GWA 25: Increase Your Creative Output and Productivity

I found one article particularly helpful to boost my creative output. It summarizes basic concepts but does so quickly and concisely. Besides a big claim in the title that is unverifiable, (but is probably true to some extent), it makes great points and I definitely highly recommend this read:

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/stop-this-one-bad-habit-and-you-ll-increase-productivity-40-percent.html

Short on time? here is my summary of important points:

Focus on one task. multitasking cuts your productivity by a lot. The way to go is to focus on one task at a time.
Schedule your task time. You don’t have to do it until complete, but at least set a minimum amount of time you will work on the one task and follow through. Try 25 minutes of work on 1 thing, then 5 minutes of rest if needed.
Avoid context constant switching. When you switch from task to task, your brain reacts to the feeling of newness with a jolt of dopamine–the same brain chemical that causes heroin addiction. So it feels like you want to switch from one thing to another endlessly, but then you are just context switching so much that efficiency is lost.
Have a system to park distracting ideas. Find a way to park distracting inspirations that come to mind when you are focused. I use Evernote for this just like they say to do in the article. It is the first app on my phone, anything good comes to mind I want to say, I quickly write it down (do a review later). (I use Evernote for this, works really well just jot things down on your phone, and it is free!)
Control your environment. It is up to you to control your environment and make it distraction-free, not up to the environment or the group you are with, or your family, you must do the hard work of setting boundaries for however much time you can actually afford
Perform related tasks in clusters, basically, anything similar or related, store it up for a few days if possible, and then assign a period of time to do it all at once
Get an accountability partner. Ask the people around you to hold you accountable for focusing