What are the most effective changes you made in your life to increase productivity and efficiency? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Clara Shih, Founder/CEO of Hearsay Social, Author of The Social Business Imperative, on Quora.
- I moved my personal residence to be two blocks away from my office. There are definitely pros and cons, but on net it's been awesome having a highly predictable five-minute commute.
- I invented for myself an email triage and inbox zero system based off of colored stars in Gmail (see my other response with details).
- I've started aggressively creating email filters to block repeat offenders. I'll block entire spammy domains. This has cut down tremendously on the amount of spam I receive.
- I turn off all mobile and desktop notifications so I can concentrate on work and check email / feeds / updates on my terms. I figure if it's urgent, someone will call or text me.
- I've gotten really good at saying no.
- For people I really care about like my friends and family, I've scheduled recurring dates to reduce cognitive load and coordination cost of having to remember to reach out and schedule every X weeks.
- I don't watch TV or movies, or play video games.
- The most important thing I've done at work has been to surround myself with amazing people who I trust and empower fully to do stuff better than I could.
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