LifeScore Chronicles #14: All things productivity 📊 🌟
Kumusta guys, and welcome to the #14 edition of the LifeScore Chronicles.
Since I am writing this edition from the Philippines, I have been digging a bit into its history and language. Did you know there are 183 different languages spoken in the Philippines, but only Tagalog and English are official? Tagalog is spoken by approx 25% of Filipinos, and English got official status as the country was ruled by the US between 1898 and 1946. There is still a lot of Spanish influence as Spain colonized the country for 300 years, so the language is a super interesting mix of different mix of different cultures.
Anyway! Back to the LSC: We have a themed edition this week, so expect to learn some productivity things, and especially, how to make them work for you.
Let's dive in!
*Note: From now on, you should be receiving #LSC from Substack directly. Don’t expect any changes in the reading experience, but if there is something weird or not working properly, please let me know!
Today’s summary:
🕰️ Maximize your time: Unlocking efficiency every day
🛠️ Little Efficiency Enhancers: Small tweaks, big impact
🍃 Sounds of the earth to help you focus
🔀 Some random productivity facts
🕰️ Maximize your time: Unlocking efficiency every day
Let’s start with a fact: We all tend to think we are productive while working, and most of the time, in a typical 8-hour workday, most time is spent preparing ourselves to work rather than actually working.
That’s why I've themed this #LSC14 around work efficiency.
The most difficult challenge for anyone working in a company environment, or as a freelance or as a solo entrepreneur is resource allocation, being resources your time, other people's time, money allocation… but no matter how many resources you have, in the end, we all get the same 24 hours each day, so managing them is key to success.
As a slightly over-the-meridian productive person, I wanted to share some tips and tricks that work for me (of course, this is personal, feel free to try them all and stick to the ones that are improving your working way).
🎨 Theming your days
Getting into a flow state makes time feel like it's standing still, boosting your productivity. However, constant context-switching can kill this, making it difficult to focus on tasks, right?
So I found a solution that works for me: "themed" days to help keep my flow time safe.
Monday: Deep work (fewer calls)
Tuesday: Calls, teamwork, or admin
Wednesday: Flex day (deep or social work)
Thursday: Calls, teamwork, or admin
Friday: Deep work (fewer calls)
This schedule allows for two full days of deep, creative work, with Fridays being the best due to fewer interruptions (surprise surprise!).
An additional tip: There are times when I am more efficient doing specific tasks. I rather do creative work in the afternoons and have meetings in the mornings (also the natural light helps), so I take that into account during planning.
⏳ Timeboxing and calendar integration
Something I started doing a while ago is timeboxing: giving your tasks or themes a slot in your calendar. Instead of letting tasks go wild and take up all your time, you decide how much time each task gets by giving them a proper space. Like giving each task its time, so you’re on top of your schedule.
Practically all email tools come with a calendar feature. Efficient use of this is crucial! You don’t need to be specific at the first level, just blocking slots and giving them a title is enough. Once you have your week laid out and settled up, then it’s time to go to each block and write down the specifics you want to work on within that schedule slot.
For instance, if Monday is your deep work day (with some urgent topics demanding a bit of space), you can divide the deep focus slots by topics of 1 or 1.5 hours with a generic title: Research, Writing, Project X work, Design, Outreach… and then, within each block, you can just edit the calendar event details with the specifics you want to focus on.
Bonus: If you use Notion, they have just launched a calendar integration that is pure magic… give it a try, and let me know if you like it as much as I do!
And just as a summary on time boxing: Time blocking will help you gain a greater sense of control over even the most unpredictable of schedules.
📅 Use a meeting calendar tool
The easiest way to make sure you and others respect your timeboxing schedule is to use a booking tool so you can control your availability. I use Calendly, it’s pretty straightforward and it integrates easily with any email client. So when people go to book time, they aren't given the option to book on the times when there are blocked slots in my calendar. Easy, right? Now let’s move into email processing, a real beast on its own…
0️⃣ The "Inbox Zero" rule
Inbox Zero refers to managing the inbox so that it ends up empty (or nearly empty) at the end of a specific period (normally, at the end of the day).
It's my number one rule. At the end of the day, my inbox always should stay between 0 and 3 unread emails.
This provides me with mental clarity and eliminates daily noise. But to avoid becoming an email maniac, let’s have a look at the next tip.
📥 Batch email processing into condensed windows
Emails should be handled at specific times, not constantly throughout the day, like chatting. If you check emails every 5 minutes, they'll occupy your whole day. To tackle this, I dedicate one hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening to handle emails and related tasks efficiently. And how to avoid unnecessary noise and distractions? Here go go!
🚫 Use Website blockers and deactivate your notifications while working
To help me focus when I try to do some deep work, I use a website blocker. There are plenty of tools out there, but I use Blocksite, a Google Chrome extension that allows you to block sites and categories and even gives you a report on your browsing habits.
Second thing on this topic: When I work, I deactivate phone notifications, as they are, we all know it, a black hole where all your attention and focus go. So once I start working, my phone goes to focus mode and upside down so I don’t even see the screen, and ready to go!
Note: This also applies when you’re sharing time with your loved ones. There is nothing less cool than having your phone popping up every now and then begging for your attention!
🛠️ Little Improvements: Small tweaks, big impact
This week’s Life Hack tip is two little things that will help you working (and communicating) better:
Set your emails to have a 60-second delay before sending: Ever clicked 'send' and immediately spotted mistakes in your email? You're not alone. Most email clients allow you to set a delay before sending, giving you a chance to catch errors before it's too late. Also, if you're sending an email in the heat of the moment or messing up with the email recipients, the delay lets you cool off and reassess if it's worth it before it goes out.
Work Near Natural Light: Did you know that your workspace environment impacts your productivity? One easy hack is to position your workspace near natural light, as it improves sleep, thereby contributing to your well-being and productivity levels. Sometimes this is not possible due to your desk or space configuration, and something worth investing in is a dimmable table lamp like this one. No need to invest a lot and it really makes a difference!
🍃 Sounds of the earth to help you focus
Continuing our productivity journey, I am bringing you two different websites and a Spotify track that will help you focus while in deep work mode.
First the websites. Both Tree.fm and Earth.fm follow the same principle: themed tracks and curated playlists. Whilst Tree.fm is focused on only forest sounds, collecting short clips of different forests around the world, Earth.fm covers a wider range of earth-related sounds, from rain to frogs (?!). Even one hour of wolf sounds (which are extremely relaxing, to be honest).
And now imagine this: You’re trying to focus and it’s getting complicated due to external noise, clattering, crying babies, loud music, people talking… you get the feeling, right? In these cases, there is this Spotify track, Loud Noise Blocker, that works wonders. Exactly 8 hours of pure white noise, which helps mask disruptive sounds and improve focus. I have it downloaded, as it’s also magical for flying, covering the annoying flight notifications and isolating you so you can read or write, or whatever you want to do while flying.
And with this, we’ve reached the end of this newsletter. Hopefully, you’ve learned some productivity things. Worst case scenario, I’ve helped you be less productive at work, which, in a way, is also something productivity-related, right? A little data dive and you can go in peace!
📊 Data Dive
As always, a little look at the LifeScore Chronicles performance:
150 Subscribers → Thanks for the recommendation, Victor! And a sweet hi to all new subscribers, I hope you’ll find this NL worth your time.
0 Unsubscribed → Clean week, yay!
65.72% Open rate → Stable at 60-70%
Also, before leaving, just one little last tip, which is not coming from me but from a Navy SEAL admiral (so big words): Do your bed every morning.
And that’s a wrap! Until next week, take care, and don’t hesitate to recommend LifeScore Chronicles to your friends and colleagues, really appreciate it 🚀
Stay safe and healthy!