Updated on December 5, 2024
How many hours, days, or weeks do we use up on repetitive tasks? Conrad O’Connell, Founder of BuildUp Bookings and co-host of the Heads in Beds Show, reckons it’s a lot. All of the time spent on this repetitive drudgery drains your energy and resources from higher pursuits, whether that be growing your business or spending time with your family.
In this session at the RR Summit: Rise and Thrive, Conrad provides practical tips and tools to whittle away repetition and turbocharge your productivity in six ways: note-taking, project management, AI, app launchers, text expansion, and time management.
Note-taking
A well-organized note-taking system that allows you to quickly access specific notes can enhance productivity by miles. “The better your notes, I think, the better your personal productivity could be,” Conrad said.
Best Practices:
- Stick to a single app that syncs across devices for seamless access.
- Organize notes into folders or use tags to quickly locate them.
- Separate notes you’re actively working on from those you use for reference.
Top Tools:
Project Management
Productivity depends on ensuring everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and when without searching for that information.
“A good project management system figures out how do I put as many things in one place as much as possible and then ignores the rest,” Conrad said.
Best Practices:
- Determine if you need tools for personal productivity or team collaboration.
- KIIOTP (Keep It in One Trusted Place). Avoid scattering tasks across multiple platforms.
- Keep your focus on completing tasks, not just organizing them.
Top Tools:
AI and LLM Tools
Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models (LLMs) can boost productivity by automating tasks, answering questions, and solving common problems. But they need the right prompts to unlock their magic.
“One thing that we’ve learned with these large language model tools is that they’ll be lazy if you let them,” Conrad said. “They’re kind of like a junior employee showing up late, and they got a cigarette hanging out their mouth. They’re not really working hard.”
Like a junior employee, you need to be explicit in the direction you give them.
For example, if you simply ask ChatGPT to write a blog post about the best coffee shops in Boston, Massachusetts, it will probably output some bad recommendations that aren’t particularly useful to your guests.
However, if you give the GPT specific criteria of the kind of coffee shop recommendations you want, you’ll end up with more appealing and useful content.
Example: I’m staying in this neighborhood and looking for coffee shops. I prefer to find coffee shops that have these specific characteristics. Can you research and show me 10 coffee shops that might fit my criteria?
“The more detailed you make the prompt, the better output you’re going to get, almost universally,” Conrad said.
Best Practices:
- Learn from your prompts by experimenting to see how prompts influence results.
- Refine outputs by asking follow-up questions and specific criteria that can narrow the focus.
- If you use a prompt often, copy it, put it in a text expander, and then you can easily expand that prompt and use it again.
- Try different AI tools to find the one that best meets your needs and goals.
Top Tools:
- ChatGPT
- Claude (human-like responses)
- Google Gemini (Google integrations)
- Zapier Central (automation)
- Microsoft Copilot (integrated tools)
- Perplexity (web searches)
- Meta AI (social integrations)
- Jasper (marketing campaigns)
App Launcher
An app launcher streamlines workflows by enabling quick access to apps and repetitive actions through keyboard shortcuts.
On some days, Conrad uses his app launcher 40 to 50 times, saving approximately the same number of mouse clicks daily.
Top Tools:
- Alfred App for Mac
- Wox for Windows
Text Expansion
Text expansion tools save time by auto-filling repetitive phrases, ensuring consistency and avoiding unnecessary retyping.
“Fundamentally, text expansion is basically typing some abbreviation and then that abbreviation expanding into a longer form of text, or a longer block of text,” Conrad said. For example, when responding to a positive guest review, you can have five to six prewritten responses ready to send with a couple of keystrokes.
Best Practices:
- Pre-save responses for emails or messages to maintain professionalism and personalization while saving time on composing new ones.
- Save time by never Googling the same resources repeatedly.
Top Tool:
Time Management
Time management tools help you focus, minimize distractions, and stick to your schedule.
“I know my weaknesses, and this phone that I have here is an amazing tool; it also can be an amazing distraction if I let it,” Conrad said. He uses a focus application called Opal between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., which blocks certain apps on his phone that he chooses. “So, if I go try to open Twitter (that’s sort of a good time waster for me – sort of the modern-day cigarette), Opal says, ‘No, no, you can’t do that, my friend; you’re supposed to be working.”
Best Practices:
- Eliminate back-and-forth emails with scheduling apps.
- Monitor screen time to identify and limit time-wasting activities.
- Use apps designed to block distractions and keep you focused.
Top Tools:
Watch the full replay in “Replays & Downloads” on the RR Network for more advice and tips, plus learn which tools Conrad personally uses at home and in his business.
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