This ONE Productivity Technique Will Change Your Life Forever

I think I have ADHD. Both of my kids have ADHD—well, my oldest has been officially diagnosed, and we’re working on the diagnosis for the youngest. So, when I say I think I have ADHD, what I really mean is I’ve been diagnosed by my kids, which is one of the most official ways of getting diagnosed for anything.

I mention this because I often find myself juggling multiple small tasks, like writing emails to different clients, checking the MLS for new listings, updating Zillow profiles, analyzing my newsletter stats, assisting a blog writer with edits, and handling personal tasks—all while on the computer. With fifteen browser tabs open, I end up flipping between these activities. This constant switching significantly slows me down, taking me four times longer to complete anything.

Coping Strategies

I’ve developed a few coping strategies to manage the task-flipping. One approach is a small reward. For example, the other night, I was working on the GratiTuesday emails through the end of December. I promised myself that once I finished, I could spend some time on Facebook. However, that often leads to a whole other time-sink rabbit hole. Still, having a small reward at the end helps me stay focused.

Then there is the 5-5-5 Rule: where I quickly review the top 5 tasks on my to-do list, take 5 deep breaths, and then spend five minutes focusing solely on the most critical task. This burst of reset breaths and re-focus helps get me back into the flow.

Airplane mode is my best friend, and I make sure my Thunderbird email client is shut off and never sends me notifications.

Lastly, I keep my to-do list and calendar in front of me where I can easily see. Whether electronic or a paper planner or just a regular old yellow legal pad, even if I am flipping between tasks, I can still see what needs to be done and stay on track. Plus, I get a dopamine rush every time I cross an activity off the list.

The One Thing

In the book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, the authors emphasize the importance of focusing on your most important task to achieve extraordinary results. The core principle of the book is the Focusing Question: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” This question helps you identify the most impactful task and directs your energy toward it, filtering out distractions. Keller and Papasan also advocate for time blocking, where you dedicate specific chunks of your day to focus exclusively on your most important task. By protecting this time from interruptions, you ensure that your highest-priority work gets done consistently. Focusing on your most important task, Keller and Papasan assert, creates momentum, like a domino knocking over the next domino. Completing the one task can lead to a cascade of positive outcomes, making each subsequent task easier to tackle.

The Pareto Principle

To enhance this approach, incorporating the 80/20 Rule might be particularly effective. The 80/20 Rule, or Pareto Principle, suggests that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts. By applying this principle, you can pinpoint and prioritize the 20% of tasks that yield the most significant impact. This means focusing your energy on the tasks that will drive the majority of your results and setting aside or minimizing less critical activities.

However, applying the 80/20 Rule in practice isn’t always straightforward. Nor does the rule originate in productivity hack circles. In 1896 Italian economist Vilfredo observed that 80% of the land I Ital was owned by just 20% of the population. The 80/20 wasn’t a rule for activity or production, but simply a note about who owned what in a specific country in a specific time period.

The observation later evolved into the business concept that 80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of its customers, suggesting that focusing on these high-value customers can be more profitable. Over time, the 80/20 Rule was adapted for marketing, emphasizing that 20% of marketing efforts often yield 80% of the results. However, in a 2019 paper, Bryon Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, and Charles Graham challenged the traditional view of the 80/20 rule, revealing 50% of a brand’s sales still come from the 80% of customers who buy less frequently or are non-brand buyers.

Productivity experts, including Tony Robbins and the authors of The One Thing, have applied the principle to suggest that concentrating on the most impactful 20% of tasks can significantly boost productivity.

And while yes, focusing on high-revenue activities like cold calling might seem more rewarding than mundane tasks such as doing dishes, neglecting a sink full of dishes can lead to other problems—like an infestation of gnats and fruit flies. Have you really won by ignoring the dishes?

The key takeaway here is that while the 80/20 Rule provides a useful framework, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. As with any productivity hack or tool, you need to adapt it to fit your unique needs and circumstances.

I think it’s important to note that not all productivity hacks suit everyone across the board, and not all productivity tools have to be utilized in a way that they are designed for.

Productivity and Focus Tools

For example, one of my favorite apps is Todoist. The versatile task management app allows you to break down large projects into smaller, manageable tasks. You can set deadlines, prioritize tasks, and even integrate the app with your calendar. This go-around with Todoist I’ve had a different experience because I used to put due dates on tasks. Tasks would pile up and pile up and the app just stressed me out because of the self-imposed deadlines. I still sometimes use deadlines, but I’ve really centered in on the priority levels, and sometimes a task can sit in my Todoist for months. I had to change my mindset about how to use Todoist, to be okay with tasks just hanging out left undone until I get around to them.

My kids tend to do work with music. I used to be able to do this, but at this point in my life, I really need complete silence. Or at least a semblance of silence. Focus@Will uses specially curated music tracks to improve concentration. The idea is that certain types of music can help tune out distractions and keep you focused. Honestly, I have a Spotify account, and would just use a Spotify playlist instead of paying for another subscription service.

For forty bucks, you can purchase the browser extension Cold Turkey. This app turns off your internet for a block set of time that you set, and there is no turning the app off until the time is up.

There are low-tech techniques too, such as the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method that involves working in 25-minute focus periods followed by five-minute breaks. After four 25-work focus periods, or pomodoros, you take a longer break of 15 to 35 minutes.

The point is, find what works for you—and that’s the one productivity technique that will change your life forever. You might have to experiment, as I did with Todoist, to discover the best way to use tools and strategies effectively. Ultimately, the goal is to streamline your efforts and focus on what truly matters, making each task more manageable and productive.

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