How To Master Productivity At Home In 2021?

Being productive is not an easy task in 2021. There’s constant distraction: political noise, Netflix, video games, books (Yeah, okay) and about 10,000 other things. But I think it remains a desire for most people. You want to get things done. You want to work productively. Maybe it’s your regular job, or maybe it’s a 2021 side hustle you want to get off the ground.

The secret to mastering productivity at home is writing down your goals, creating systems, and organizing it all together into a project timeline. You need to take your vague goals and break them all down into specifics, set personal deadlines and structure it into an achievable whole. The G.S.D.S. (Get S**T Done System) is a perfect path, or template, to achieving your project goals in mastering your productive life in 2021.

Whatever the case, the time to start getting it done is here! There’s never been a better time for productivity. The pandemic is still here, and there’s no real end in sight. So for the sake of safety, increasing your productivity and working more effectively at home is a good thing for all of us.

2020 happens to have been my most productive year of my life. I achieved a significant amount more than I thought I would, and finished a significant amount more than I thought I would too. It turns out, it came down to developing perfect systems of productivity. I became obsessed with maximizing productivity, increasing work efficiency and just generally being as effective of a home-worker as possible. That being said, today I’m going to introduce you to an amazing productivity system that changed my work life.

The Get Sh*t Done System

In order to maximize your productivity, you need to commit to change. Understand that following this system flawlessly is not going to be easy. But if you are able to, you will get the things done that you set out to. This is a system I’ve created and miniaturized to become an entry point to master your productivity, and effectively get things done. I can this system the G.S.D.S. Also known as: The Get Shit Done System. Now, let’s get into the process and start getting shit done.

How Do You Organize Your Productivity?

The G.S.D.S is comprised of an 18 step process. It’s ordered as a means of to effectively lay out a timeline to a project, and execute your goals on that project.

I recommend you use a project / task management app to most conveniently lay out your project My go-to app of choice is TickTick. TickTick (Not TikTok!) is an amazing project management app, with a ridiculous amount of functionality. It’s powerful yet unintimidating to start out with.

Click here to try out TickTick (Totally Free)

Click here to learn about my workflow within TickTick

Well, without further ado. Let’s get into: The G.S.D.S.

1. The Game Plan

Let’s start out by taking a look at your work-life. What is it you’re doing for “work?” What is it you find productive? Is it everything you want to be doing? Something within this career that you’re hoping to achieve? Side project that you’ve been meaning to get off the ground? Maybe it’s all these things.

Either way, take out a some form of note-taking device. Mind-mapping apps are cool here, but a blank piece of paper and pen work too.

Now, start listing everything. This is your brain scramble. Fill the page with ideas. EVERYTHING! Career goals, building scale, maximize projects, start a YouTube channel, build a sneaker company, whatever. Just fill a page with things that you’d like to do in your “work life.”

2. The Top 3 Priorities

Organize the list into a bin of your top-3 priorities. Which things are most important to you right now. This doesn’t mean the other things aren’t important. Or that those things aren’t going to get done. This is just a strategy to understand that there are many things you want to do in the long run, and now we have note of that. But in determining your top 3 priorities, you’re also telling yourself that these are the only 3 things you’ll be focusing on in the near future. Having too many projects and/or tasks present in a given span has an adverse effect on productivity, and we don’t want that.

3. Determine The Hardest Task

Of your top 3 priorities, it’s time you figure out which one is the absolute hardest. Whether that means it takes the most works, takes the most skill, takes the most mental energy, whatever. Circle this one right now. This is now officially your HFP. Your “High Focus Priority.”

4. The Chapters

Now, take a look at your HTP. It’s time to do a brainstorm of chapters. By that I mean, think though ever subtask that needs to be completed in order to make your HFP officially complete. (So for example: Starting a sneaker company would have chapters like: title creation, branding, product testing, business planning, crowd-funding, design, etc.)

List down EVERYTHING here. The more detailed your chapter breakdown is, the better. For this portion of brainstorming, I would recommend mind-mapping, but writing a bunch of chapter ideas on a large sheet of paper works too!

5. Formalizing The Chapters

It’s time you make things official! Take ALL your chapters and organize them into chronological order. This is your chance to estimate out the order of events along the path to finishing your project. Take your HFP and put it into your project manager. OR take a piece of paper and give it the heading of your HFP.

Under this heading / project, list those chapters down! Of course, you’re probably going to have more chapters added along the way, as problems arise and as you start to experience the project. But these chapters are your outline, and a very detailed look at your project from a distance.

6. The Three Points.

Now, let’s think dates. It’s nice and easy to follow a deadline when a boss or teach is the one assigning it. But now it’s your turn. You have to come up with a deadline right now. When is this project officially DUE? When do you want to officially consider it complete (Now, by complete, this most likely means the creation of the thing = Complete. As in a business. Complete means the business officially exists and is launched, for example)

Determine that date, and mark down the date. This is officially your “end point.”

Next, mark down tomorrow’s date. That is the Date you’re going to be starting on the first chapter of your HFP. Mark this date as your “start point.”

Lastly, find the chapter right in the middle of your project. Smack dab in the center. Also find the date that falls in between your start point and end point. Mark this middle date down, set your center chapter to be due on this date, and officially title this point in the process your “mid-point.”

This middle point is hugely important! This will give you a real progress update at that point. If you’re way behind on your chapters, you need to better manage your time. If you’re way ahead on your chapters, you’re crushing it and maybe you should be shrinking down your overall project timeline. Either way, this information is very valuable.

7. The Enforcement

Now, it’s time to enforce this shit. Use whatever means you have right now to set up a repeat reminder. Whether that’s your alarm app in your phone. Whether you’re using TickTick, or Google Calendar, I don’t care. But whatever the means, set an alarm right now. This alarm is to go off EVERY SINGLE DAY until your end-point. This is your “mark time.”

I recommend, with all my heart, to set this reminder an hour before you regularly wake up. Start waking up an hour earlier than you do on average, and begin working on that day’s chapter. But if you’re someone who works better at a different, specific time of day, then make that your mark time. Just don’t lie to yourself because you’re too lazy to change your sleep schedule. I know what that like, I used to pull that move too. But trust me, the one hour early move is one of the best decisions I’ve made.

8. The Process

Now, let’s take a look at the process. As soon as your alarm goes off, IT’S TIME! Like I said, this is your mark time. Find a way to make the next hour and 15 minutes of your life completely uninterrupted. Shut your wifi off. Throw your phone across the room. Take off your goddamn smart watch, close your door, etc.

Set a timer for 1 HOUR and START. Just immediately start working through your project priorities, your chapters, in order without dread. Just do it. Do not stop. No going pee. And no snack breaks. It’s one hour, uninterrupted. Make it happen!

9. The Productivity Ease Off

At the one hour mark, let your alarm go off in celebration! You did it! You completed your first mark time. Now, take those last 15 minutes you allocated to ease off.

Save your progress, make your final markings, and end things off. Pat yourself on the back and feel the sense of success.

Of course, if you’re motivated to keep working at this point, then by all means do it! But this is your new daily minimum. Every. Single. Day. No excuses, just do it. (Sorry Nike, I like the saying too)

10. Your Minimum is Determined

Find a way to enforce this system into your life, and it will completely shift your work ethic. If you’re struggling to find the time, keep experimenting. Different times work for different people. But once you figure it out, stick to a time. This creates a batter habit-building mechanism in the long run.

So stop pushing things off already! Just force this system into your days and get to work on achieving the thing you want to achieve. It’s easy to say, but hard to live by. Stop talking about it and start doing it!

It All Comes Down To You Now

The system is clear. The G.S.D.S. Is a very linear path to completing tasks you hope to achieve. But it all comes down to your will power. This is a great system, if you force yourself to live by it. Set your time. Stick to it! Create a punishment for yourself if you fail. Force yourself to feel immense guilt if you don’t complete the things you set out to complete.

That may sound ridiculous, but it can help turn you into a more productive person. Whatever it is that’s going to force you to stay true to the G.S.D.S. – Do it! This can be the perfect productivity system in your life, if you allow it to be. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start getting shit done!

The Video Option

If you’re interested in seeing this productivity system all placed out in video-form, I made a YouTube video going over the G.S.D.S. It might help to save this video for later, to remind you of specifics if need be.

Here’s that:

How To Master Productivity At Home In 2021: The Get Sh*t Done System. Be more productive this year!