Tools
Wunderlist is a great application that allows you to keep a list of your tasks. It has a clean and intuitive interface, which is why it’s my task manager of choice. You can use whatever one you like best, but I just find Wunderlist the most convenient and elegant. To-do lists are necessary because they allow you to keep in mind the important events and duties that you have. If you had to keep them all in your head, it would consume valuable mental effort and slow you down. Whenever you have a deadline or task pop-up, just jot it down in your task manager and forget about it. Then, each morning, spend five to ten minutes designating each task into its corresponding block of time, and then forget about it again. Task managers like Wunderlist allow you to keep your mind free and focused on the more important things in life.
Toggl is an application that allows you to track the time you spend on everything. Essentially, you log your daily activities and the time you spend for each, and Toggl returns a formatted and clean spreadsheet which allows you to visualize your time usage. I recommend to everyone to try Toggl for one week and then analyze the resulting timesheets to identify time sinks and correct them; you will get a much better understanding of the best times that you should be working in order to calibrate your schedule. However, do not use Toggl for any longer than a few weeks, as it is extremely mentally and psychologically draining to have to keep logging all of your activities.
Tips
Batch processing: Clumping a variety of small tasks into one “batch,” and then completing the “batch” all at once is a recipe for success. It’s helpful to think of the brain as a “pseudo-computer” for this example. Your brain only has so much RAM (random-access memory), and switching in between tasks consumes a large amount of mental RAM. The best way to solve this is to “batch” all small tasks and finish them all at once, instead of spacing them throughout the day and causing more worry. Your brain has to reconfigure itself to optimally perform a task. If you practice batch processing, you’ll be less tired and less neurochemically depleted, which allows you to focus more during the more-important tasks, thus allowing you to accomplish more.
Sunk cost fallacy: You might think that you’re a completely rational human being, but you probably aren’t — but don’t worry, most of us are just like you. Sunk cost fallacy is when you continue pursuing a cause because you falsely believe that you must continue with the cause, since you have already invested your time into it. An example is when you refuse to quit a commitment because you’ve already spent the past six months on it, or if you continue eating a terrible food item because you already paid for it. The better thing to do is to find the appropriate moment and then cut your losses (if you’re involved in something, make sure you’ve completed your prior commitments before quitting, as that is your duty and responsibility).
Be on the lookout: One critical component of being efficient is being on the lookout for all available resources and seizing opportunity. If you’re doing something, find some way to leverage other people and resources to make completing the task faster. Talk with people, look up information on the internet, constantly be asking questions. Some day, these interactions and attempt at compiling information will reward you handsomely in the form of expedited results. (Side note: this is why I love learning — in addition to it being so fun, it has so many potential payoffs in the most random of future scenarios). Be open minded and always explore.