Sometimes you start the day lacking motivation. Other times, you’re frazzled because there’s too much to do. Or maybe you’re missing that oomph to power you through the rest of your day. 

Alas, as the kids say nowadays, you need to LOCK IN (translation: focus immensely). 

We always have moments where we want to boost productivity, or when we’d like to optimize workflows. But all this is easier said than done — how exactly can we enhance our work efficiency?

Whether you’re a working professional or a high school student, here’s how to be more productive: 11 tips and strategies for managing your tasks, time, and workflow.

Time Management Strategies

“There's so little time and so much to do!” as Louis Armstrong once sang. When we feel like there isn’t enough time to get everything done, it’s far too easy to feel overwhelmed, to panic as if the walls are caving in on us.

Time is a finite resource after all. And part of the battle in becoming your most productive self is in using that resource wisely. 

What are the best ways to manage your time?

1. Pareto Principle — (80/20 rule)

In 1906, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land was owned by just 20% of the population. 

What developed from this observation was the 80/20 rule. In time management specifically, it means that 80% of results come from 20% of actions.

How to use the Pareto Principle? First figure out what actions are yielding the most results for you. Once you’ve narrowed this down, focusing your efforts on those actions first can put you at your most effective. The expected result is that you’ll be yielding a much more effort-efficient work output than before.

2. The Pomodoro Technique

In case you didn’t know, one of the most widely used time management techniques was named after a tomato — the Pomodoro Technique. 

The main idea behind the Pomodoro Technique is that when working in intervals of 25-minutes, followed by a 5-minute break, we can be at our most productive. The optimal way to achieve maximum productivity, then, is not through long, unbroken periods of work, but instead through structured sessions. 

How to use the Pomodoro Technique? 

1. First, choose a task you want to work on,
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Work on the task until the timer rings.
3. Take a 5-minute break.
4. Repeat step 2.

What this offers is an efficient way to structure your work sessions without burning out. Repeat this process enough times, and you’ll have approached your tasks in an efficient, yet sustainable way. 

3. Parkinson’s Law

Ever notice that when you set a longer deadline for a simpler task, it takes more time to complete it? As they say, “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” This statement is the principal idea of the Parkinson’s Law, coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a 1955 essay for The Economist. 

If you’re working on an assignment or a team project, setting a far away deadline can be detrimental to its completion. Because you know you have plenty of time at your disposal, the task will grow to fit the time allotted for it.

How to avoid Parkinson's Law? 

• Set tight deadlines to create urgency, preventing procrastination.
• Break larger projects into smaller tasks to maintain progress.
• Understand the scope. Sometimes procrastination results from doing additional tasks that are unrelated to your main goal — make sure to avoid these.

4. Time Blocking

Sometimes, the best techniques have the simplest names — take Time Blocking as an example. As the name suggests, Time Blocking means dividing your day into specific time slots dedicated for various tasks. This ensures that each activity gets the attention it deserves.

How to use Time Blocking?

1. Identify and prioritize tasks: List out what needs to be done and rank them by importance.
2. Create time blocks: Allocate specific time slots for each task (don’t forget to include breaks to avoid burnout!)
3. Schedule your day: Use a digital planner/calendar to organize your time blocks.
4. Stick to your schedule: Focus solely on the task at hand during each block.

5. Time Management Apps

Okay, you’ve learned all these techniques but you’re struggling to implement them. Now what?

These days, it seems like there aren’t many problems technology can’t fix. A time management app can help you implement these time management strategies, allowing you to focus frictionless-ly. Several are available across the App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft Store. Some of these include:

1. Clockify — for setting devoted time blocks for specific tasks.
2. RescueTime — to gain insights on where you’re spending your time.
3. Forest — to help give you focus time.

Many more can be found elsewhere!

Task Management — 5 Techniques 

Say you’ve mastered time management, but can’t seem to find an orderly plan of action. The solution? Use one of these task management techniques. 

1. SMART Goals

Whenever you’re setting goals, they need to be smart. 

Yes, smart goals in the literal meaning of intelligent goals — but they also need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (S.M.A.R.T.). 

Understanding your goals with this framework ensures that they’re well-defined and attainable within a specific time frame. The intended result? An increased likelihood of success!

How to use the SMART Goals Technique?

1. Choose a goal you want to achieve, make sure that it is specific.
2. Define how you will measure your progress and success.
3. Reflect on your current capabilities and resources. Is your goal achievable?
4. Where does your goal fit in with existing objectives? Is it relevant?
5. Make your goal time-bound and set a deadline.

2. Eisenhower Matrix

If your to-do list is piling, it can be difficult to distinguish which are important and which aren’t. 

Luckily, The Eisenhower Matrix can help. Named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th US President, it’s a tool for prioritizing tasks by urgency and importance. Using the matrix, tasks can be labeled differently, and require various plans for action:

1. Urgent & Important → Do it.
2. Urgent & Not Important → Decide it.
3. Not Urgent & Important → Delegate it.
4. Not Urgent & Not Important → Delete it.

This very technique may have been helpful for Eisenhower’s very productive presidency: he oversaw the construction of the Interstate Highway System, established NASA, and ended the Korean War!

3. Task Batching

Sometimes you need to categorize tasks in a way that is more nuanced than just “urgent” and “important.” That’s where Task Batching comes in. It’s a productivity strategy that involves grouping similar tasks together to complete in one time period. 

The effect of this is reduced context switching (also known as the brain’s process when moving between tasks). Context switching can actually take a lot of time and effort. So, focusing on one kind of task at a time can seriously improve productivity and efficiency.

How to do Task Batching?

1. Categorize Tasks: List everything you need to do for the day and group similar tasks together.
2. Block Off Time: Allocate specific time periods for each group of tasks and schedule them in your digital planner/calendar.
3. Color Code Your Schedule: Use different colors for different categories — it can help draw distinctions between the various groups of tasks!

4. Kanban Method

In the late 1940s, Toyota production factories needed an inventory control system. They developed the Kanban Method as a result, a work management system that helps visualize your progress.

Kanban means “sign board” in Japanese, and creating a board that visualizes your workflow is key to the method.

How to use the Kanban Method?

1. Visualize Your Workflow: Set up a Kanban board and label columns for each stage of your work process, like “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done.”
2. Add Tasks to the Board: Write each task on a card and place it in the "To Do" column, including details like who is responsible and the deadline.
3. Set Limits: Decide on a maximum number of tasks allowed in each column to avoid taking on too much at once.
4. Move Cards Through Stages: As you work on tasks, move the cards across the columns from “To Do” to “Doing,” and finally “Done.” 

This technique is especially useful in understanding workflows in group settings, whether that’s in school or in the office. By visualizing the progress of each task, it ensures that no tasks are left behind and prevents excessive procrastination.

Getting “In the Zone” 

Being more productive requires achieving an optimal work state, or being “in the zone.” After all, how can you do all your work if you’re not in the mood to do it? Here are two important states to recognize (and master) in becoming your most productive self:

1. Deep Work

In his 2016 book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport lays out the concept of deep work: a state of peak concentration that lets you learn hard things and create quality work quickly.

How to achieve a state of deep work? Newport suggests first logging out of all communication tools and then working completely uninterrupted. 

Not only is avoiding distractions beneficial in completing tasks, but deep concentration strengthens the connections between neurons so they can fire faster. 

This technique is popular among leaders in tech — Bill Gates himself isolates himself from the world sometimes for weeks to achieve a state of deep work. 

2. Flow State

Here’s a reality check: not everyone has the luxury to turn off ALL notifications (especially not if you work in a team). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has an alternative that is probably more realistic: finding flow.

His book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, introduces the flow state as a feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.

How to achieve the flow state? Here are some of the conditions that Csikszentmihalyi outlines:

1. Take an interest in the task you are working on. It’s easier to be immersed when you enjoy what you’re doing!
2. Ensure the task is appropriately challenging, not too easy or too hard. It should align with your strengths and skills, so you can work on it without feeling stuck.
3. Adopt a mindset focused on the process, not just the outcome — like an athlete concentrating on the game rather than the trophy.

The best thing about a flow state is that the work won’t feel like work at all. You’ll feel a great sense of clarity and happiness while tackling the task at hand. 

I’m all locked in. Now what?

You might need the right tools to actually use and implement these strategies. Goodnotes is an AI-powered productivity platform perfect for doing just that. Find us on the App Store, on Google Play, and on the Microsoft Store. 

Or if you’re looking to use Goodnotes as a business, see our enterprise page.

Plus:

• Lock in some more by studying like a Harvard student
• Organize your tasks with digital planners
• Need the right tools? Read our reviews of iPads and styluses