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Advice / Succeeding at Work / Productivity

How to Turbocharge Your Productivity, According to a New York Times Reporter Who's Literally Written Books on the Topic

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When my alarm starts blaring every morning (OK, fine, 15 to 20 minutes after it goes off), I grab my phone and start to scroll. Hello Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—it's me. From the other side. In the seven to eight hours I’ve been off in dreamland, I bet I’ve missed a lot, and I need to catch up. ASAP. Jokes on me, nothing exciting ever happens.

But while this specific morning routine may help me to ease into the day, I could be wasting precious time. Because, according to Charles Duhigg, New York Times reporter and author of Smarter, Better, Faster: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business and The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, I should be using this time to set the rest of my day up for maximum productivity. Instead of, you know, obsessing over the latest kitten videos (there'll be time for that later).

On this episode of the “Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More” podcast (Episode 401: “How to Turbocharge Your Productivity: An Interview with Bestselling Author Charles Duhigg”), Duhigg discusses what he believes is the best strategy to being more productive than ever and how you can implement it. Hint: It includes using Disney’s creative process.

Listen in and let me know on Twitter if you start using his advice—and if it works!