Optimizing productivity is one key trait of successful business owners. Last week, I wrote about keeping an uncluttered workspace to boost your productivity. Managing clutter can reduce stress and keep you “in the zone”. We hope you found that article useful in your work life or personal life.

This week, let’s talk about a popular productivity boosting method that could help you manage and complete tasks. Productivity consultant, David Allen, author of the bestselling book “Getting Things Done” talks about the steps to organizing tasks according to priorities in a time- management method called “Get Things Done!”

How to GTD

Work is made of a list of things or tasks that need to be done in order to complete a job. Sometimes, we go in blindly hoping to just wing it from task to task with no concrete plan. The creator of the GTD system calls these task “open loops” and defines them as ‘anything pulling our attention that doesn’t belong where it is, the way it is.” The GTD system helps us work around those “open loops” by gathering all your tasks – immediate, long term, big picture, personal, professional—in one place (usually a journal or plain pen and paper – that’s how David Allen does it himself), thereby freeing your mind of the stress of having to remember them.

Basically, the Get Things Done or GTD method is made up of 5 steps: Capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage. You answer each question about a task or action item.
Here it is in action:

1. Capture. Write down everything that you need to get done for work (hourly tasks, daily tasks, monthly tasks, ad hoc tasks, task re:project outcomes etc.)
2.  Clarify. Is the task do-able? Can YOU do something about it? If you can’t, get it off your list. However, if it is actionable then you have to decide what the next steps are. Action every item that you can do in 2 mins and get them off your list. Do it right away. Think about the items that you can delegate or that require other people’s help. Delegate and get them off your list. Narrow down your list, rinse, and repeat. Now you should have a streamlined list of actionable items that you are responsible for.
3. Organize. It’s time to put those action items into categories. You can make these categories yourself based on what you need. File stuff under emails to respond to or phone calls to make or people to follow up on. You can also file them under deadlines such as: to complete today, to complete within the week etc. Create categories that work for you and fit your needs. There are many variations to how you can organize tasks into categories and that would be a discussion for another day. For now, find the best thing that works for you.
4. Reflect. Check your list. Check it twice. Have you covered everything? Revisit it once a week, or once a month, or whatever schedule works for you.
5. Engage. Start checking off tasks from your list. You have a working battle plan of what to do and how to do it, complete with action items and/or deadlines. That should make it easier for you to know what to do next because no you have a concrete plan of action..

This diagram from wikipedia outlines these steps.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done#/media/File:GTDcanonical.png)

The internet is filled with GTD resources – apps and forums, and the method has a huge following. Try it out and let us know how you like it in the comments below. We would love to hear from you. As always, remember to: Stay Humble, Hustle Hard. Good luck!

Written by Jaie O.- The Help

Not all of us have the luxury of having a big and spacious home office. Most of the time, we clear out space on the kitchen counter or the dining table and work from there. But we all know that in order to be productive or to increase productivity, home office workers need a dedicated space. It could be as small scale as a desk or a small table specifically used for work only, or it could be a spare room with all the nice home office trimmings.

Our environment matters. Whether we notice it or not, our surroundings pretty much affect us subconsciously. So…look around. Do you see clutter? Better clear it up right away as it affects productivity.

There are days when you just can’t get your creative juices flowing and you have to force yourself into some kind of productive flow. Wouldn’t it make more sense to get rid of things that disrupt your flow? Used papers, empty coffee cups, and leftover take out boxes all contribute to “visual noise.” They compete for your attention resulting to decreased performance and increased stress. Clutter overloads your senses and affects creativity. Get rid of them now!

Make it easier to win and harder to fail.

Sometimes, it’s not just physical clutter that competes for your attention. Have you ever experienced having too many tabs open on a double monitor set-up while each one of your friends is sending you a message over some messaging app, all while you’re trying to listen to dance music? I already feel tired just by imagining it.

The simplest solutions are sometimes the best solutions. Close down all the tabs that have nothing to do with your task. Turn off your phone and put it in a drawer or in your purse. Put on some ambient sounds or coffee shop music. Better yet, put on noise cancelling headphones to help you regain focus.

Make it easier for yourself to regain your focus back by staying away from notorious productivity killers like clutter, social media, and noise.

Hard limits.

You have to apply hard limits and restraints on yourself. Vow to get rid of one source of clutter until you’ve pared your workspace down to just the essentials. Corral all those papers into boxes or files. Take all those pens and place them inside a cute coffee mug or a professional looking pen holder. Actually eat your take out in the kitchen and not on your workdesk. Close all your Twitter and Facebook tabs (unless you’re a social media manager, then close just your personal accounts).

Get the time.

Set aside time per month to review your space and your space layout. Do you need to transfer to a quieter work station? Do you need a bigger workspace? Can you add anything that will make you work more efficiently? Pick a day to clean, sort, and discard all productivity killers from your workspace. It’s better if you can set up a daily cleanse routine, that way you can start with a clean workspace everyday and not wait a month until a pile of clutter has accumulated to start cleaning your workspace.

To get back to the productivity groove, be sure to start with purpose and less “noise”. Clearing clutter is being mindful. Be mindful of your surroundings and watch your productivity flow. Do you have any decluttering tips? Share them with us in the comments! We would love to hear from you. As always, remember to: Stay Humble, Hustle Hard. Good luck!

Written by Jaie O.- The Help

When it comes to sleep can having too much of it be a good thing? We all complain about NOT getting enough sleep. Every weekend, we foolishly try to sleep in to catch up with our sleep deficits accrued over a work week of sleeping poorly. So, getting too much sleep is a good thing, right?

No – it is not.

The amount of sleep varies among individual and with individuals. This means my sleep needs are different from yours. It also means that my need will vary over the course of my lifetime. I could need 8 hours to feel rested while you could need just 7 hours of restful sleep. In the course of my life, I might need 8 hours of sleep in my twenties and just 6.5 in my forties.

This being said, we cannot set an exact amount of time to say when a person is oversleeping. But, if we need to assign a value, it would be safe to say that most adults need anywhere between 7 to 9 hours of sleep.

Unless you have hypersomnia, a medical condition that causes oversleeping, it is not normal to constantly oversleep. Oversleeping can be as dangerous as not having enough sleep. Both conditions will make you feel sluggish and overly fatigued. Just like undersleeping, oversleeping messes with your concentration and memory. A 2011 University of London Sleep Study shows that both having too much or too little sleep causes memory decline, poor reflexes, and slower vocabulary. Both also cause a myriad of physical symptoms such as headaches, poor skin, eye bags, and weight loss or weight gain.

Psst…can I tell you a secret?

It’s no secret actually that when it comes to sleep (and many other facets of life), QUALITY over quantity is the way to go.

I’ve written about ways to get enough sleep here and here. They can be summed up by following the tips below:

• Practice good sleep hygiene – like sticking to a sleep schedule (same bedtime and same waketime everyday – resist sleeping in during weekends) and placing yourself in a sleep mindset (rituals before bed, e.g. brushing and getting into PJs, help put you in a  sleep mindset.)

• Diet and Exercise – check your diet for hidden caffeine and sleep killers (e.g. spicy food). If you must have a midnight snack, snack lightly on Tryptophan rich food. Tryptophan and carbohydrate combinations such as milk and cereal, or cheese and crackers can help with sleep. And please, no caffeine so close to bedtime. Regular exercise improves circulation and is generally good for your health, that can’t be said enough.

• Make your bedroom conducive to sleep – a good mattress, good pillows, and comfy sheets would be a great help. Keep light sources out (yes, I’m talking about screens like TV screens and Kindles,  or any disruptive light sources).

Good luck on your quest for the perfect amount of sleep. I hope you rest easy tonight and dream sweet dreams. As always, remember to: Stay Humble, Hustle Hard. Good luck!

Written by Jaie O.- The Help

Mothers all over the world have always believed in the power of warm milk (and a few cookies) to help put their children to sleep. Warm milk seems to be the universal prescription for sending us off to sweet dreams. What is the magical ‘secret” ingredient that makes warm milk a potent sleep inducer? Is it all just in our heads?

Science backed:

Dairy foods like Milk contain a powerful amino acid called “Tryptophan”. Tryptophan is a particularly fun little helper that can be found abundantly in protein based foods. You can also find it in the following: chocolate, oats, dried dates, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, red meat, eggs, fish, poultry, sesame, chickpeas, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, buckwheat, spirulina, bananas, and peanuts.

Carb coma:

So there is a way to supercharge the sleep inducing powers of “Tryptophan”. That is by eating carbohydrate rich food. That’s is why the milk and cookies combo works so well. In addition to milk and cookies, try a small snack of yoghurt and crackers, cheese and crackers, or a cheese sandwich to help you sleep. SMALL is the operative word, so remember to keep the snack light as a heavy meal can lead to insomnia and a host of other problems.

Hidden sleep killers:

Do you know that your Hot Cocoa or your over the counter medicines can contain hidden caffeine that makes it difficult to get some sleep. Check the labels and you might find the culprit to your insomnia. Of course, the obvious caffeinated beverages should be avoided: Coffee, tea, and sodas. If you must have tea, stick to the sleep inducing kind like Chamomile, Peppermint, lavender, Valerian, Passion Flower, Lemon Balm, or Magnolia Bark.

Sugar and Spice and all things nice:

You heard it right…avoid too much sugar before bed. Too much sugar is generally bad for your health, pre bedtime or otherwise. Remember to take everything in moderation. Also, lay off on the spicy food already! There is this thing called heartburn. It has nothing to do with breaking up with your SO or Significant Other and a whole lot to do with an especially problematic condition called Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Lying down makes the acids in our stomach go up and makes heartburns worse. A heartburn kind of feels like a mini heart attack, thus the words heart and burn.

A little help:

Prescription Sleeping pills might help you achieve that coveted 8 hours of sleep, but it is not a long term solution for chronic insomnia. At most, it is a band aid solution to a serious problem that must be consulted with a healthcare professional. If you must take meds to help with sleep, it is best to stick to natural remedies such as Valerian or Melatonin.

Do you know of any sleep inducing food or food combos? Have you heard of any old wives tales that supposedly help induce restful sleep? We’d love to hear your tips. Please share them with us in the comments below. As always: Stay Humble and hustle Hard!

Written by Jaie O.- The Help

You’re motivated, you feel that you’re well rested, and you love your job immensely. But why do you feel like you’re dragging yourself to work? Why do you find yourself fighting back a yawn, 10 minutes after the start of your workday? Why do you keep nodding off at your desk even though you’ve already had coffee? Surely, that is not normal. Why do you feel tired all the time?

There are a lot of reasons for feeling tired, the most obvious one is, of course, not getting enough sleep. Though you may feel that you are well rested, that might not be the case. You might be racking up a sleep deficiency. Normally, adults should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep, every night. If you’re not hitting this target, you might be sleep deprived.

Sleep Disorders:

It could also be that you ARE getting 7- 8 hours of sleep, but that sleep gets interrupted by sleep apnea. Sleep Apnea stops your breathing throughout the night and it interrupts your sleep cycle even though you’re not aware of it. The result, 7-8 hours of sleep but tired and still sleep deprived.

Shift work can wreak havoc on your internal body clock. Rotating shifts can result in difficulty in adhering to an optimum sleeping schedule. Consequently, you feel tired and sleepy during the hours when you need to be alert and awake.

Medical Conditions:

Lack of Iron, which causes Anemia, is also a culprit for fatigue. Women should especially be careful as menstrual blood loss can contribute to an Iron deficiency. Hyperthyroidism can also be a culprit. When your Thyroid gland is underactive, you might feel sluggish and have very low energy levels. People with Diabetes should also be careful. Due to abnormalities in processing sugar, the body has a hard time converting food into fuel and thus, the feeling of tiredness. If you feel tired all the time despite getting enough rest, have yourself checked for one of these conditions.

What you eat:

We all know that consuming caffeine too close to bedtime makes it challenging to fall asleep and sleep deprivation leads to fatigue. But did you know that the increased heart rate and blood pressure caused by caffeine causes us to be tired, too. So be careful about consuming too much coffee. In the same manner, be careful about what you eat as well. Eat too little and you feel tired, but eat the wrong foods and you also feel tired. Have you ever felt sleepy and sluggish after you’ve eaten too much carbs like pizza and pasta and eventually fell into a food coma? I think you get my point.

Mental Health:

Depression often manifest with mental or emotional symptoms, but it manifests physical symptoms as well, and fatigue is one of them.

Check against the points above to see if one of them is the culprit of your fatigue and constant tiredness. Enlist the help of a medical professional and have yourself checked. And as per usual, a good diet and enough exercise will do wonders for your health.

Do you know of any other culprits to fatigue? Share them with us in the comments! As always, remember to: Stay Humble, Hustle Hard. Good luck!

Written by Jaie O.- The Help