The Organized Student’s Bag

Being a student doesn’t have to mean being a mess. Case in point, reader Anders Nordlander’s shares their bag.

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How To Work On Cars And Not Kill Yourself

Over the last six or seven years, I’ve been wrenching on cars almost non-stop. But since I don’t have any formal training, I’ve hurt myself quite a few times. I’ve cut myself on rusty sheetmetal, squirted battery acid in my eye, and set lots of stuff aflame. All of these mistakes are common—but they can be avoided.

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Poach Sausages Before Grilling for Perfect Char and Juicy Meat

Grilling meat like sausages can be tricky—you want that delicious caramelization on the outside, but still want juicy, succulent meat inside. The Kitchn has a simple solution: poach your sausages before throwing them on the grill. It’s key to keeping them juicy and getting a perfect char every time.

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Remains of the Day: iOS 10 Will Finally Let You Delete Apple’s Default Apps

Slow news day, huh? Between E3, Apple’s developer conference
, and Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn
, we’re starting this week off with a deluge of news for those who enjoy the intersection of tech and culture. I know I do! Here are a few more stories from today’s downpour.

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A Memory Champion’s Best Mental Trick for Remembering Where You Put Your Keys

If you’re tired of misplacing your keys around the house, this explosive memory trick will help you remember. All you need is a little imagination.

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Deadspin J.R.

The Types of TV Shows You’re Most Likely to Binge-Watch

Nothing ruins getting to bed on time like a good binge-watching session
. If you want avoid those late nights and lost afternoons, these are the shows that are most likely to keep your eyes glued to the screen, according to Netflix.

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#ns 4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity

You’re reading 4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity

how to break bad habits

“Focus on being productive, instead of busy” – Tim Ferriss

You’re busy.

Maybe you wake up early. You work hard and long hours.

All in all, you must be productive.

Right?

Wrong!

Work hours and the amount of tasks you accomplish have nothing to do with productivity.

Instead, productivity is all about results.

You could literally be working 2 hours and accomplish more than you do in 8 hours.

The key is having the right habits in place.

And these habits are not always that obvious.

In fact, most people get them wrong.

With this in mind, here are the top 4 habits you need to have in place to supercharge your productivity.

1. Work Less – And Ditch the 8-Hour Work Day

Most of us think that by working more, we get more done.

In fact, the opposite is true:

By working less, we accomplish more.

A lot of data points to this.

For example, according to an OECD report, countries that work less are more productive.

This in itself is not news.

Back in the day, Henry Ford cut workers’ work day to 8 hours to increase productivity.

But today, this established work day might be outdated.

Research shows that elite performers rarely work for more than 4.5 hours a day. When they do work, they are extremely focused and work uninterrupted 90 minutes at the time.

In other words, to be truly productive, you should work in 90-minute sessions and allow yourself to take breaks between those work sessions.

In the afternoon, you can do general maintenance tasks.

2. Stop Multitasking

Multitasking kills your productivity.

There are several studies that underline this:

A study by the University of London shows that when you get distracted by phone calls, text messages, and email, your IQ suffers a fall of more than twice compared to marijuana smokers. A study by the University of Stanford reinforces that multitasking is bad for your work productivity. Furthermore, your brain gets overwhelmed when faced with multiple tasks.

But how can you stop multitasking?

Focus.

When you work, ignore everything that’s unrelated to the task at hand.

For example, turn off your phone and shut down any email notifications.

When you’ve finished one task, you can move on to the next.

And that’s how you get results.

3. Quit Often

We have this weird idea that we fail when we quit.

But did you know that quitting can increase your productivity?

What you should do is quit strategically.

For example, there are things that aren’t worth your time because your time could be used in a way that yields more results.

Instead, quit these things.

Delegate or outsource them to others who do them more cost effectively.

This saves you time and energy.

At the same time, you can use your time to accomplish those high-value activities.

4. Reserve Empty Time Every Day

You might think that being productive means you should constantly accomplish tasks that take you closer to your goal.

For example, your productive time should consist of things like sales calls, research, answering emails, writing, and so forth.

But the truth is that you should reserve empty time every day.

This is something that LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner does to stay productive.

This empty time is the time when he reflects on things that go on around him, and he takes the time to solve problems.

You should schedule at least an hour of empty time every day.

You can break it into 30-minute blocks and combine it with a walk out in fresh air.

Over to You

It’s time for that one thing that determines whether you’ll be productive or not…

Implementation.

Start implementing these unconventional habits today (otherwise, you’ll just procrastinate on them).

And let me know in the comments:

What’s the first step you’ll take to be less busy and more productive?

Camilla is a freelance writer & enthusiastic about productivity and performance optimization. Get the free worksheet “20 Steps to a Productive Life” to supercharge your productivity.

You’ve read 4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/1UMoYyD

4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity

You’re reading 4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity

how to break bad habits

“Focus on being productive, instead of busy” – Tim Ferriss

You’re busy.

Maybe you wake up early. You work hard and long hours.

All in all, you must be productive.

Right?

Wrong!

Work hours and the amount of tasks you accomplish have nothing to do with productivity.

Instead, productivity is all about results.

You could literally be working 2 hours and accomplish more than you do in 8 hours.

The key is having the right habits in place.

And these habits are not always that obvious.

In fact, most people get them wrong.

With this in mind, here are the top 4 habits you need to have in place to supercharge your productivity.

1. Work Less – And Ditch the 8-Hour Work Day

Most of us think that by working more, we get more done.

In fact, the opposite is true:

By working less, we accomplish more.

A lot of data points to this.

For example, according to an OECD report, countries that work less are more productive.

This in itself is not news.

Back in the day, Henry Ford cut workers’ work day to 8 hours to increase productivity.

But today, this established work day might be outdated.

Research shows that elite performers rarely work for more than 4.5 hours a day. When they do work, they are extremely focused and work uninterrupted 90 minutes at the time.

In other words, to be truly productive, you should work in 90-minute sessions and allow yourself to take breaks between those work sessions.

In the afternoon, you can do general maintenance tasks.

2. Stop Multitasking

Multitasking kills your productivity.

There are several studies that underline this:

A study by the University of London shows that when you get distracted by phone calls, text messages, and email, your IQ suffers a fall of more than twice compared to marijuana smokers. A study by the University of Stanford reinforces that multitasking is bad for your work productivity. Furthermore, your brain gets overwhelmed when faced with multiple tasks.

But how can you stop multitasking?

Focus.

When you work, ignore everything that’s unrelated to the task at hand.

For example, turn off your phone and shut down any email notifications.

When you’ve finished one task, you can move on to the next.

And that’s how you get results.

3. Quit Often

We have this weird idea that we fail when we quit.

But did you know that quitting can increase your productivity?

What you should do is quit strategically.

For example, there are things that aren’t worth your time because your time could be used in a way that yields more results.

Instead, quit these things.

Delegate or outsource them to others who do them more cost effectively.

This saves you time and energy.

At the same time, you can use your time to accomplish those high-value activities.

4. Reserve Empty Time Every Day

You might think that being productive means you should constantly accomplish tasks that take you closer to your goal.

For example, your productive time should consist of things like sales calls, research, answering emails, writing, and so forth.

But the truth is that you should reserve empty time every day.

This is something that LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner does to stay productive.

This empty time is the time when he reflects on things that go on around him, and he takes the time to solve problems.

You should schedule at least an hour of empty time every day.

You can break it into 30-minute blocks and combine it with a walk out in fresh air.

Over to You

It’s time for that one thing that determines whether you’ll be productive or not…

Implementation.

Start implementing these unconventional habits today (otherwise, you’ll just procrastinate on them).

And let me know in the comments:

What’s the first step you’ll take to be less busy and more productive?

Camilla is a freelance writer & enthusiastic about productivity and performance optimization. Get the free worksheet “20 Steps to a Productive Life” to supercharge your productivity.

You’ve read 4 Unexpected Habits That Will Supercharge Your Productivity, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/1UMoYyD

iOS 10: Everything You Need to Know

Apple just announced the tenth version of iOS, the heart and soul of all the company’s mobile hardware. In celebration of the operating system’s double-digit milestone, Apple is making lots and lots of upgrades. Let’s take a look.

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