I'm a big fan of finding simple ways and things that make a big difference in my life and business (I mean, who isn't?).

If I can do just one thing that increases my effectiveness by 45%

… or have a clear plan of attack that stops me from staring blankly at a screen

… or even create a system that gets me one step closer to achieving my goals.

And all by quickly seeing a huge drop in my stress levels for something that took me just a few minutes to implement, it gets me really excited!

That is exactly what these online entrepreneurs, bloggers and small business owners have to offer: the very best productivity tips that will help you get all of your tasks done, and still have more than enough free time to spend with family and friends.

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Tena Moore from Social Bloom

If you spend too much time on social media, this one is a life changer. First, decide what types of content you’re going to post on a daily basis. Here’s what I mean: quotes on Mondays, blogs on Tuesdays, funny videos on Fridays, etc. - you get the idea. Make a folder on your computer for each ‘type’ of content, then put all those folders in one folder named ‘social media content’. When you see content you’d like to share, put it in the correct folder. Batch schedule your content with SmarterQueue or MeetEdgar - or any scheduler that repurposes your content. It will post them indefinitely. Think about it—take an hour or two to schedule 52 quotes for a weekly share and you are covered for the entire year.

Set it and forget it. Never again will you gasp in horror that you’ve forgotten to post on social media.

Amy Edge from Amy Edge

Make tech work for you by building easy automation into your workflow. Automation enables you to free up valuable time rather than spending it on redundant tasks.

You can easily automate any number of workflow actions by setting up triggers within IFTTT or Zapier. You can easily create a recipe to add new email contact information to be compiled in an existing spreadsheet. Or, you can connect your Gmail and Google sheets to track your finances by automatically scanning your emails for words like "receipts".

Using automation is the best way to free up time in your business daily!

Rebekah Jones from The Sunburned Penguin

Facebook Groups: When I post in a Facebook Group promo thread, I’m usually one comment out of hundreds. While sometimes I get notifications from Facebook that someone liked my comment, or replied to my comment, it doesn’t always come through right, or is easy to miss with so many other notifications happening.

So what I do is once I post the comment, I hover over the timestamp of the comment. It usually says “Just now” as I do it right away.

I then right-click and choose “Copy Link Address” (I use Chrome, other browsers have a similar option).

Next, in my master FB Group spreadsheet, I paste the link to my Facebook Group thread comment in the column set up for it. I can now click this link anytime I want to and see any activity on my comment.

Check out this blog post for more FB group hacks.

Izuzu Nworgu from Positive Voice Blog

There are a lot of productivity hacks but my best productivity hack is the use of planners or journals.

How do you want to be productive without making realistic plans and sticking to these plans?

To be productive, you have to know exactly what you want to get done. Write these things down in your planner or journal or a random piece of paper. I’ll advice you against pieces of papers because they might get mixed up with other things and looking for them is going to seem like too much work.

Create your TO-DO list and don’t be in a rush to get everything done at the same time. You’ll end up doing nothing.

Schedule these TO-DOs and prioritize your list with the most important thing first (or most urgent thing first as the case maybe) and make sure you discipline yourself to finish one task before moving on to the next.

You can use a timer to help you manage time so you don’t spend eternity on one task.

In conclusion, my best productivity hacks are;

· Making realistic plans

· Self-discipline (discipline yourself to stick to these plans)

· Being time conscious

Sandy Edwards from CE Squared

Block Scheduling is my productivity hack.

Making time for the email, support requests, and all things crazy. Blocking time for sales, family, product work, and client work. I use 2 hour time blocks to mark up my schedule and use youcanbook.me for people to book my time in those blocks.

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Katie Lewis from Kathryn D Lewis

I employ the Pomodoro Technique, a method that breaks time into manageable bites.

If I tell myself, "OK, you have 25 minutes. How much can you get done?", I'm usually able to return a handful of emails and knock off a long-postponed to-do list item.

This rush of efficiency also serves to rocket my mood, encouraging even more accomplishments. (And speaking of to-do lists, I find maintaining a physical day planner enormously beneficial.)

Shannon Thompson from Invading Mars

My best productivity hack is during the work week I opt for audiobooks over the real thing. That way no matter how crazy my week gets I get some kind of creative fuel.

Audiobooks help me multitask. When I am doing non creative work or otherwise not using a ton of mental energy I love to listen to business and self help books.

I also watch Ted Talks on Spotify (yep Spotify will play the actual videos) while working out, walking my dog and getting dressed for work. It helps me build up my vocabulary and improves my public speaking and speech writing skills.

Vivienne Diane Neal from One World Singles Blog

Finding Free Photos and Clipart for Your Blog or Web Site

It is always a good idea to get someone’s permission before using their image(s). Nowadays, people are so quick to sue, and even if you give them credit, it may present problems because you didn’t get it in writing and have nothing to show for it if a problem does come up. And in the long run, if you are on a tight budget, buying royalty-free images may be costly, especially if you need to use a magnitude of photos or the images you desire may not be available or are limited.

What you can do is use images that are categorized as Public Domain (PD) or come under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures/illustrations are completely free and can be used or edited for any legal purpose, namely commercial or personal use, and no credit or linking is required when using these images.

Here are some sites that fall under the Creative Commons License or Public Domain:

Pixabay - have a variety of photos, illustration, and images in just about every category.

Picnoi - is a co-op of stock photography, which has a variety of multiracial/multicultural images.

Pexels - has free stock photos in every imaginable category.

WPclipart - offers over 68,000 public domain clipart and photos.

StockSnap - offers high resolution images.

Madeleine Davis from The Stress Free Family

I’m a serial entrepreneur and mom to 3 active busy boys. I need to be productive in order for me to get everything I NEED to get done AND everything I WANT to get done! I have found that creating 3 separate lists helps me move through my day with grace and ease.

1. Task List: Individual tasks, realistic completion time, and due date. Completing this list focuses me on determining how I will execute the task. A 10 hour task that’s due in 2 weeks can be finished over 2 days or an hour a day for 2 weeks. Now that you know what it takes, you can enter it into your calendar.

2. Quickie List: This list helps you avoid valuable time leaks. We all have quick calls and email responses we need to do. Cross off throughout the day.

3. Found Time List : This is the “If I had time in my day” tasks. Necessary tasks without deadlines and wish list items live here. Don’t waste time thinking about what to do when someone cancels or you finish a project ahead of schedule. Organize your kids drawers? Write a chapter in your memoir?

Ying from Navigating Adulthood

My productivity hack is to set the timer for 30 minutes and put my cellphone in a really-hard to reach place [like the back of the DVD drawer].

I commit to only doing the task at hand for those 30 minutes. If I feel myself getting distracted, I remind myself that it's only 30 minutes.

When that 30 minute block is up, I give myself permission to do whatever I want for 10 minutes [example: watch Youtube, or go on Instagram]. It works really well for blogging and my husband and I even use this technique for housework!

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