Do you want to know at least 3 awesome life hacks guaranteed to make your day significantly easier (backed by research)?

If so, read on to know what these hacks are and how you can implement them so you can become 10X more productive!

Now I do have a challenge for you.

Are you ready?

The hint for this post is that you will need pen/pencil and paper a lot, like, a lot.

The only technological device you are allowed is whatever you are reading this post on.

Don’t leave the tab you are on (unless your boss calls you or your dog is begging to go outside) and focus in like the lion that you are (oh yeah, you are a lion) so you can eat your prey.

If you do leave your tab, well, I’m afraid you’ll be held accountable to the dreaded poison pills punishment.

Or worse, you’ll have to give up the title of lion to this guy here.

Now, are you ready to rumble?

Let’s get to it you ambitious lion 😉

1. To Do List

This is one thing that everyone knows they need to do, but they don’t.

Before I get into the research proving why you need a to do list for everything you do, let me explain how it benefits you.

A to do list is a roadmap to your day when, if followed successfully, you will accomplish what you want to accomplish.

The reason is because you are not going about your day wondering what you need to do.

Instead, you have structure and clarity on what needs to be done and in what timeframe it needs to be done.

This allows you to stay focused on the task at hand and knock everything out without stressing about while maintaining a healthy (and necessary) sense of urgency.

Let me tell you research that justifies this statement.

According to a study done by Florida State University on the effects of plan making, 2 groups of undergraduate students were analyzed to determine the effect of plan making on each of the group’s ability to focus on a single task.

One group was instructed to not make a plan for their tasks and another group was instructed to make a plan for their tasks.

Drastic differences came in.

The researchers determined that for the group that wasn’t instructed to make a plan, 65.2% of this group lost focus on the task at hand.

For the group that was instructed to make a plan, only 33.3% of the sample lost focus on the task at hand.

That’s a difference of 31.9%.

That’s considerable.

Here’s what this means:

By making a to do list that encompasses what you have to accomplish in a day along with a well-researched plan in writing that outlines how you’ll accomplish what you want to accomplish with a deadline, you will improve your focus by up to 31.9%.

In other words, when you plan, you will get back 31.9% of the time that you spent distracted in your mind preoccupied with thoughts unrelated to what you are supposed to be doing.

That’s a lot of time.

And to prove my point, think of it this way:

What if you could cut 31.9% of your expenses?

Pretty significant, right?

That’s something for you to envision in your head.

It might make the difference in whatever goal you are trying to accomplish.

Now here’s another important point that the study concluded:

Once the plan is made, the effects of not getting distracted only kick in if you are completely focused on the task at hand.

For example, let’s say you are studying for a test and you are following your plan to make the test.

The only thoughts allowed in your mind are those related towards accomplishing the goal like seeing how a concept works in your mind.

If you spend too much time planning and less time executing your plan, you will become distracted again.

This means you won’t be thinking about the goal with enough attention to the point that you can fully focus on it.

These findings conclude that not only do you need the plan, but you also need to act on it.

You can see the research here if you wish.

Over planning is proven to be a waste of time once you’ve got everything well-researched.

After you research what you need to research, it’s time to get going.

That’s why many people and organizations today do not get anything done and as a result, they are stagnant in their business and life.

If you look at any great organization, be it in sports or business or even your local community, there are 2 main things (among others like effective communication and effort) that they all have:

       1. Great planning (although not perfect)

       2. Action

Without both of these, the project fails and a lot of people become disappointed with the result.

If you do these two things and you effectively communicate with anyone you need to communicate with along with putting a great effort into what you do, you will be pleasantly surprised with the result (for the most part).

I promise you that.

Now here’s another hack that you might find crazy at first, but works like magic and is actually research backed.

2. Closing Your Eyes to Remember Things

This is a ridiculously powerful technique to help you recall more information from your memory.

It’s useful if you happen to be in school studying for a test, if you need to refresh your memory on what you need to do for the day or even for simple things like recalling what you need from the grocery store.

Let me show you the research that documents this:

The University of Surrey did a study on 178 people who were split into two groups.

One group was instructed to watch a video site and recall the events with their eyes open.

The other group was instructed to watch another video, but instead, recall the events with their eyes closed.

The results were substantial.

The group who closed their eyes recalled the events with 23% more accuracy than those who had their eyes opened.

What this means is if you had to study for a test, you can improve your test scores by 23% (plus or minus 5%).

This also means that if you recall memory with your eyes closed, you are more likely to recall events that you forgot to write down on your to do list.

The reason is because your mind your mind has to do so many tasks when your eyes are open like seeing its environment, dealing with light coming into the retina, reverse the images we see (yes, we absorb information upside down).

As a result, it takes away from the task of retrieving memory.

As you can see here, when you close your eyes, these distractions are reduced and hence, more mental effort can be exerted on the task of retrieving information from memory.

This is why closing your eyes works in recall.

It’s also why you should at least attempt to write down the information you write down with your eyes closed.

This also improves comprehension for the same reasons that memory retrieval while speaking out loud with your eyes closed works.

You are focused on writing and hence, you absorb the information a lot more smoothly than you would if you kept your eyes open.

Does that make sense?

It looks creepy, but I promise you, it works and the research justifies it.

So, the next time someone calls you crazy for closing your eyes while you do things, show them this research.

Or better yet, keep it to yourself to maintain your competitive advantage 😉

Now here’s another research backed hack that will finally make you cringe at your boss for the way they make you work:

3. Don’t Work Too Long

Here’s what I mean by this:

For every 90 minutes that you work, you should take at least a 20 minute break.

Don’t believe me?

Well, research says otherwise.

In a Florida State University study on high performing individuals, the researchers concluded that the highest performing individuals in their field unanimously work in 90 minute intervals before going on a rest period.

This resulted in increased productivity and increased focus throughout the duration of the tasks they were doing.

As a result, they accomplished a lot more in less time.

So if you are a stay at home entrepreneur who can set their own schedule or a college student looking to considerably improve your academic performance, this schedule is an excellent method to improving your productivity and performance on a daily basis without getting worn out.

Now, there are other productivity methods out there like the Pomodoro technique which many people say works tremendously well, but I don’t have experience doing that technique to elaborate on it.

Definitely check out other techniques and try the one that suits you. I promise you’ll become way more productive than you were before!

Now the exception to following productivity rules is if you are at a normal job where the boss is making you work whatever number hour shifts they want you to work.

In that case, you just do it.

Don’t argue with it and most certainly don’t ask why.

Just do it.

Yes, they haven’t done the research, but the boss is always correct.

Understand that point really well.

You can read a summary of this research here.

Now here is yet another research backed technique proven to increase your ability to learn and retain more information over time.

BONUS: Writing Stuff Down Vs. Typing

This is particularly useful if you are in school studying for exams or if you are an avid reader and crave ways to digest as much information as you can.

Here’s the research:

In a study done by Princeton University, the researchers tested handwriting and typing and their abilities to allow students comprehend more material relative to the other.

The students were split into 2 groups with one group being instructed to type notes and the other group being instructed to write out notes by hand.

Each group was instructed to watch a film and take a test on the film afterwards.

After the results were analyzed, there was a considerable difference between the averages of those who took their notes by hand and those who took their notes with a laptop.

Specifically, those who took handwritten notes scored 0.39 standard deviations higher on average than those who took notes with a laptop (Standard deviation is the average distance away from the mean).

That is a big difference.

What does this mean?

It means for everything that you do, you need to have some handwritten component to it in order to fully understand what you are doing.

This is so your mind can work out what you need to know instead of robotically typing stuff that you see without really questioning it.

If you are not sold on this, try it out for at least the next week and let me know in the comments if you noticed any differences in how you were able to accomplish more things.

And if you are still not sold on this concept, have a look at this article here which will quickly convince you otherwise.

And that is the research-backed hype that is for real and that you could benefit from starting today.

These are the same techniques nearly every successful person implements when they can.

They work and I promise they will work for you as well.

If you got a lot out of this post and you want more content to help you achieve massive productivity so you can take over your own world, definitely subscribe below with your email to receive the best blog posts in the world sent straight to your inbox the moment they are published.

Until next time,

This is Evan signing off.

PS: Comment below with what you got out of the post. It’d be great to hear about your successes!