5 Productivity Hacks I Discovered After Testing Dozens Of Personal

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Jan 2, 2026, 9:21 AM

5 productivity hacks i discovered after testing dozens of personal

If you have ever felt overwhelmed by information or struggled to leverage your knowledge effectively, you're not alone. I went on extensive testing and put dozens of PKM tools to their paces. While each tool brought its unique advantages, the real goal wasn't in mastering every feature but in discovering fundamental productivity principles that consistently delivered results. I will go over the key learnings and actionable strategies from countless hours of testing and implementation. I used Obsidian, Notion, Capacities, Logseq, AFFiNE, and Appflowy for reference. Essential ways to craft a powerful PKM system

At first, I thought that a graph view was just a visually appealing add-on. However, after trying out dozens of tools, I finally understand that it’s a fundamental lens that transforms a collection of isolated notes into a dynamic, interconnected network of ideas. If you frequently deal with complex projects or want a deeper understanding of your knowledge base, a robust graph view isn’t just a convenience – it’s a necessity. Without a graph view, I was essentially looking at a spreadsheet of information. It’s valuable, perhaps, but lacking the crucial context of how these points relate to one another. In today’s fast-paced world, being busy doesn’t always mean being productive.

Many of us spend hours switching between tasks, responding to endless notifications, or attending meetings that leave little time for focused work. The result? Burnout, frustration, and the sense that despite working hard, we’re not moving forward. After more than a decade of working with teams, managing projects, and refining my own workflow, I’ve discovered that productivity isn’t about working longer—it’s about working smarter. The good news is, you don’t need complex tools or a complete lifestyle overhaul to get there. Small, intentional changes can transform the way you manage your day.

Here are five productivity hacks that have consistently proven effective in busy workdays. These aren’t trendy shortcuts; they’re time-tested strategies backed by research, personal experience, and practical application. One of the biggest productivity killers is procrastination. We often put off small tasks, thinking we’ll get to them later, only to let them pile up into an overwhelming backlog. The Two-Minute Rule, popularized by productivity expert David Allen, offers a simple solution: Back from holiday, I returned to a flood of meetings.

The time I’d blocked for key priorities was now triple-booked. Escalations, VP reviews, Slack pings… and then my laptop overheated and shut down. I put it in the office freezer, made tea, and sat down. For ten quiet minutes, I wrote all my priorities on paper. Doing a bit of reflection in the middle of a crisis really helps. One key task only I could do — I noted to find an hour for it today.

Another I could delegate — I texted my team and handed it off. It’s no secret that almost every professional is on a quest to find the best productivity hacks out there. Whether it’s tips for answering emails faster or solutions for using your schedule more efficiently, people have all sorts of ideas for how to shorten the amount of time it takes to do just... However, despite all of the advice out there, have you ever tried out some of these magical productivity hacks and found that they didn’t help you in the slightest? If so, here’s a hard truth: You might’ve been doing them wrong. Not sure what you can improve upon?

Here are five ways you may be messing up common productivity hacks—and how to fix your mistakes. Let The Muse match you with a company culture that fits your goals and values. First, select your career path: Words cannot describe how many times people have told me that a to-do list just doesn’t work for them. When I ask what specifically they don’t like about task managers or lists, the usual response is something like, “I just never feel like I get everything on the list done.” <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.thevirtualtrainingteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lorna-lacey-150x150.jpg.webp" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-image-2806 wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" />By Lorna Lacey

In this blog, we’re sharing real-world productivity hacks uncovered by our VTT team member and remote work coach, Lorna Lacey. Check out these 5 weird and wonderful ways you can up your focus and performance at work. Try them out for yourself and let us know how they changed your days. No, you didn’t misread that. We’re talking about Buffer, the popular social media scheduling app. Before you start thinking that they’ve now got some new built-in alarm function, you’d be wrong.

That’s where study skills expert Thomas Frank comes in. Thomas uses Buffer in a very novel way. He schedules embarrassing posts to go live each day at 6:10 AM so that he has a 15-minute window after his morning alarm goes off to reschedule it for the following day — ingenious! For the longest time, all of my notes were spread across Notion, OneNote, and Google Docs. Each tool solves a specific problem and is powerful in its own way. But using them together can create quite a bloated setup, not to mention, none of my data is actually my own.

This is what’s been pushing me to more privacy-focused and local-first tools for taking notes. I've been on the fence about 3D printing for years. Not because I thought it was useless, but because I wasn't convinced I'd get enough repeat value out of it to justify the space, the cost, and the learning curve. That changed the moment I bought a Bambu Lab P2S, and it changed again once I discovered the self-hosted Manyfold application. We usually think of Bible heroes as soldiers or prophets. We rarely hear about the housewife who assassinated a general with a hammer.

Sisera, a cruel enemy commander, fled the battlefield and hid in the tent of a woman named Jael. He asked for water. She gave him warm milk and tucked him in with a blanket. Once he fell into a deep sleep, she didn't call the guards. She took a tent peg and a hammer, crept up softly, and drove the peg through his temple into the ground. I’ve lived in the same spot for 30 years, but lately, my Social Security check is gone before the month ends.

I was literally eating toast for dinner to save money. Then a friend at the senior center showed me Food Radar. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. The map showed five different spots within 2 miles of my apartment giving away food today. I drove to the closest pin—a local church pantry. They filled my trunk with fresh vegetables, milk, and canned goods.

I didn't know this help was right under my nose the whole time. If you grew up thinking "daily shower = good hygiene," you are not alone. But dermatologists and pediatric experts generally agree there is no single magic number -- the right cadence depends on sweat, skin type, age, and what you did that day. A good productivity method can mean the difference between a disorganized, unfulfilling day and one during which you get a lot done and feel great about it. That tradeoff is why so many of these methods, techniques, and hacks exist. Some are over 100 years old, some were accidentally discovered by everyday people looking to improve their lives, and some come from self-styled gurus who publish entire books on their findings.

And some are better than others—though maybe not objectively. To find the one that works best for you, take a look through this guide to seven of my favorites. Notably, these are the ones I like, but there are plenty out there for you to consider, too. Try one that sounds like a strong match for how you think and work (or try to avoid work). The idea of a "Power Hour" comes from Adrienne Herbert’s book, Power Hour: How to Focus on Your Goals and Create a Life You Love and asks you to devote an hour a day... Sometimes, this is a must-do task that will have major ramifications for your life, like filling out job applications or working on homework.

In that case, what you care about most is your overall goal of improvement. Other times, it might be a personal project or passion that you want to carve out time to pursue, which will enhance your life, make you feel happier, and make you more productive that... The trick is committing—truly committing—to taking that hour every day, upending your schedule if necessary. Here's my fuller rundown of the approach, which I have started putting into practice in my own life with great results. Of all the techniques on the list, this might be the one I use (or adapt) most often. Essentially, when there's a small, mundane, or tedious task that doesn't excite you, but won't take more than 10 minutes to do, you just do it.

Just do it. That's it. It sounds easy, but it's not, since these are also those tasks you're more likely to put off and ignore, like answering emails or doing the dishes. Fighting against that impulse, committing to just doing these things when you think of them, and then getting them done is hard at first, but becomes a habit over time—and it's one with a... I do this when I'm cleaning my apartment. Instead of laboring over some cleaning checklist or structured plan (which is helpful for a lot of people), I just take on a task when I notice it needs to be done.

Then, not only does it simply get done, which is the point, but I feel a sense of motivation and contentment. Since I started doing this, my home has never been cleaner, even though I'm not following any strict guidelines besides "just do it."

5 Productivity Hacks I Discovered After Testing Dozens Of Personal

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The Time I’d Blocked For Key Priorities Was Now Triple-booked.