What many people get wrong about being productive is that they need to feel productive in the process. The primary thing that matters is your outcomes. You can feel very productive ticking small boxes on your to-do list or answering emails all day without having any tangible outcomes. E-mails and instant messaging are core to almost any cognitive job — but also a distraction.
Reclaim time to concentrate.
Common to many workplaces is a reward model in which productivity must increase. Recent studies have shown that science is becoming less disruptive, even though more papers are being published and grants awarded than ever before. A lot of that has to do with us spending less time thinking deeply about problems and trying to tick the next box off our to-do lists (which satisfies the workplace’s reward model of productivity). Ideally, be unreachable for a few hours a day in which most people don’t want anything from you — for me, the morning hours work best (here I also have the most energy).
Work on things that matter.
If the ladder leans against the wrong wall, it doesn’t matter how fast you climb it; you won’t reach your destination. This is overlooked by too many people. Don't start working on things and notice only until the end of the project that it is in the wrong direction. Productivity in the wrong direction isn’t worth anything. Think more about what to work on. Reserve time to think about what to work on. This is perhaps the most important thing about productivity.
Prioritize the things that matter.
Often, you have more good ideas than you have time or people to work on. An easy way to prioritize them is to write them down and make pairwise comparisons. Is idea A more important than idea B? The winner idea gets a point. Once you have compared all ideas with one another, the ideas with the most points are what you want to focus on. You can do that on a sheet of paper or write simple code to do it for you.
Work on things you care about and enjoy.
Do you get excited when hearing about that project? Do you get into that flow state when you work on that project where you lose track of time and don’t feel like you are working at all? These are the projects you want to work on. Of course, you must identify whether the tasks matter because otherwise, you work on solutions to problems that are not worth investigating.
Delegate tasks effectively.
There may be things that matter, but you don't feel excited about working on them or you don’t have the time to work on them. Those can be delegated to someone else who is excited about them. Be careful not to delegate things that are not exciting to them because they work by the same productivity rules as you do. Try to figure out who is excited (and good at) doing what, and delegate that way. If you have boring and repetitive tasks, you may want to automate them.
Automate organizational and mental routine tasks.
Before you automate anything, you should ask whether you need that task to begin with. You don't need to find a solution to a non-existing problem. Focusing on solutions rather than problems leads to enormous amounts of wasted time and energy. If you can cut out a task completely, you will save the most time. If you do not have to re-include 10% of the tasks you cut, you probably didn’t cut enough. Once you have cut out useless routine tasks, then you can start automating the remaining ones. Don't overautomate or chase productivity for its own sake. Don't try to perfectly optimize a system; spend more time finding good systems in the first place.
Be ruthless about saying no to non-critical tasks.
Many workplaces reward good work with more work. Say no to tasks that don’t matter to you more often. Don’t feel obliged to fix every problem in your work environment. Let others do their fair share, too. Be a team player, but learn to say no often.
Set external deadlines.
External deadlines are one of the strongest motivators for you to get stuff done. I set extremely short deadlines, typically no more than two weeks, for relatively large tasks, like writing the draft of a paper. Communicating those deadlines with your advisors and peers puts more pressure on them. This does not conflict with the time you reserve to think deeply. Just set regular deadlines with your peers and advisors for when you want to discuss new ideas, methods, or experimental setups.
Iterate fast.
Fast iteration can make up for many unforeseen issues in the process; it's usually acceptable to be wrong if you iterate quickly. You can also learn more per unit time because you test your hypotheses more frequently. Working at a fast pace forces you to focus on what's truly important. When your paper draft is due next week, there's simply no room for time-wasting activities like checking emails all day or completing administrative tasks.
Find a way to be productive in the long run.
Even though fast cycles help you get things done, consistency beats intensity. All. The. Time. If you can write one high-quality research paper a year for ten years, your productivity is higher than if you wrote two papers every year but quit after three years — and likely, you also feel much more exhausted and unhappy working at the limits of your capacity all the time. Think in productive years, not months or days. Thinking long-term is a key skill for productivity.
Exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
Probably one of the most overlooked things is that your brain works best when your body works best. Moving your body regularly throughout the day, doing resistance and cardiovascular training, following a balanced diet that works for you, and sleeping well will help you be more productive. Also, they will increase your overall well-being and joy in life.
Don’t neglect your family and friends for productivity.
It strikes me that I have to spell that out, but I have done it in the past. It’s a very stupid tradeoff. It is likely even a net productivity loss because you will be less happy and balanced when you want to be productive. Being with the people you love and doing activities you love can clear your head and give you new perspectives.