Managing email overload has become a critical skill for professionals seeking to maintain efficiency and sanity in the workplace. According to 

, some employees dedicate approximately nine hours every week to emails. That’s more than a full workday!

While some roles necessitate responding to incoming emails promptly, many workers check their inboxes impulsively even when their focus should be on other tasks. There are several reasons why knowledge workers feel beholden to their inboxes, including FOMO, the instant gratification of small accomplishments, and poor time management skills.

Constantly checking emails interrupts workflow, making it difficult to maintain concentration on important tasks. This leads to a loss of time and energy. Additionally, this habit can increase stress and anxiety in workers, especially when anticipating new messages and feeling the pressure to respond quickly.

If your team is seeking a way to improve employee well-being and recover time from the inbox, then this article is for you.

It’s essential to recognize the signs of email overload before tackling it. Here are some indicators that you or your employees might be overwhelmed by emails:

 Regularly checking emails indicates that workers are disengaging from their tasks to attend to messages.

 Spending excessive time outside of regular work hours dealing with emails suggests that email management is intruding on personal time.

 A decline in productivity occurs when time is spent managing emails instead of focusing on primary tasks.

Want hard data to help identify your team’s email overload problem? Get 

. We can show you crucial data and help you fix the issue before it gets worse.

Ready to make some changes? Here are a few approaches you can use to improve email management across your organization.

Email batching involves grouping your email tasks into specific intervals rather than constantly checking your inbox. This technique can 

 and increase your focus on important tasks. Here's how to implement email batching effectively:

 during the day to check and respond to emails. Batches could be first thing in the morning, after lunch, and before the end of the workday.

 to prevent interruptions outside of your designated batch times.

and avoid the temptation to check your inbox in between these times.

 is a time management technique where you allocate fixed blocks of time to specific tasks or activities. This method can help you manage your email more efficiently while ensuring you have dedicated time for other important tasks. Here's how to use time blocking for email management:

in your calendar dedicated solely to checking and responding to emails. For example, you might allocate 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon.

 outside of your email blocks. Do not allow for email distractions.

these time blocks if necessary. The goal is to find a balance that works best for you.

The two-minute rule is designed to streamline your email management process and minimize time spent on each email. Here’s how to integrate this rule into your daily routine:

 If an email can be responded to in two minutes or less during your designated email blocks, address it immediately. This approach prevents small tasks from piling up. Quick actions might include confirming meeting times, forwarding information, or providing brief answers to straightforward questions.

Schedule Time-Consuming Emails into Your Calendar for Dedicated Time Blocks: 

Some email responses take more than two minutes. If you don’t want to forget about them, schedule them into your calendar using apps like Gmail and Outlook.

In Gmail, open the email and click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner. Next, select “Create event” to open Google Calendar, where you can set a specific time block for responding to the email.

Similarly, in Outlook, you can drag the email to the Calendar icon to create a new event or appointment. This method allows you to allocate dedicated time to address complex emails, ensuring they receive the attention they need without interrupting your workflow.

Adjust your email management processes to streamline your inbox. This ensures you spend less time organizing and sifting through emails. Here are a few methods you can try:

 Gmail and Outlook both offer filtering and labeling options. Set up filters to automatically sort incoming emails into categories such as urgent, important, and low priority. Labels and folders can also help you identify and manage different types of emails.

Unsubscribe from Unnecessary Newsletters:

 Over time, your email can become cluttered with newsletters and promotional messages. Schedule a time block to unsubscribe from emails that no longer serve a purpose. This will reduce the volume of emails you receive daily.

 For frequently asked questions or recurring topics, create email templates. This saves time, ensures consistent responses, and prevents you from having to write the same message repeatedly.

Consider using email management tools and apps that integrate with your email system. These tools can help you track, prioritize, and automate email tasks.

Here are a few email management tools to test:

 offers a streamlined, minimalistic interface that boosts email efficiency by using features like fast keyboard shortcuts, snooze options, read receipts, and advanced search.

 allows team members to discuss emails privately and work together on responses.

 filters and prioritizes emails, automatically sorting less important messages into separate folders.

 allows you to schedule emails to be sent later, set follow-up reminders, and temporarily archive emails until you need them.

 helps you organize and declutter your inbox by grouping similar emails together and then archive or delete them in bulk.

Inbox Zero is a productivity approach aimed at keeping your inbox empty or near empty at all times. This method helps you stay organized and ensures that no important emails are overlooked. Here's how to achieve Inbox Zero effectively:

: Organize your emails into folders or label them for easy access and sorting. Use categories like “Action Required,” “Waiting on Response,” and “Reference.”

: Dedicate specific times each day to process your emails. During these times, sort your emails into the appropriate folders, delete what’s not needed, and respond to or delegate actionable items.

: Use tools or features like filters, rules, and templates to automate and streamline your email processing.

: Regularly review and clean your inbox to keep it organized. Ensure that new emails are processed promptly to avoid backlog and maintain your Inbox Zero status.

Email overload can be managed with the right strategy. By implementing productivity techniques like 

g and time blocking or making changes to your email management processes, you can significantly reduce interactions with your inbox, 

 on important tasks and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

However, it’s also possible that productivity hacks for managing emails might not work. For example, Inbox Zero may heighten your email interactions.

Whatever changes you choose to implement, it’s essential to measure their effectiveness. Regularly assess whether these changes are actually helping you manage your inbox more efficiently. Remember, the objective is to find the approach that works best for you and your team.

 to track your progress, measure the impact of your changes, and continually refine your approach to keep improving.

Managing email overload has become a critical skill for professionals seeking to maintain efficiency and sanity in the workplace. According to Microsoft, some employees dedicate approximately nine hours every week to emails. That’s more than a full workday!

While some roles necessitate responding to incoming emails promptly, many workers check their inboxes impulsively even when their focus should be on other tasks. There are several reasons why knowledge workers feel beholden to their inboxes, including FOMO, the instant gratification of small accomplishments, and poor time management skills.

Constantly checking emails interrupts workflow, making it difficult to maintain concentration on important tasks. This leads to a loss of time and energy. Additionally, this habit can increase stress and anxiety in workers, especially when anticipating new messages and feeling the pressure to respond quickly.

If your team is seeking a way to improve employee well-being and recover time from the inbox, then this article is for you.

Identifying Email Overload

It’s essential to recognize the signs of email overload before tackling it. Here are some indicators that you or your employees might be overwhelmed by emails:

High Interactions in Email App: Regularly checking emails indicates that workers are disengaging from their tasks to attend to messages.

Increased Work Hours: Spending excessive time outside of regular work hours dealing with emails suggests that email management is intruding on personal time.

Insufficient Time Spent on Main Tasks: A decline in productivity occurs when time is spent managing emails instead of focusing on primary tasks.

Want hard data to help identify your team’s email overload problem? Get Produce8. We can show you crucial data and help you fix the issue before it gets worse.

Ready to make some changes? Here are a few approaches you can use to improve email management across your organization.

Improve Email Management

1. Email Batching

Email batching involves grouping your email tasks into specific intervals rather than constantly checking your inbox. This technique can significantly reduce distractions and increase your focus on important tasks. Here's how to implement email batching effectively:

Designate specific times during the day to check and respond to emails. Batches could be first thing in the morning, after lunch, and before the end of the workday.

Disable email notifications to prevent interruptions outside of your designated batch times.

Commit to your email-checking schedule and avoid the temptation to check your inbox in between these times.

2. Time Blocking

Much like email batching, time blocking is a time management technique where you allocate fixed blocks of time to specific tasks or activities. This method can help you manage your email more efficiently while ensuring you have dedicated time for other important tasks. Here's how to use time blocking for email management:

Schedule specific time blocks in your calendar dedicated solely to checking and responding to emails. For example, you might allocate 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon.

Focus on high-priority tasks outside of your email blocks. Do not allow for email distractions.

Measure your productivity and adjust these time blocks if necessary. The goal is to find a balance that works best for you.

3. Implement the Two-Minute Rule

The two-minute rule is designed to streamline your email management process and minimize time spent on each email. Here’s how to integrate this rule into your daily routine:

Take Immediate Action for Quick Emails: If an email can be responded to in two minutes or less during your designated email blocks, address it immediately. This approach prevents small tasks from piling up. Quick actions might include confirming meeting times, forwarding information, or providing brief answers to straightforward questions.

Schedule Time-Consuming Emails into Your Calendar for Dedicated Time Blocks: Some email responses take more than two minutes. If you don’t want to forget about them, schedule them into your calendar using apps like Gmail and Outlook.

In Gmail, open the email and click on the three-dot menu at the top right corner. Next, select “Create event” to open Google Calendar, where you can set a specific time block for responding to the email.

Similarly, in Outlook, you can drag the email to the Calendar icon to create a new event or appointment. This method allows you to allocate dedicated time to address complex emails, ensuring they receive the attention they need without interrupting your workflow.

4. Manage Your Email Process

Adjust your email management processes to streamline your inbox. This ensures you spend less time organizing and sifting through emails. Here are a few methods you can try:

Use Filters and Labels: Gmail and Outlook both offer filtering and labeling options. Set up filters to automatically sort incoming emails into categories such as urgent, important, and low priority. Labels and folders can also help you identify and manage different types of emails.

Unsubscribe from Unnecessary Newsletters: Over time, your email can become cluttered with newsletters and promotional messages. Schedule a time block to unsubscribe from emails that no longer serve a purpose. This will reduce the volume of emails you receive daily.

Use Templates for Common Responses: For frequently asked questions or recurring topics, create email templates. This saves time, ensures consistent responses, and prevents you from having to write the same message repeatedly.

5. Leverage Email Management Tools

Consider using email management tools and apps that integrate with your email system. These tools can help you track, prioritize, and automate email tasks.

Here are a few email management tools to test:

Superhuman offers a streamlined, minimalistic interface that boosts email efficiency by using features like fast keyboard shortcuts, snooze options, read receipts, and advanced search.

Spark allows team members to discuss emails privately and work together on responses.

SaneBox filters and prioritizes emails, automatically sorting less important messages into separate folders.

Boomerang allows you to schedule emails to be sent later, set follow-up reminders, and temporarily archive emails until you need them.

Clean Email helps you organize and declutter your inbox by grouping similar emails together and then archive or delete them in bulk.

6. Inbox Zero

Inbox Zero is a productivity approach aimed at keeping your inbox empty or near empty at all times. This method helps you stay organized and ensures that no important emails are overlooked. Here's how to achieve Inbox Zero effectively:

Set Up a System: Organize your emails into folders or label them for easy access and sorting. Use categories like “Action Required,” “Waiting on Response,” and “Reference.”

Process Emails Regularly: Dedicate specific times each day to process your emails. During these times, sort your emails into the appropriate folders, delete what’s not needed, and respond to or delegate actionable items.

Use Email Management Tools: Use tools or features like filters, rules, and templates to automate and streamline your email processing.

Maintain the System: Regularly review and clean your inbox to keep it organized. Ensure that new emails are processed promptly to avoid backlog and maintain your Inbox Zero status.

Measure the Effectiveness of the Change

Email overload can be managed with the right strategy. By implementing productivity techniques like email batching and time blocking or making changes to your email management processes, you can significantly reduce interactions with your inbox, allowing you to focus on important tasks and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

However, it’s also possible that productivity hacks for managing emails might not work. For example, Inbox Zero may heighten your email interactions.

Whatever changes you choose to implement, it’s essential to measure their effectiveness. Regularly assess whether these changes are actually helping you manage your inbox more efficiently. Remember, the objective is to find the approach that works best for you and your team.

Use Produce8 to track your progress, measure the impact of your changes, and continually refine your approach to keep improving.

How to Prevent Email Overload at Work: Email Management Tips

“Eat the Frog” is a popular method for checking off the most important tasks on your to-do list. But how effective is it?

In this article, we will help you understand Eat the Frog and anticipate challenges that may arise while implementing it. Then we will show you how to use Produce8’s digital work analytics to make data-driven decisions and improve the process.

Ready? Then click here to make the most of "Eat the Frog" 👉 

How effective is the "Eat the Frog" method?

“If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” - Mark Twain

The Eat the Frog method is a personal productivity hack that will help you prioritize your work. 

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

The concept is simple: tackle your most challenging and important task—the "frog"—early in the workday. Then everything else will fall into place.

The Eat the Frog method is useful because it prompts you to prioritize your biggest and most important tasks first. Because these tasks are often challenging or complex, they are the ones you're inclined to procrastinate on, which only makes completing your goal harder as the day goes on. Practicing Eat the Frog can enhance your ability to focus on these tasks with greater impact.

Here’s how you can perform the Eat the Frog technique in a few simple steps:


To begin, check your to-do list. Is there a task that feels tough or that you’ve been putting off? That is your “frog!”

Break it down into smaller steps if needed


If your frog requires more than half a day of work, break it up into smaller, more manageable steps. Each step becomes a new frog to eat.

Establish a routine of tackling your "frog" first thing every morning


Make a habit of focusing on your main task early in the day. This starts your day on a positive note and ensures you handle important tasks promptly.

Are you ready to supercharge your productivity and unlock your full potential?

To measure whether Eat the Frog is working for you, timely feedback is essential. Real-time data and daily reports provide a clearer understanding of areas that need improvement.

In a perfect world, performing the Eat the Frog technique would work 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in the real world, we face internal and external obstacles that can throw our workday into chaos. Some common challenges of the Eat the Frog technique include:

When you don’t have a structured schedule, distractions can get in the way. And if managers or colleagues constantly dictate your workday, practicing Eat the Frog becomes challenging. To combat this, 

We don't exist on an island. Sometimes we have to assist others with their tasks. Focusing solely on important tasks (your frogs) might lead to neglecting urgent ones.

"Eating the Frog" requires you to perform unpleasant tasks that may not excite or motivate you. So, you may deviate and work on something else and then not return to the initial task until much later.

 Interruptions caused by notifications, updates, and invitations can make it difficult to concentrate on your frog.

Recognizing these challenges will allow you to build awareness around your work habits and make changes to take back control.

 offers real-time insights to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques like Eat the Frog. Let me show you how to analyze whether the technique is working or not.

Use Produce8 to determine if Eat the Frog works for you

Forming a habit takes time. And you want to ensure your efforts are not going to waste.

Produce8 shows you how you interact with various work tools. This helps you find the right fit of productivity methods and allows you to reinforce your work habits. For instance, Produce8 shows:

View the Timeline to see whether you are effectively prioritizing your most important tasks.

In the filter, select all the apps you use for a specific task. This way you can analyze how the day looks with the tools grouped. If you are planning to get your work done in the morning, you should see a consolidation of interactions with that planning app. However, if you are consumed by 

 early in the day, you might see something like this:

You will find all your work apps in the Metrics tab. Click on Trends to assess your individual app usage over days, weeks, or even months. You will also see the average intensity of your workday in the 

You will find your Top Five Apps on the User Home Page. This will give you a quick view into whether you are spending quality time in the day with the tools you want to be using.

 You’ll also find your Daily Insights on the User Home Page. You can click on each Score to dive deeper into the metric. Note your Focus Score on days when you used the Eat the Frog technique. You may notice that on those days, your Focus Score was higher.

Setting up Produce8 is easy! To start, just connect the tools you use for work and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions. This will enable Produce8 to stream your activities within those apps and provide data in your Workspace.

Before you can see if the Eat the Frog technique makes a difference, start by collecting what we call your “

.” All you have to do is go about your usual work routine for a few days with Produce8 turned on.

During this time, Produce8 will work in the background. Feel free to pop in at the end of each day or get the 

How often did you switch between tasks? Use collaboration tools? Stay focused during work hours? Did any of it surprise you? Make note of these observations for later reference.

Now that you have your baseline data and a good understanding of your current work habits, let’s see if implementing the Eat the Frog technique improves your workday.

Remember, Eat the Frog is a habit-based technique. That means it should be something you are using as consistently as possible in the morning. Aim to work with it for one work week and then build from there.

Make it easier by scheduling time directly into your calendar. This way you are setting expectations and 

 know that you will be committing to a change in your routine.

By pairing the Eat the Frog technique with time blocking, you can better allocate time in the day. That way you can have a game plan right from the start.

After a week of working with the Eat the Frog technique, you can assess the data.

Are you making a habit of eating your “frogs” early in the day?

Do you know if you’re maintaining focus during those periods?

Have you identified the distractions that are keeping you from getting the job done?

Answering these questions will allow you to set goals that help you achieve a better workday. Let’s break it down.

If you regularly engage with productive apps at a specific time, Produce8 can visualize this pattern.

Simply click on the work tools you use while Eating the Frog in the Produce8 app. There, you can view your App Trends and identify how frequently you interact with specific apps.

Below, the Heatmap illustrates the times of the day you use the app the most. This provides a clear understanding of whether you're consistently Eating the Frog every morning as intended.

Can’t get the Eat the Frog technique to stick? Then figure out why. Are you moving away from important tasks too often? Or context switching too much? Whatever the case, you can identify what is dragging you down by looking at your Timeline.

Next, let's assess how much time you spend using specific tools for Eating the Frog. This helps you see how your day is divided.

Compare your time in the apps you use to Eat the Frog against other tools in your tech stack. How do you feel about how your day is broken up? Do you want to spend more time in your productive apps? Well, to do that, you need to extend your time Eating the Frog!

 ensures you hold yourself accountable. It will help you complete crucial tasks and establish a better morning routine.

If your goal is to Eat the Frog daily, add an “App Views” or “Time in App” Goal in your App Usage on Produce8. This simple step can help boost your motivation.

Your next steps in building great work habits

Examining your day through the lens of a data-driven approach can enable you to explore different productivity approaches. And you can tailor these approaches to your goals to improve your performance and overall well-being.

For those interested in gauging the effectiveness of the "Eat the Frog" technique (or other productivity techniques like the 

“Eat the Frog” is a popular method for checking off the most important tasks on your to-do list. But how effective is it?

In this article, we will help you understand Eat the Frog and anticipate challenges that may arise while implementing it. Then we will show you how to use Produce8’s digital work analytics to make data-driven decisions and improve the process.

Ready? Then click here to make the most of "Eat the Frog" 👉 How effective is the "Eat the Frog" method?

What is Eat the Frog?

The Eat the Frog method is a personal productivity hack that will help you prioritize your work. Brian Tracy popularized the method in his book, Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

The concept is simple: tackle your most challenging and important task—the "frog"—early in the workday. Then everything else will fall into place.

The Eat the Frog method is useful because it prompts you to prioritize your biggest and most important tasks first. Because these tasks are often challenging or complex, they are the ones you're inclined to procrastinate on, which only makes completing your goal harder as the day goes on. Practicing Eat the Frog can enhance your ability to focus on these tasks with greater impact.

How to Eat the Frog

Here’s how you can perform the Eat the Frog technique in a few simple steps:

Identify your "frog"
To begin, check your to-do list. Is there a task that feels tough or that you’ve been putting off? That is your “frog!”

Break it down into smaller steps if needed
If your frog requires more than half a day of work, break it up into smaller, more manageable steps. Each step becomes a new frog to eat.

Establish a routine of tackling your "frog" first thing every morning
Make a habit of focusing on your main task early in the day. This starts your day on a positive note and ensures you handle important tasks promptly.

How effective is Eat the Frog?

To measure whether Eat the Frog is working for you, timely feedback is essential. Real-time data and daily reports provide a clearer understanding of areas that need improvement.

In a perfect world, performing the Eat the Frog technique would work 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in the real world, we face internal and external obstacles that can throw our workday into chaos. Some common challenges of the Eat the Frog technique include:

Not having control of the day: When you don’t have a structured schedule, distractions can get in the way. And if managers or colleagues constantly dictate your workday, practicing Eat the Frog becomes challenging. To combat this, time block your day.

Balancing important vs. urgent tasks: We don't exist on an island. Sometimes we have to assist others with their tasks. Focusing solely on important tasks (your frogs) might lead to neglecting urgent ones.

Struggling with personal discipline: "Eating the Frog" requires you to perform unpleasant tasks that may not excite or motivate you. So, you may deviate and work on something else and then not return to the initial task until much later.

Managing distractions: Interruptions caused by notifications, updates, and invitations can make it difficult to concentrate on your frog.

Recognizing these challenges will allow you to build awareness around your work habits and make changes to take back control.

Produce8 offers real-time insights to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques like Eat the Frog. Let me show you how to analyze whether the technique is working or not.

Use Produce8 to determine if Eat the Frog works for you

Forming a habit takes time. And you want to ensure your efforts are not going to waste.

Produce8 shows you how you interact with various work tools. This helps you find the right fit of productivity methods and allows you to reinforce your work habits. For instance, Produce8 shows:

Batch App Metrics: View the Timeline to see whether you are effectively prioritizing your most important tasks.

In the filter, select all the apps you use for a specific task. This way you can analyze how the day looks with the tools grouped. If you are planning to get your work done in the morning, you should see a consolidation of interactions with that planning app. However, if you are consumed by excessive collaboration early in the day, you might see something like this:

App Usage Metrics: You will find all your work apps in the Metrics tab. Click on Trends to assess your individual app usage over days, weeks, or even months. You will also see the average intensity of your workday in the Heatmap.

Top App Reports: You will find your Top Five Apps on the User Home Page. This will give you a quick view into whether you are spending quality time in the day with the tools you want to be using.

Focus Score: You’ll also find your Daily Insights on the User Home Page. You can click on each Score to dive deeper into the metric. Note your Focus Score on days when you used the Eat the Frog technique. You may notice that on those days, your Focus Score was higher.

Set up Produce8

Setting up Produce8 is easy! To start, just connect the tools you use for work and download the Browser and Desktop Extensions. This will enable Produce8 to stream your activities within those apps and provide data in your Workspace.

Get your baseline data

Before you can see if the Eat the Frog technique makes a difference, start by collecting what we call your “baseline.” All you have to do is go about your usual work routine for a few days with Produce8 turned on.

During this time, Produce8 will work in the background. Feel free to pop in at the end of each day or get the Produce8 mobile app to see what your workday looked like.

How often did you switch between tasks? Use collaboration tools? Stay focused during work hours? Did any of it surprise you? Make note of these observations for later reference.

Schedule time to Eat the Frog

Now that you have your baseline data and a good understanding of your current work habits, let’s see if implementing the Eat the Frog technique improves your workday.

Remember, Eat the Frog is a habit-based technique. That means it should be something you are using as consistently as possible in the morning. Aim to work with it for one work week and then build from there.

Make it easier by scheduling time directly into your calendar. This way you are setting expectations and letting your team know that you will be committing to a change in your routine.

By pairing the Eat the Frog technique with time blocking, you can better allocate time in the day. That way you can have a game plan right from the start.

Analyzing your Eat the Frog performance

After a week of working with the Eat the Frog technique, you can assess the data.

Aspects you’ll want to review include:

Are you making a habit of eating your “frogs” early in the day?

Do you know if you’re maintaining focus during those periods?

Have you identified the distractions that are keeping you from getting the job done?

Answering these questions will allow you to set goals that help you achieve a better workday. Let’s break it down.

1. Is it a daily habit?

If you regularly engage with productive apps at a specific time, Produce8 can visualize this pattern.

Simply click on the work tools you use while Eating the Frog in the Produce8 app. There, you can view your App Trends and identify how frequently you interact with specific apps.

Below, the Heatmap illustrates the times of the day you use the app the most. This provides a clear understanding of whether you're consistently Eating the Frog every morning as intended.

2. What is stopping you?

Can’t get the Eat the Frog technique to stick? Then figure out why. Are you moving away from important tasks too often? Or context switching too much? Whatever the case, you can identify what is dragging you down by looking at your Timeline.

3. How long have you been working?

Next, let's assess how much time you spend using specific tools for Eating the Frog. This helps you see how your day is divided.

Compare your time in the apps you use to Eat the Frog against other tools in your tech stack. How do you feel about how your day is broken up? Do you want to spend more time in your productive apps? Well, to do that, you need to extend your time Eating the Frog!

4. What does a great day look like?

Setting goals ensures you hold yourself accountable. It will help you complete crucial tasks and establish a better morning routine.

If your goal is to Eat the Frog daily, add an “App Views” or “Time in App” Goal in your App Usage on Produce8. This simple step can help boost your motivation.

Your next steps in building great work habits

Examining your day through the lens of a data-driven approach can enable you to explore different productivity approaches. And you can tailor these approaches to your goals to improve your performance and overall well-being.

For those interested in gauging the effectiveness of the "Eat the Frog" technique (or other productivity techniques like the Pomodoro Technique and time blocking), Produce8 is here for you.

Create Better Habits with the “Eat the Frog” Productivity Technique

Most people would say no. They are overwhelmed by their workload, spontaneous meetings, task switching, and 

. Solving these problems starts with understanding what the workday looks like.

Simply put: Understanding how you work is crucial to operating more efficiently and sustainably.

Whether you want to streamline tasks or optimize workflows, you must know what is holding you back and which areas to improve. This starts by acquiring baseline data—the initial measurement of the workday that will be used for comparison after changes are made.

 is here to help with this process. We assist individuals, teams, and leaders in understanding how they work. Think of us as a fitness tracker for your workday. In the Produce8 dashboard and workspace, you can see your interactions with your work tools, your level of focus, and how you spend your time during the day.

Using Produce8 to get a baseline of your workday

You’re busy, so you don’t always have time to document your day. That’s where Produce8 comes in. We make understanding your workday a seamless process. All you need to do is 

Return at the end of the day to view your data

Get your baseline data to improve your workday

Once you have a few days of data, you can start to notice patterns and answer the following questions:

Which areas were holding me back from doing great work?

What can I change to achieve an ideal workday?

Produce8 will never tell you how you should work. Instead, we offer insights formed by data. For example, we won’t tell you if working in a specific app is default good or bad. You’re in full control—we’re just here to support you.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive into an approach to analyzing your baseline data that has worked for our clients in the past. To begin, we will study data sets in order to improve focus and reduce distractions.

It’s fair to say that when you are focused, you’re working for an uninterrupted time on the apps you want to be working on. You are not multi-tasking or 

You can see this in the Timeline by filtering your productive apps. Are there long blocks of concentration? Or are you constantly switching between tools?

In this example, you see that the time blocks of 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. are when I’m most focused.

Next, go into Metrics and look at the Avg Duration of your App Usage and your Time in App. See how your statistics in that app compare to the rest of your tech stack.

In this example, I only spent 21 minutes in Google Docs and 19 minutes in Figma out of a full workday.

When looking at your data, ask: Is that what you expected? Do you want to be working in the app more or less?

To assess your focus level even further, let’s see when you use your productive tools the most. Go into Trends to get a granular view of how you are using the app in a daily, weekly, or monthly capacity.

In this example, my All-Time Avg is 35 minutes. I also noticed that I’m most active in the app at the beginning and end of the day.

Using these data sets helps you decide the best times during the day to plan and schedule focus blocks. Answering the following questions will bring even more clarity:

What aspect of your workflow is causing you to lose time in your most productive work?

Have you allocated enough time in your day to do the work that’s important?

There will be days when you don’t spend quality time in your productive apps. You can check this by comparing your average daily usage to the rest of the week. Figure out why your time in that app decreased, then make changes. For instance, it might be helpful to rearrange your priorities for the week or schedule specific blocks of time to concentrate.

Go into the Timeline. There you will see which apps you have short interactions with. Those can be interpreted as interruptions to your day.

Common distracting apps are collaboration apps with notifications (i.e., Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, etc.).

In this example, I’m switching back and forth between Slack for a significant portion of my morning. And in the afternoon, Zoom takes up a big chunk of time.

Improvements can be made by blocking time to check communication apps, turning off notifications, or 

But before you take action, assess the data in the Metrics tab.

If you have a lot of interactions but short average durations, then the opportunity for improvement is clear. You need to reduce your total interactions and increase your average duration. The longer your interactions, the more meaningful they will be.

In this example, the data tells me that I check Slack 79 times a day. My average duration? Only 34 seconds!

Produce8 enables you to set goals aimed at raising awareness of your tool usage. We suggest setting a limit on interactions with distracting apps to enhance productivity.

At the start of this article, I mentioned that many of us are not having ideal workdays. Worse, we don’t know how to change things.

Luckily, we have provided you with steps to get the insights you need, take action, and ultimately create space for great work.

Want to get started with Produce8? Book a free consultation with our team of experts today and we’ll walk you through the process! We’re truly obsessed with productivity and your digital well-being.

Are you having the workdays you want?

Most people would say no. They are overwhelmed by their workload, spontaneous meetings, task switching, and distractions from work tools. Solving these problems starts with understanding what the workday looks like.

Simply put: Understanding how you work is crucial to operating more efficiently and sustainably.

Whether you want to streamline tasks or optimize workflows, you must know what is holding you back and which areas to improve. This starts by acquiring baseline data—the initial measurement of the workday that will be used for comparison after changes are made.

Produce8 is here to help with this process. We assist individuals, teams, and leaders in understanding how they work. Think of us as a fitness tracker for your workday. In the Produce8 dashboard and workspace, you can see your interactions with your work tools, your level of focus, and how you spend your time during the day.

Let us show you how it works.

Using Produce8 to get a baseline of your workday

You’re busy, so you don’t always have time to document your day. That’s where Produce8 comes in. We make understanding your workday a seamless process. All you need to do is follow these simple steps:

Sign up to Produce8

Link your work apps

Add the Desktop and Browser extensions

Continue with your work

Return at the end of the day to view your data

Get your baseline data to improve your workday

Once you have a few days of data, you can start to notice patterns and answer the following questions:

Did my day turn out the way I expected?

Which areas were holding me back from doing great work?

What can I change to achieve an ideal workday?

Produce8 will never tell you how you should work. Instead, we offer insights formed by data. For example, we won’t tell you if working in a specific app is default good or bad. You’re in full control—we’re just here to support you.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive into an approach to analyzing your baseline data that has worked for our clients in the past. To begin, we will study data sets in order to improve focus and reduce distractions.

Improving focus

It’s fair to say that when you are focused, you’re working for an uninterrupted time on the apps you want to be working on. You are not multi-tasking or context-switching back and forth between browsers.

You can see this in the Timeline by filtering your productive apps. Are there long blocks of concentration? Or are you constantly switching between tools?

In this example, you see that the time blocks of 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. are when I’m most focused.

Next, go into Metrics and look at the Avg Duration of your App Usage and your Time in App. See how your statistics in that app compare to the rest of your tech stack.

In this example, I only spent 21 minutes in Google Docs and 19 minutes in Figma out of a full workday.

When looking at your data, ask: Is that what you expected? Do you want to be working in the app more or less?

To assess your focus level even further, let’s see when you use your productive tools the most. Go into Trends to get a granular view of how you are using the app in a daily, weekly, or monthly capacity.

In this example, my All-Time Avg is 35 minutes. I also noticed that I’m most active in the app at the beginning and end of the day.

Using these data sets helps you decide the best times during the day to plan and schedule focus blocks. Answering the following questions will bring even more clarity:

What aspect of your workflow is causing you to lose time in your most productive work?

Have you allocated enough time in your day to do the work that’s important?

There will be days when you don’t spend quality time in your productive apps. You can check this by comparing your average daily usage to the rest of the week. Figure out why your time in that app decreased, then make changes. For instance, it might be helpful to rearrange your priorities for the week or schedule specific blocks of time to concentrate.

Reducing distractions

Get distracted often? We can help!

Go into the Timeline. There you will see which apps you have short interactions with. Those can be interpreted as interruptions to your day.

Common distracting apps are collaboration apps with notifications (i.e., Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, etc.).

In this example, I’m switching back and forth between Slack for a significant portion of my morning. And in the afternoon, Zoom takes up a big chunk of time.

Improvements can be made by blocking time to check communication apps, turning off notifications, or working async with your team.

But before you take action, assess the data in the Metrics tab.

If you have a lot of interactions but short average durations, then the opportunity for improvement is clear. You need to reduce your total interactions and increase your average duration. The longer your interactions, the more meaningful they will be.

In this example, the data tells me that I check Slack 79 times a day. My average duration? Only 34 seconds!

Produce8 enables you to set goals aimed at raising awareness of your tool usage. We suggest setting a limit on interactions with distracting apps to enhance productivity.

Let’s design the perfect workday

At the start of this article, I mentioned that many of us are not having ideal workdays. Worse, we don’t know how to change things.

Luckily, we have provided you with steps to get the insights you need, take action, and ultimately create space for great work.

Want to get started with Produce8? Book a free consultation with our team of experts today and we’ll walk you through the process! We’re truly obsessed with productivity and your digital well-being.

Start Improving Your Workday: Getting Baseline Data

Time blocking is a popular way to get stuff done. But how can you know if it's actually working? By measuring your workday, that’s how!

 gives you full visibility into how you are using your technology and time. That way, you always know what your day looks like.

Jump here to let us show you how to use it 👉 

Time blocking is a structured time management approach that divides your day into blocks of focused work. Each block allows you to commit time to a designated purpose or specific task.

The time-blocking process is straightforward. You just:

Create a schedule and identify the tasks you want to accomplish for the day.

Allocate specific time blocks for these tasks in your schedule.

During each time block, concentrate solely on the designated task.

Once the block ends, evaluate your progress and make a note of what you achieved.

The best time to use time blocking is when you seek structure, focus, and a systematic approach to effectively manage your time, tasks, and goals.

Use time blocking to avoid overloading your schedule

If you have a long to-do list with various tasks, time blocking can help you prioritize and allocate time to each task based on its importance and urgency.

Use time blocking to prevent the task from taking too long

 observes that people often use all the time allocated for a task, even if they could complete it in less time.

For example, if you're given a whole week to finish a report, you’ll likely end up using the whole week — even if the work could have been done in just a day or two. This happens due to various factors such as procrastination, inefficiencies, distractions, or simply because the allotted time encourages a more relaxed pace of work.

By dedicating specific blocks of time to this project, you can ensure that you work efficiently. This will help you make significant progress without interruptions and reduce the risk of creating bottlenecks for your team.

Applying changes to your workflow will come with obstacles. Luckily, Produce8 is here to help.

Since work days and work styles are different, what might be challenging for some may not be for others. It’s crucial to first 

. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you start:

If your work involves frequent, unpredictable changes in priorities, it can be challenging to stick to a pre-planned time-blocking schedule. Such a rigid structure may not adapt easily to shifting demands.

Do you have a lot of meeting-intensive days? 

If your day is filled with numerous meetings — especially those scheduled by others — adhering to time blocks can be hard. Meetings can disrupt the continuity of your scheduled tasks.

Do you work in a distracting environment? 

If you work in an environment with constant interruptions, such as a busy office, maintaining time blocks can be difficult.

By building self-awareness, you can anticipate interruptions and create time blocks to accommodate them. Time blocking, when effective, is about bringing control back into your day.

Continue reading to learn how Produce8 can help you achieve your ideal workday.

Most people assess their time blocks either at week’s end or after completing the task. However, this approach often leads to inaccurate reflections or difficulty in pinpointing mistakes.

To gauge the effectiveness of one’s time blocking, one must receive prompt feedback. This leads to higher levels of motivation, clearer areas for improvement, and better direction for focusing attention and energy.

Produce8 provides you with real-time data to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques by:

Measuring the efficiency of your workflow

Analyzing your focus time and breaks during each time block

Identifying the apps or activities causing distractions

Visualizing what a successful day looks like and replicating it

Quantifying your efforts is crucial if you wish to maximize time blocking. Doing so allows you to pinpoint the causes of good or bad days. Produce8 can help!

Produce8 is a health tracker for your workday.

It will tell you if you are having the days you want. All you have to do is connect the Browser and Desktop extension and link your work apps. It takes less than five minutes to set up! Once that’s complete, simply return to your work to collect data.

To measure the effectiveness of time blocking, you must collect basic information on your work habits and analyze it.

For example, you want to identify if you constantly click into your email inbox while working on other tasks. Similarly, if meetings are consistently running longer than planned, it’s important to note that.

We suggest gathering a week's worth of baseline data to properly analyze your work style.

Now that you have baseline data, it’s time to schedule your calendar using the time-blocking method.

Designate specific blocks of time for various tasks such as work-related projects, personal activities, and breaks.

Once you've implemented time blocking for a few days, jump into Produce8 and assess its effectiveness for you.

To better understand the value of time blocking, here are some questions that Produce8 can help you answer:

The easiest way to determine whether your focus has improved is by using the Focus Score feature in your 

If you don’t have time during your day to perform a comprehensive analysis, Daily Insights will give you the key information. Just pop into Produce8 to view it or download the 

Example: Here we see the Focus Score for a day where I didn’t time block versus a day where I did. Notice the 32-point improvement?

When you have more time, you’ll better understand the relationship between the score and the workflow. Go to your Timeline and filter the specific apps you were using with the task you scheduled during a specific time block.

Did you work in the intended apps for the duration of your time block?

In this example, the app labelled green is one of my most productive apps. When engaged in it, I’m likely working on a primary task. The bigger the block of green, the more focused I am.

Time blocking is a popular way to get stuff done. But how can you know if it's actually working? By measuring your workday, that’s how!

Produce8 gives you full visibility into how you are using your technology and time. That way, you always know what your day looks like.

Jump here to let us show you how to use it 👉 How effective is time blocking? 

What is time blocking?

Time blocking is a structured time management approach that divides your day into blocks of focused work. Each block allows you to commit time to a designated purpose or specific task.

The time-blocking process is straightforward. You just:

Create a schedule and identify the tasks you want to accomplish for the day.

Allocate specific time blocks for these tasks in your schedule.

During each time block, concentrate solely on the designated task.

Once the block ends, evaluate your progress and make a note of what you achieved.

Move on to the next block.

When to use time blocking

The best time to use time blocking is when you seek structure, focus, and a systematic approach to effectively manage your time, tasks, and goals.

Use time blocking to avoid overloading your schedule

If you have a long to-do list with various tasks, time blocking can help you prioritize and allocate time to each task based on its importance and urgency.

Use time blocking to prevent the task from taking too long

Parkinson's Law observes that people often use all the time allocated for a task, even if they could complete it in less time.

For example, if you're given a whole week to finish a report, you’ll likely end up using the whole week — even if the work could have been done in just a day or two. This happens due to various factors such as procrastination, inefficiencies, distractions, or simply because the allotted time encourages a more relaxed pace of work.

By dedicating specific blocks of time to this project, you can ensure that you work efficiently. This will help you make significant progress without interruptions and reduce the risk of creating bottlenecks for your team.

Challenges of time blocking

Applying changes to your workflow will come with obstacles. Luckily, Produce8 is here to help.

Since work days and work styles are different, what might be challenging for some may not be for others. It’s crucial to first understand how you currently work. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you start:

Do you constantly change priorities? 

If your work involves frequent, unpredictable changes in priorities, it can be challenging to stick to a pre-planned time-blocking schedule. Such a rigid structure may not adapt easily to shifting demands.

Do you have a lot of meeting-intensive days? 

If your day is filled with numerous meetings — especially those scheduled by others — adhering to time blocks can be hard. Meetings can disrupt the continuity of your scheduled tasks.

Do you work in a distracting environment? 

If you work in an environment with constant interruptions, such as a busy office, maintaining time blocks can be difficult.

By building self-awareness, you can anticipate interruptions and create time blocks to accommodate them. Time blocking, when effective, is about bringing control back into your day.

Continue reading to learn how Produce8 can help you achieve your ideal workday.

How effective is time blocking?

Most people assess their time blocks either at week’s end or after completing the task. However, this approach often leads to inaccurate reflections or difficulty in pinpointing mistakes.

To gauge the effectiveness of one’s time blocking, one must receive prompt feedback. This leads to higher levels of motivation, clearer areas for improvement, and better direction for focusing attention and energy.

Produce8 provides you with real-time data to evaluate the effectiveness of productivity techniques by:

Measuring the efficiency of your workflow

Analyzing your focus time and breaks during each time block

Identifying the apps or activities causing distractions

Visualizing what a successful day looks like and replicating it

Quantifying your efforts is crucial if you wish to maximize time blocking. Doing so allows you to pinpoint the causes of good or bad days. Produce8 can help!

Set up Produce8:

Produce8 is a health tracker for your workday.

It will tell you if you are having the days you want. All you have to do is connect the Browser and Desktop extension and link your work apps. It takes less than five minutes to set up! Once that’s complete, simply return to your work to collect data.

Get baseline data:

To measure the effectiveness of time blocking, you must collect basic information on your work habits and analyze it.

For example, you want to identify if you constantly click into your email inbox while working on other tasks. Similarly, if meetings are consistently running longer than planned, it’s important to note that.

We suggest gathering a week's worth of baseline data to properly analyze your work style.

Execute your time blocking:

Now that you have baseline data, it’s time to schedule your calendar using the time-blocking method.

Designate specific blocks of time for various tasks such as work-related projects, personal activities, and breaks.

Analyze your data:

Once you've implemented time blocking for a few days, jump into Produce8 and assess its effectiveness for you.

To better understand the value of time blocking, here are some questions that Produce8 can help you answer:

1. Did you increase your focus?

The easiest way to determine whether your focus has improved is by using the Focus Score feature in your Daily Insights.

If you don’t have time during your day to perform a comprehensive analysis, Daily Insights will give you the key information. Just pop into Produce8 to view it or download the mobile app to check on the go.

Example: Here we see the Focus Score for a day where I didn’t time block versus a day where I did. Notice the 32-point improvement?

When you have more time, you’ll better understand the relationship between the score and the workflow. Go to your Timeline and filter the specific apps you were using with the task you scheduled during a specific time block.

Did you work in the intended apps for the duration of your time block?

In this example, the app labelled green is one of my most productive apps. When engaged in it, I’m likely working on a primary task. The bigger the block of green, the more focused I am.

Now, let’s compare the reality of my workday with the expectations of my time blocking.

In my Timeline, you can see that on Monday, time blocking went great …

… but on Tuesday, it did not. I was unable to work in a productive manner until the last block of the day.

The good news is that by using Produce8, you can see what caused you to break from your time block. And in turn, you can make the appropriate changes to prioritize and manage your day. We do this by addressing the next question …

2. Did you reduce distractions?

One indicator of time blocking’s effectiveness is whether it prevents distractions from impeding your focus block.

For example, perhaps you’re the sort of person who goes into your email inbox reflexively throughout the day. Did you notice a decrease in that behavior while you were time-blocking?

You can check in Produce8 Trends. In the example below, you’ll see a notable decline in my Gmail interactions. This occurred after I had started using time blocking.

For a more complete picture, I can return to my Timeline to pinpoint where and when I engaged with distracting apps. This will help determine if I've improved my focus during my time blocks.

Upon review, there are fewer short interactions with Gmail in the second timeline. This indicates reduced distractions during the focused work blocks.

By using time blocks to limit access to distracting applications, you’ll develop better habits.

3. Did your workday improve?

Effective time blocking means a healthier balance to your workday. This can be interpreted as more breaks, greater efficiency, or fewer overtime hours.

All of this can be seen as a decrease in Digital Working Hours and an increase in time spent in your productive apps. You can highlight this by setting goals.

We recommend setting goals. Doing so helps you build self-awareness, stay on track, and maintain good habits. In the example above, I’m setting a goal to limit my Digital Working Hours to 7.5 hours. That way, I won’t overextend myself.

Is there an app that you want to spend more time working in? If so, you can see how time blocking improves your workflow and then set an achievable goal to make sure you allocate time blocks throughout the week for that app.

Here you see that I want to dedicate eight hours a week to working in Google Docs. That is the app I consider most productive for me. If I’m working in Google Docs, I know I’m having a great workday.

Everyone works differently. That's why it's important to find what suits your work style. Time blocking might not solve all your problems … but did it at least help you concentrate today? Produce8 can help you find out.

Conclusion

Analyzing your workday allows you to test various productivity methods that suit your objectives. The outcome leads to enhancements in your performance and overall well-being.

If you're keen to evaluate the effectiveness of time blocking, try Produce8. Connect your work tools, visualize your workday, and assess how time blocking influences you.

Focus

How to Prevent Email Overload at Work: Email Management Tips

Create Better Habits with the “Eat the Frog” Productivity Technique

Start Improving Your Workday: Getting Baseline Data

Is Time Blocking the Ultimate Productivity Hack for You?

How Effective is the Pomodoro Technique? Let’s Validate the Productivity Hack

Does Monk Mode Make a Difference in Your Day or Is It Just Another Viral Productivity Hack?

8 Slack Productivity Tips to Increase Your Focus at Work

Is Turning Off Slack Notifications Enough to Help You Focus?

Overcome Remote Work Distractions With Digital Work Analytics

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