My 20 Best Practices for Productivity and Living The Laptop Lifestyle

This post is a bit longer (3K words), but there’s a lot of value and experience in it. You can learn from my mistakes and the things I’ve found to work best in terms of productivity, personal organization, working from home, finding focus and hustling while living the laptop lifestyle. I’ll share with you my very best practices.

I’ve read so much on productivity, habits and personal development, that at any moment I have a few new things to try out – strategies, tips, steps to take – if things aren’t working for me and I’m not seeing results.

But nothing beats trying it for yourself and seeing what works best for you and what the laptop lifestyle really feels like. Especially when you’re on a journey to living a life on your own terms.

Making a living online doing what I love is one of the best and hardest things I’ve tried.

Long before I started earning any money online, I’d succeeded in structuring the perfect day for myself which can keep me super productive, motivated and disciplined. Honestly, it’s these habits, discipline and focus created early on that now allow me to earn over $4,000/month from my blog and online business doing what I love.

It may not be what you’re looking for, but it can give you a tip or two, you can enjoy a small habit I’ve built and maybe try it out, or even copy a part of my day or a few of my best practices.

I can say for sure that from all that I’ve read online, what I enjoyed the most is how successful people share their whole day. Their rituals, the time they wake up and go to bed, the habits they have, the productivity hacks they use to work less and achieve more, etc.

That’s why I created this post and am sharing it with you. It can be very helpful if you’re not satisfied with how your day goes while working (be it from home or at the office) and living the laptop lifestyle.

Besides the many benefits of the Internet lifestyle, there are also traps we can easily fall into. Like sleeping in, being lazy all day, getting distracted while trying to work, not being organized, spending too much time in unproductive activities, and so on.

For the past 3-4 years, I’ve experimented a lot and am quite happy with the way my average day goes now and how much I get done without feeling tired or bored.

The best thing I’ve come up with is having 4 (or 5-6) hours in the first part of the day dedicated only to serious stuff – it’s my sacred time. You’ll see why below.

So here’s what my day in my laptop lifestyle usually looks like:

The Laptop Lifestyle and My Best Productivity Practices

1. Set your working hours.

That’s key when working online and from home. Without it, you’re lost.

There are exceptions, of course. Some people are that good and have so much self-control that they can get to work and focus whenever they decide to. Others prefer to work around 15 hours in a day, then chill and do minor tasks in the next few while they’re still awake.

But for the rest living the laptop lifestyle, setting working hours is crucial.

That’s the first step to discipline and organization as each morning (or whenever you’re most productive and working) you’ll know when to get to work and leave the rest of the world behind. You’ll know when to arrange meetings or other stuff for your free time as it will be before/after your working hours.

2. Find your most productive time and do the most important work then.

For me, that’s the very first part of the day of my laptop lifestyle.

I’ve proven to myself that I’m super productive between 8-9 and 12-14 so it’s my duty to use it to my advantage.

For most people, it’s the early morning. But experiment. If you find out that you can get more things done with less effort or even faster in the afternoon, in the evening, or even at night, then structure your day around it and let that be your priority.

3. No distractions during that time.

I’m serious about that. Here’s what I mean:

no emails or social media;
no phone calls (unless it’s for work) or even small chats with relatives or friends;
no reading or checking out random stuff on the Internet;
not thinking about life goals and other general stuff (it’s good, but will be done later);
no noises;
no eating (that too is a distraction, makes you sleepy, lazy and definitely kills your productivity);
not thinking about what you’ll need to get done later;
not doing chores or secondary tasks;
no clutter;

etc.

It’s time for work. And without laser focus, you won’t achieve any satisfying results.

4. A 1-3-hour lunch break after the first work shift.

During which time I eat (Yes, no food before that. I’ll talk more about that later.), go out to run an errand, check email or social media, do tasks related to work that aren’t necessary and are often considered unproductive (checking stats, reading, doing a quick research, etc.)

5. I start the day with a glass of water and coffee.

Why Daily Morning Habits are Essential in Learning a Language

I’ve tried out many morning routines over the years that included all of the successful elements – meditation, workout, making a to-do list and planning out the day, healthy breakfast, reading and writing, positive affirmations, etc.

Each works and helps you improve every other area of your life too if you have the right mindset. Otherwise, it will feel like an effort and an obligation, and starting the day with something you don’t want to do isn’t one of the best practices for living the laptop lifestyle.

And while I still do these every now and then, right now my priority is working from home and doubling my results and income, so almost everything else I do is with this goal in mind.

I’ve found out that getting up (early, of course – sleeping in is not an option), giving myself half an hour to stretch, go to the bathroom, wash my face and make my bed, getting a glass of water and making coffee, and turning on the laptop, works wonders.

Each of these has a purpose:

some time ago I learned that to get the metabolism started in the morning you can either have something to eat or drink a glass of water. The body doesn’t really make a difference, it just has to be first thing in the morning;
food is a big distraction for me and without it I work much better, I also don’t even think about it while in front of the laptop;
I’m not such a coffee lover, but let’s say it’s part of my working ritual – the process of making it and putting it on my desk right before I get to work, and then drinking it in small sips every now and then, makes me feel like a real worker and the smell makes the morning even more pleasant;
half an hour between leaving bed and getting to the workplace is the perfect period to great the day, do some basic stuff and set myself up for a productive workday;
your mindset is important – I get up with a light smile on my face and I keep it throughout the whole day (or at least for the first part as usually small problems and pressure come when I start doing the usual daily things, communicate with people, hear about their problems, and just get back to reality). But right before I get to my desk, I’ve accepted that for the next 4 hours nothing else will matter, and I’m happy about it as it’s what I love doing and am grateful I can do it from home. That’s what makes the laptop lifestyle a great experience.

6. I start by looking at my to-do list and notes.

I’ve got more than one to-do list. To this day I refer to it as the simplest, yet most powerful productivity technique.

I often read about successful startup guys, entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires who started with nothing. And almost every one of them writes down the things he has to do, what’s on his mind and everything that needs to be remembered in general. That appears to be one of their best practices.

Because of that, I don’t need to rely on my memory, I never miss important things – even tiny tasks.

And checking this list and getting a picture of what you have to do today is a great way to get to work, to decide where to start and even plan out what to get done till the end of the day.

Your to-do list doesn’t need to be long if you’re working smart rather than hard. Here are some resources to help you with the laptop lifestyle and being productive when working from home:

How to Start a Profitable Blog– This step-by-step guide to starting a blog is a must for everyone who wants to start earning online and become self-employed. Having your own blog is the first step to