takeaways

• 📅 Time can pass quickly, making it hard to feel productive, leading to unhealthy habits like weight loss and fatigue.
• 📚 Time boxing is a highly effective productivity hack used by large companies, universities, and successful entrepreneurs.
• 🎓 Many people unknowingly use time boxing in structured environments like school or work, but fail to apply it in daily life.
• 🗓️ Google Calendar is an easy, reliable tool for time boxing that can organize your day to the minute with minimal setup.
• 📂 Grouping tasks into categories like appointments, breaks, and main tasks helps to structure the day effectively.
• 🎨 Color coding tasks based on feelings or categories can add a personalized and motivating touch to time boxing.
• 🔔 Setting notifications for tasks, especially for those that are recurring, helps stay on track with minimal effort.
• 😊 Emojis can simplify and add fun to task management, making it easier to visualize tasks like studying or routines.
• ✅ Changing the color of completed tasks provides a sense of progress and accomplishment throughout the day.
• 🎧 Music, especially focus-oriented tracks like those from Brain FM, can improve concentration and productivity.

Q & A

What is the main issue the speaker was facing before discovering the productivity hack?

The speaker was feeling unproductive, losing weight, always tired, and too lazy to do anything.

What is the productivity hack that the speaker discovered?

The productivity hack is 'time boxing', which involves scheduling tasks and activities in a calendar.

Why is time boxing considered underrated by the speaker?

Time boxing is considered underrated because it is a simple and effective method that has been used by successful people and organizations, yet it is often overlooked in everyday life.

What study ranked time boxing as the most effective productivity method?

A study conducted in 2018 ranked time boxing as the most effective productivity method out of the 100 most effective productivity methods.

How did the speaker use time boxing during their school and work life?

The speaker used time boxing during high school with a timetable, in college with a schedule, and at workplaces like Coca-Cola and Tesla using Outlook calendar.

What was the speaker's main concern when deciding to incorporate time boxing into their daily routine?

The speaker was concerned about how to implement time boxing effectively and was overwhelmed by the number of tutorials and apps available.

Which app did the speaker find to be the perfect solution for time boxing?

The speaker found Google Calendar to be the perfect app for time boxing.

How does the speaker categorize tasks in Google Calendar for time boxing?

The speaker categorizes tasks into groups such as appointments, breaks, routine, and main tasks.

What is the speaker's approach to filling the day in their time boxing schedule?

The speaker tries not to leave anything blank and fills the day to the minute to avoid procrastination.

How does the speaker use color coding in their time boxing schedule?

The speaker uses color coding to reflect their feelings towards different tasks, such as yellow for entrepreneur tasks, green for breaks, and blue for daily routine.

What is the speaker's strategy for reminders in Google Calendar?

The speaker sets reminders to notify them as tasks start, with the default set to 30 minutes before, but can be adjusted to zero for immediate notification.

What does the speaker suggest to increase productivity while using time boxing?

The speaker suggests using music to increase focus and mentions a service called Brain.fm that caters to different needs.

Outlines

00:00

🕒 Discovering Time Boxing for Personal Productivity

The speaker discusses their personal struggle with unproductivity and time management, leading to weight loss and fatigue. They recount their experience with structured schedules during high school, college, and professional life at companies like Coca-Cola and Tesla. The concept of 'time boxing' is introduced as a productivity hack that ranked first in a 2018 study of the most effective productivity methods. The speaker's journey to incorporate time boxing into their daily routine is shared, along with their search for an easy, simple, and reliable method. They discovered Google Calendar as the perfect tool for this purpose, explaining how to use it to plan out the day, group tasks, and set reminders. The importance of color-coding tasks based on personal feelings towards them is highlighted, as well as the convenience of syncing across devices.

05:01

🎵 Boosting Focus with Brain FM Music

In the second paragraph, the speaker introduces Brain FM, a music streaming service designed to enhance focus and creativity. They differentiate this type of music from typical background music, emphasizing its effectiveness for individuals, including those with ADHD. The speaker shares a personal experience with Brain FM and offers a 30-day free trial for viewers, suggesting that it can significantly improve productivity and work sessions.

Keywords

💡Time Boxing

Time boxing is a productivity technique where you allocate specific time slots for tasks or activities. In the video, the speaker describes how they used time boxing in school and work environments, and later adapted it to their daily life. It's highlighted as the most effective productivity method in a study conducted in 2018. The script provides a personal example of how the speaker uses Google Calendar to implement time boxing, scheduling tasks and breaks throughout the day.

💡Productivity Hack

A productivity hack refers to any trick or method that increases efficiency and effectiveness in completing tasks. The video emphasizes time boxing as an underrated productivity hack that has been used by successful entrepreneurs and large corporations. The speaker shares their personal journey of discovering and applying time boxing to overcome feelings of unproductivity and lethargy.

💡Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling tool that the speaker uses to implement time boxing. It's described as easy, simple, and reliable for planning out the day. The script provides a walkthrough of how to use Google Calendar for time boxing, including creating events, setting reminders, and categorizing tasks.

💡Appointments

In the context of the video, appointments refer to fixed events or tasks that cannot be moved, such as work or school hours. The speaker categorizes these as 'appointments' in their Google Calendar and suggests using the 'subscribe' feature for recurring tasks, which helps maintain a structured daily routine.

💡Breaks

Breaks are periods of rest or relaxation scheduled within a work routine to prevent burnout and maintain productivity. The speaker emphasizes the importance of breaks in their time boxing strategy, categorizing them separately in Google Calendar and scheduling them just as meticulously as work tasks.

💡Daily Routine

A daily routine consists of regular activities performed daily in a set order. The video script describes how the speaker organizes their daily routine using time boxing, including mundane tasks like brushing teeth and eating breakfast. This routine is visualized in Google Calendar, with each task color-coded to reflect the speaker's feelings towards it.

💡Notifications

Notifications in the video refer to alerts set to remind the speaker when it's time to start a new task. The speaker customizes these notifications in Google Calendar to either alert them 30 minutes before a task or right as it starts, depending on the task's nature. This feature helps the speaker transition smoothly between tasks.

💡Color Coding

Color coding is a method of organizing information using colors to represent different categories or emotions. The speaker uses color coding in Google Calendar to associate different feelings with various tasks, such as yellow for enjoyable tasks and blue for less enjoyable daily routines. This visual aid helps in managing the day's activities more effectively.

💡Entrepreneur

In the video, being an entrepreneur refers to the speaker's self-identified role and the tasks associated with running a business. These tasks are labeled as 'entrepreneur' in Google Calendar and are color-coded yellow to signify the speaker's positive feelings towards their work.

💡Brain.FM

Brain.FM is a music streaming service mentioned in the video that provides music designed to improve focus and productivity. The speaker recommends it as a tool to enhance productivity, especially for those with ADHD, and shares a promotional offer for a 30-day free trial. This service is an example of how the speaker incorporates different tools to boost productivity.

💡ADHD

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that the speaker self-identifies with. The video discusses how time boxing and other productivity strategies can be particularly beneficial for individuals with ADHD to manage their daily tasks and routines more effectively.

Highlights

Time boxing is an underrated productivity hack used by successful entrepreneurs, prestigious universities, and multi-billion dollar companies.

The author experienced a lack of productivity and poor health for almost two years before discovering time boxing.

Time boxing involves scheduling tasks and activities to the minute, which was a practice the author was already familiar with from school and work.

A 2018 study ranked time boxing as the most effective productivity method out of 100.

The author struggled to find an easy and reliable method to implement time boxing in their daily routine.

Google Calendar was identified as the perfect app for time boxing due to its simplicity and accessibility.

The author groups tasks into categories like appointments, breaks, routine, and main tasks for better organization.

Tasks should be color-coded based on how the author feels towards them, adding a personal touch to time boxing.

Google Calendar allows for easy task scheduling by clicking and dragging, making time boxing straightforward.

Appointments are fixed tasks that cannot be moved, such as work or school hours.

The author suggests setting notifications to start as tasks begin for better time management.

Using emojis can make tasks more fun and organized, with shorthand versions of activities.

Progress can be tracked by changing the color of completed tasks,激励自己继续前进.

Google Calendar syncs across devices, ensuring that updates are reflected in real-time.

The author recommends using music to increase focus and productivity, specifically mentioning brain.fm.

Brain.fm offers music streaming tailored to different needs, including deep work and creativity.

A 30-day free trial of brain.fm is offered for viewers, encouraging them to try it out for themselves.

Transcripts

have you ever had those days where you

feel like you've literally done nothing

days where time passes so fast it feels

like you just woke up my breakfast

turned into lunches and my dinners turn

into breakfast before I knew it I lost

an unhealthy amount of weight and was

always tired and too lazy to do anything

as someone who has lived like this for

almost 2 years I discovered the most

underrated productivity hack that has

been used in multi-billion dollar

companies prestigious universities and

by countless successful entrepreneurs

when I was in high school I was given a

timetable it had everything planned to

the minute from home rooms subject

classes when I can wipe my ass

assemblies and lunch never once I had

questioned what I was supposed to do

next after I graduated I went to college

that had the same concept a schedule

outlining when classes started and when

they'll me and again when I was working

at Coca-Cola and Tesla although they

used Outlaw calendar to schedule

meetings briefs and events the concept

was still the same so what is this

underrated productivity hack if you

haven't guessed already it's time boxing

in 2018 conducted a study of the 100

most effective productivity methods and

time boxing ranked first in the most

effective it's crazy to me even though I

involuntarily use this in school and

work and never thought of adapting it

into my everyday life not until recently

I started to really utilize this into my

daily routine my biggest question when I

decided I wanted to incorporate time

boxing was how how on Earth do I do it I

was overwhelmed with the number of

tutorials and apps online all telling me

different ways to do it I couldn't

settle on one all I wanted was something

that planned out my day that required

the least amount of effort and setup

time I didn't want to have to write and

plan out my day on a whiteboard every

night or go through a nine-step sign up

process before I find out I need to pay

$5 a month to use basic features I

wanted something easy simple and

reliable then I found it it was right

under my one strand of beard the perfect

app that does exactly what I needed to

do Google Calendar not sponsored chances

are if you're watching this video you

already have a Google account probably

something cringey you made it Middle

School yep and just your email n 77.com

nerd now it did take me and my

undiagnosed ADHD brain a while to figure

out how to time boox effectively but

once I figured it out it was actually

easy so to save you the trouble I want

to show you exactly how I time box using

Google Calendar did you did you know you

can click and drag these apps around you

did you so when you open Google

calendar for the first time you'll have

a blank canvas like this to stay

organized I like to group tasks and

events by appointments breaks routine

and Main tasks I've labeled main tasks

as

entrepreneur my life so your groups

might be a little different than mine in

my case this is what my time boxing

looks like I try not to leave anything

blank and fill the day to the minute or

I find myself npct posing until the next

task I don't think there's any science I

can use to back this claim but I color

coat my tasks depending on how I feel

towards them for example entrepreneur is

coded in yellow cuz it makes me happy

brakes are CED in green cuz I like

brakes and daily routine is in blue cuz

it makes me sad why does daily routine

make you sad

soul good point I do like sleeping now

once you created your calendars you can

start adding your task and it's as

simple as clicking and dragging the task

directly onto your calendar at the title

how much time you want to allocate and

what group you want to add it into I'm

going to assume that most of you are

either working or in school so I would

categorize that under appointments these

are things that are set in stone and

can't be shifted if it's a task that

repeats like school or work save

yourself the headache and click on

subscribe click on daily if it only

repeats on certain days you can use

custom and select the days that you want

it to repeat on something I like to do

for each task is to notify me as they

start by default it's set to 30 minutes

before but you can easily change this to

notify you as the task starts by setting

it to zero except for the gym I set that

to 15 minutes before just so I can

mentally prepare myself for the physical

torment I'm about to face but that just

really comes down to personal preference

emojis they make me feel some type of

way keeps things organized and shortened

instead of writing brush my teeth wash

my face eat breakfast and get dressed

I've got tooth soap egg and necktie see

how easy that was now you try I'll give

you a word and you match it with the

right Emoji studying

po that's right

it's princess

[Music]

that's right it's

you yes I am aware most of you women now

nothing feels better than checking

something off the list I like to feel

progress throughout the day so I simply

just change the color of each tars as I

go through them I use gray but you can

use whatever you want the best part is

everything is synced with your Google

account so what you see on your phone

updates live as you change on your

computer and the other way around one

thing that I recently started using to

increase my productivity is music I'm

not talking about the music that makes

my body Wiggly I'm talking about the

music that makes you focus I discovered

brain FM it's a music streaming service

that caters to your needs whether you

want to stay in deep work longer or

unlock a creative mind there something

for everyone even for my ADHD viewers

out

there

guys jingle jingle don't believe me try

it yourself I managed to get you guys a

30-day free trial use my link in the

description

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