One thing about my self, I’m a person that gets distracted pretty easily. I’m not good at focusing on one task at the same time for hours on end, like my partner Take. His focus is truly amazing – he would be on his computer the whole day coding if you let him. Sometimes I get jealous. I wish I had the ability to be as still as he is, without my mind and body wanting to roam around.


Since i’m so scattered (please don’t see my room), I try to think of ways to keep myself preoccupied and productive, especially during our office time when I have to sit in the office from one to five - which is not a long time I know!. Kind of like productivity hacks, but not really I suppose, because they aren’t nearly as cool or unique enough to be “hacks” . I’m definitely open to suggestions!
Here are some ways in which I try to keep myself moving and focused.

1. Switching between tasks that uses different parts of the brain

I don’t know how the brain works, so scratch that, but I do try to do tasks that are different in nature, and that puts me in a different mood. For example; switching through blogging (which requires some creative thinking) and updating social media (which is relatively a no brainer), or going between learning some skills like coding, and reading up about industry related topics. Realizing my short-term concentration capacity, I try to get as much possible done by keeping my self alert with different material.

2. Coffee!

I wish. My mom brought the coffee machine from Japan, but even if we use it with the voltage converter, the breaker drops. Every time we try to use the coffee machine, especially during low shedding, we have to deal with the blaring beeping sound that tells us that there’s no electricity. Plus, the coffee we bought was stale or something. Oh, and we use a cloth as a filter because I couldn’t find them in the stores that I shop at. Definitely not very pretty.

Sadly we have surrendered back to instant Nescafe. At least it does the job.

3. Making lists

Another thing I try to do is to make a list of things that needs to be done. This might be normal practice, but I find the productivity level to be so different when you actually visualize what’s necessary. I sometime use Trello because it lets my team members know what I’m working on, and allows me to move the task cards around based on the progress. But if it’s a menial task, I usually just make a quick memo of what I have to do today on a scratch paper. It definitely helps you from straying off track.

I know they really aren’t cool hacky stuff. But these are some things that i’ve been doing since I was young, and they have definitely helped me out a ton (especially 3).

Are there any productivity hacks that you use during work? I would love to hear some creative new ways that helps you stay pumped!