10 ProfHacker Tips for 2014

At my campus, classes start on Monday, which means this week has been devoted to getting ready for a new semester and, more broadly, a new year. If you’re a longtime reader of ProfHacker, you probably already know some of the recommendations we make on a regular basis. If you’re a new reader, it might be more than a little intimidating to try to wade through four and a half years worth of blog posts to identify those key recommendations. I hope that both categories of readers will find the following list of ProfHacker tips helpful:

1. Set up your system for automatically backing up your hard drive(s).
2. Start using Dropbox to automatically sync your essential files across multiple devices.
3. Make a commitment to “give the gift of less email.”
4. Try working at a standing desk.
5. To achieve your goals, make a little bit of progress every single day.
6. Use a timeboxing method like the pomodoro technique to provide some structure and focus to your workday.
7. Adopt some kind of system for getting things done.
8. Make exercise a priority.
9. Develop your strategies for staying healthy.
10. And finally, don’t let productivity stress you out.

You should not, of course, feel obliged to follow all of these tips! These are things that have worked well for some of us here at ProfHacker, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll work well for everyone.

How about you? What helpful tips would you add to this list? Please share in the comments.

[CC-licensed Flickr photo by JD Hancock]