{"id":1861,"date":"2017-10-25T09:56:02","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T09:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2025-06-29T09:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T09:41:18","slug":"productivity-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lemonade.com\/blog\/productivity-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Productivity Tips, Backed By Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you get everything done you wanted to yesterday? What about the day before? As productive as we try to be, <\/span>sometimes it just doesn\u2019t cut it<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not because there aren\u2019t enough hours in the day, it\u2019s because we usually don\u2019t know how to\u00a0prioritize our future selves<\/a>\u00a0wisely! So we\u2019ve rounded up the best productivity tips from our favorite behavioral economists and psychologists, from Dan Ariely to Malcolm Gladwell. Here are their favorite pieces of productivity advice, backed by science:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Procrastinate<\/b><\/h3>\n

Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist, Author of <\/span><\/i>Give and Take<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Adam Grant, the best way to get something done is to start, and then leave it unfinished. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPsychology research reveals that we have a better memory for incomplete, rather than complete, tasks,\u201d explains Grant. \u201cComplex tasks are often better handled in the back of our minds, and that\u2019s often true of creative tasks.\u201d (<\/span>Forbes<\/span><\/a>) In other words, if you need to think up a creative idea<\/a> or craft a response, your brain will do a better job if it\u2019s given time to contemplate. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll start working, put it aside, and sometimes I\u2019ll wake up the next morning with a solution, or I\u2019ll find one when I exercise. If I left a sentence unfinished, more often than not, I can literally dive right back into where I was.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So to get things done the right way, you should put them off. We can get on board with that. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

2. Remember why you\u2019re doing it<\/b><\/h3>\n

Charles Duhigg, author of <\/span><\/i>Smarter, Better, Faster<\/span> and <\/span><\/i>The Power of Habit<\/span><\/p>\n

To be more productive, remind yourself of your motivation in the first place, says Charles Duhigg. To do so, connect your to-do to a bigger, more important goal. \u201cOnce we start asking why [we\u2019re doing something], small tasks become a larger constellation of meaningful projects, goals, and v<\/span>alues,\u201d says Duhigg in his book Smarter, Better, Faster<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-motivation flourishes when we realize that replying to an email or helping a coworker on its own might be relatively unimportant. But it is part of a bigger picture that we believe in.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how do we build up that motivation? Duhigg explains by example, telling a story of a cancer researcher who hates grading papers. Every time he sits down to grade a paper, he goes to a mantra: \u2018If I grade this student\u2019s paper, the university gets their tuition dollars, so they can pay for my research, so I can find out things about cancer, so I can save people\u2019s lives. Therefore, by grading the students\u2019 papers, I\u2019m saving people\u2019s lives.\u2019 If we look hard enough, there\u2019s undoubtedly a bigger \u2018why\u2019 to everything we do. <\/span><\/p>\n

3. Go with your instincts<\/b><\/h3>\n

Malcolm Gladwell, author of <\/span><\/i>Blink<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>The Tipping Point<\/span>, and others <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We\u2019re in luck: our best decisions are the ones that are made in the blink of an eye, according to Malcolm Gladwell. This concept is called \u2018Thin Slicing,\u2019 and was at the core of his book <\/span>Blink. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Over multiple studies, Gladwell found that we make better decisions based on small amounts of information. Our judgments don\u2019t improve as we are given more and more info – in fact, our decisions often become worse! That\u2019s because as humans evolved, we trained our brains to sift through large amounts of information quickly so we can make decisions in a hurry, in case we\u2019re under threat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"how

Photo by Watchlist<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

What does this mean for productivity? We can save some serious time knowing that our best decisions are often the ones we made quickly, from the thinnest slice of experience. So the next time you think you need to dive into some deep research in order to make the best decision, science says go with your gut instead. <\/span><\/p>\n

4. Put your happiness first<\/h3>\n

Shawn Anchor, Psychologist, author of <\/span><\/i>The Happiness Advantage<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When it comes to productivity, happiness<\/a> pays off, big time. Research shows that if you\u2019re more positive, your brain will have a \u201chappiness advantage.\u201d <\/span>That means it\u2019ll perform significantly better than it would at a negative, neutral, or stressed state. This happens because dopamine doesn\u2019t only make you happy, but it also turns on all of the learning centers in your brain. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found that every single business outcome improves\u201d with the happiness advantage, according to Anchor. \u201cYour brain at positive is 31% more productive. You\u2019re 37% better at sales. Doctors are 19% faster.\u201d (<\/span>TED<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n