Here are 22 of the best day-to-day, time-saving tips to use now

Here are 22 of the best day-to-day, time-saving tips to use nowHere are 22 of the best day-to-day, time-saving tips to use nowIve been testing and adjusting various productivity techniques for the past five years, read lots of books (fruchtwein of them repeating) and heres some of my findingsIts not about time. Its about energyWe try to squeeze as many hours in one work day, to be productive, but in the end everything depends less on time, and more on your focus, motivation and overall well-being (all of them linked directly with energy levels).Looking for an inspiring way to start your day? Sign up forMorning MotivationIts our friendly Facebook ? that will send you a quick note every weekday morning to help you start strong. Sign up here by clicking Get StartedIve recently talked about my productivity techniques obsessions in an internal presentation at Grapefruit, and the resulting presentation is on SlideshareProductivity pornSome of the key findingsDecide whats importantbecause i n five years, 80% of what you do today will not turn into anything. Its just busywork, no useful outcome.Sleep, food and exercisecan help you triple your outcome, because they increase focus, motivation and energy levels.The 2-minute rule if you can do something (like replying to an emaille, or a house chore) in two minutes, do it now. Planning it for later, remembering it, doing it in the future will take 5 minutes or more.The 5-minute rule the biggest cure against procrastination is to set your goal not to finish a scary big hairy task, but to just work five minutes on it. Youll find out that most times it continues well beyond the five minutes, as you enter a flow state.Seinfelds productivity chain if you want to be good at something, do it every day. Including on Christmas, Easter and Judgement Day. No exceptions.Tiny habits(Tiny Habits w/ Dr. BJ Fogg), highly linked with the five-minute rule, helps you create good habits quickly. It works, I tested it.Your memory sucks. Get eve rything out of your head, even if youre a genius. Write it down in a notebook, put it in your todo-list app, on your phone, talk to Siri, I dont care.As few tools as possible. Ive tested most of the todo managers and finally stayed withCultured Codes Things app and Google Calendar (iCal is ok, but Google Calendar integrates well with Gmail, my default client). It doesnt matter what you use (pen paper are fine) if you understand the next rule.Routine beats tools. You need discipline, and this means for me two things I plan my day first thing in the morning, and I write a short daily log every day. This helps me stay sane, prioritize well, scrap useless tasks, and do what matters. This saves me hours.Pomodoros.Thats timeboxing- for 30 minutes do only the task at hand. Nothing else no phones, email, talking to people, Facebook, running out of the building in case of fire. Nothing else.Always wear your headphones. You dont have to listen to music, but it will discourage people to appro ach you.Email scheduling and inbox zero. Dont read your email first thing in the day, dont read it in the evening (it ruined many evenings for me), and try to do it only 3 times a day at 11am, 2pm and 5pm. And your email inbox is not a todo list. Clear it every message should be an actionable task (link it from the todo app), a reference document (send to Evernote or archive), or should be deleted now.Same thing for phone calls.Dont be always available. I always keep my phone on silent, and return calls in batches.Batch small tasks.Like mail, phones, Facebook etc.MI3. Most important three tasks (or the alternative one must three should five could). Start with the most important first thing in the morning.Willpower is limited. Dont think that willpower will help you when you get in trouble. Make important decisions in the morning and automate everything possible (delegate, batch etc.). US presidents dont have to choose their menu or suit color everyday- otherwise their willpower wi ll be depleted at that late hour when they should push (or not push) the red button).The most powerful thing. Always ask yourself what is the most powerful thing you can do right now. Then apply rule 4.Ship often. Dont polish it too much- as they say in the startup world, if youre not ashamed of your product, youve launched too latePressure can do wonders. Use rewards or social commitment. Weve recently done this with the newGrapefruitwebsite. The previous one took two and a half years to launch. The new one took two and a half days and we did it over one hackathon weekend (+Monday).Scheduled procrastination.Your brain needs some rest, and sometimes that new episode fromArrowcan do wonders that the smartest TED talk wont.Delete. Say No. Ignore. Dont commit to schedules.I love the last one, its from Marc Andreessen, because it allows him to meet whomever he wants on the spot. A lot of people will hate you for this, but youll have time to do relevant stuff. Do you think youll regret t hat in 20 years, or doing something for someone you dont really care about, just to be superficially appreciated.Fake incompetence. Its a diplomatic way to apply the previous rule.Thats it for now. My procrastination break is over, Im going back to work.This article first appeared on Quora.com.