Productivity. Hustle culture. Rise and grind.
Terms such as these probably sound familiar to you. But, take a moment to consider just how you define being productive. If you are like most people, you define productivity in very simple terms. Get things done in as little time as possible. A new project, rinse and repeat.
There are several issues with this kind of approach. Have you ever felt that the more raw effort you put into a project, the more the result suffers?
Let me give you an example. You are working on a presentation and want to get it done as soon as possible. Time to “rise and grind” until your eyes are red and a heart attack is seconds away. Yes, you might finish your project quickly, but the quality of the work often suffers.
Productivity is NOT about raw grinding. You will reach your peak productivity only by honing skills such as goal setting, identifying your peak hours, and, importantly, enjoying the creative process, which also tends to lead to a higher quality end result.
Productivity is not just about your work and career – you may want to have a look at your daily life as well. At some point in our lives, most of us feel as if we need some extra hours each day. By examining your daily goals and doing some self-reflection, you can implement a whole new system of living. A system that will help you manage your time more efficiently.
There are countless self-help resources about time management and productivity tips and tricks. Some of them good, some of them bad. We are providing our recommendations below – many of them take only a few hours to complete and contain fascinating insights that will instantly help you organize your daily life better.
Before we proceed to our list, let me share a TEDx talk from productivity guru David Allen. In this talk, Allen explains some fundamental concepts of stress-free productivity – and you’ll likely revisit these in more detail if you follow any of the courses on our list.
Now that you are warmed up and inspired to get more out of your day, let’s continue with our list of best online productivity courses.
These are our picks for the best productivity courses:
Best Productivity Courses
Best Overall: Superbrain by Jim Kwik (Mindvalley)
- Engaging course with clear presentation of takeaways to be applied for the long term
- Delivery in smaller modules structured to ensure retention of course as a whole
Cons
- Requires considerable dedicated time to see promised results
- A few tasks can feel a bit repetitive
- Requires Mindvalley membership
Superbrain is one of Mindvalley’s most well-reviewed online courses. More than 2,500,000 students have enrolled in the course and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. As a personal development and mental performance enthusiast, I knew I had to give the course a try. After all, how could I miss out on the prospect of developing a superior memory and unleashing my brain’s capabilities in only 30 days?
In this online course, Jim Kwik teaches students how to supercharge their brains through simple and actionable methods. He does so by teaching his eight main concepts to improve performance:
- Improving memorization
- Learning quicker and more efficiently
- Quickening daily job tasks
- Improving productivity
- Upgrading your habits
- Improving brain focus
- Increasing confidence in yourself
- Improving study habits
Apart from these eight core concepts, he also covers (more briefly) additional productivity-related topics, including:
- Sleep & stress management
- Overcoming procrastination
- Speed reading
- Establishing an effective morning routine
- Yoga
- Chain linking
After giving it a try, I was very satisfied with what I got from the course. There is an impressive amount of practical mental performance takeaways in this online course, and two years after initially following Jim Kwik’s course, I find that I still use many of the techniques that I learned, and their benefits for my memory and focus have stuck with me. While the course took a fair amount of time to complete when taking all tasks seriously, it has paid off in the long term.
However, it’s also important to note that to reap the benefits from the lessons in this course, you’ll have to take action yourself. While Jim Kwik’s Superbrain goes over critical concepts for improving brain performance, the person who has to put these concepts into practice is still you.
With that being said, Jim Kwik does provide his students with an excellent set of tools for self-improvement, and why it is our pick for the best online productivity-boosting course for 2022.
If you would like a free introduction to Jim Kwik’s methods, check out the free masterclass from Mindvalley. Note that you can only get access to Superbrain by purchasing a Mindvalley membership which makes the course quite costly if you are not interested in Mindvalley’s other offerings – but there is plenty there for anyone interested in productivity and personal development, including our pick for best speed reading course, Super Reading.
Best Short Course: Productivity Masterclass – Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity (Skillshare)
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- A great balance of theory and practice
- Led by the supremely engaging Ali Abdaal
- Emphasizes the importance of enjoying the creative process
Cons
- Does not go sufficiently in-depth on more challenging topics
Ali is a graduate of Cambridge, a passionate YouTuber, and a podcaster. A productive man if there ever was one! Before we look at his video class, take a minute to check out the YouTube channel of Ali Abdaal. My favorite video? The wonderfully tongue-in-cheek “My INSANELY Productive Morning Routine.”
This should give you an idea of the presentation style of Ali.
In the medium-length (1h51min) “Productivity Masterclass”, Ali spills the beans on his favorite “productivity hacks.” This is one of those rare short online courses that engage students from the get-go. Not only is Abdaal a very knowledgeable instructor, but his persona is extremely relatable as well. This makes for a very fun learning experience. Ali does go through the theory, but he also gives specific recommendations on how to implement the practices as well.
Improved productivity, goal-setting skills, and in-depth knowledge of how your brain works. This course covers this and more.
In a nutshell, for those on the look for a quick and very engaging course, this is a great choice. Ali’s Youtube background clearly shows as this is among the most accessible online productivity courses out there.
Best Crash Course: Real Productivity - Create Your Ideal Week (Skillshare)
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- Introduces a solid productivity system that can be instantly applicable to your workweek
- A very concise and practical course
- A great course for people with no prior experience with productivity concepts
Cons
- Lacking in background or overall framework for thinking about scheduling
“Real Productivity” from Skillshare is among the shortest online courses on productivity. The class is presented by the Skillshare CEO and co-founder, Michael Karnjanaprakorn. As a founder of Otis and Skillshare, Michael has enjoyed immense success in entrepreneurship – which he credits to having a solid productivity routine.
Before you decide to enroll in this Skillshare course, take some time to read his most popular article, “My Ideal Work Week as a Startup CEO,” which covers some of the same concepts as the course.
This is a crash course that has merely 23-minutes of course video. So, that poses the question, can one get tangible benefits from such a quick course?
This class does not focus on issues such as human psychology and common time wasters (perhaps following overly long productivity courses fall in that category!) Instead, you will get a brief course full of concrete techniques to make your daily dealings more efficient. The system taught should be instantly applicable to your own weekly scheduling, whatever your background might be.
If you would like to get a bit more of a wider framework to place his suggestions in, we recommend starting out with Ali Abdaal’s Productivity Masterclass on Skillshare (with your Skillshare membership you can follow them both for the same price).
Best for Speed Reading: Super Reading by Jim Kwik (Mindvalley)
- Suitable both for beginners and advanced readers
- Acclaimed by the likes of Richard Branson, Brian Tracy, and Elon Musk
- High production value of the video lectures
- Good blend of theory, practical exercises, and personal stories
Cons
- Pricier than other online speed reading courses
Jim Kwik is recommended twice on this list as he offers two very useful courses for boosting your productivity on Mindvalley – our overall pick Superbrain and his take on speed reading. Of all the courses I have taken over the years, “Super Reading by Jim Kwik” on Mindvalley would be my pick for the best overall speed reading course. It has all the qualities of a good speed reading course rolled into one, and I’m a big fan of Mindvalley’s online courses in general. One particular reason why I love this class is that I’m a huge fan of Jim Kwik, the instructor of this course. He is truly the best at teaching anything related to reading skills and improving comprehension.
Jim’s breakthrough came from a personal struggle. After having two severe head injuries, he was left with serious learning difficulties. Despite his struggles, Kwik refused to accept his “disabilities.” Laying in a hospital bed, he eventually arrived at his personal eureka moment. He concluded that the universally accepted methods of teaching in the education system are not suited for most people. And after this realization, he devoted himself to discovering new, more optimal techniques of study. These days, Kwik has taught the likes of Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Bill Clinton, and various Hollywood A-listers.
So, what exactly makes this course a favorite of high-performers and beginners alike? Well, this online speed reading course has a number of benefits:
- In-depth speed reading, comprehension, and reading techniques for both beginners and experts. You’ll likely double or triple your words per minute without sacrificing retention and comprehension.
- A well-constructed syllabus that is meant to be completed in daily 20-minute segments.
- Lots of production and entertainment value. The videos are superb, and this makes the class easy to follow.
- Jim Kwik is clearly passionate about the subject, and it is clear that he has poured his heart and soul into the course.
- Learn how to reprogram your brain for fast information absorption while also having a few laughs along the way. What more can you ask?
I could keep going on and on about this course, but I’ll stop here. Put simply – if one wishes to master the skill of speed reading, this is the course I would recommend. It is simply the best online resource for learning to speed read currently.
You can only get access to Speed Reading by purchasing a Mindvalley membership which makes the course quite costly if you are not interested in Mindvalley’s other offerings – but there is plenty there for anyone interested in productivity and personal development, including our overall pick in the productivity category, Superbrain. And if you would like a condensed version of the course, Mindvalley offers a free masterclass on speed reading by Jim Kwik which is a great place to start.
Best for Focus: Modern Productivity – Superhuman Focus In A Distracted World (Udemy)
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- Course is structured chronologically
- Taught by an industry expert with 13 years of experience
- Contains productivity techniques for both long-term and short-term goals
Cons
- The course will be too focused on entrepreneurship for some
We continue with “Modern Productivity” from Udemy. For a two-hour course, it covers an impressive amount of topics with brief yet highly informative lessons.
Right in the introduction, the teacher makes a controversial statement: that in the current economic climate, good productivity skills are one of the best resources a person can have, far more valuable than talent and intelligence.
The instructor, Brad Merrill, focuses his course on the habits and mind-sets to help you “get things done.” He has 13 years of experience in teaching, during which he has helped over 55000 students, prominent startups, and even Fortune 500 companies.
If I were to point out the single most significant advantage of this course, it would be its chronological structure. Get your mindset right. Eliminate all distractions. Identify your peak hours. Execute. This is roughly what the chronological outline of both your long-term and short-term goals should look like, making this one of the best courses out there for those who are looking for support with a clear goal or project already in mind.
Best for Healthy Habits: Become a SpeedDemon - Productivity Tricks To Have More Time (Udemy)
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- Course supplemented by various helpful quizzes
- Covers productivity in finance, personal health, and computer work
- Contains a large number of practical examples
- Engaging presenter
Cons
- Contains somewhat excessive self-promotion by presenter
We start with “Become a SpeedDemon 2” from Udemy. This course is presented by none other than Jonathan Levi, a renowned “life hacker” from Silicon Valley, and was recently reworked (therefore the “2” in the title).
Levi is an experienced entrepreneur and angel investor passionate about helping people reach their maximum potential. So, what can aspiring “speed demons” expect from this course?
Despite the course clocking in at a bit above 3 hours, it covers a lot. It first shows us the common time wasters preventing us from getting things done. Levi then presents learners with a range of useful tricks and how to implement them in your everyday life
Speeding up and automating computer work. Putting your finances on auto-pilot. And perhaps the most unique aspect of this course improving your health and fitness routine.
The course contains useful short quizzes which encourage you to take an honest look at your habits. And, of course, to improve upon these habits with your newly-learned productivity skills.
All-in-all, a very useful course for improving your life, one area at a time.
Best for Organization: Building A Second Brain
- An interactive class with both mentor and peer support
- Purchase of the course grants access to additional upcoming sessions
Cons
- Expensive
- Overly focused on using technology
The “Building a Second Brain” course is designed by Tiago Forte, an internationally recognized productivity coach. Tiago has made it his mission to help people harness their creative potential. His passion for this field led to the creation of “Building A Second Brain,” a course focusing on building productivity through information management and strengthening focus.
The course is highly interactive, including live Zoom sessions taught in a large cohort. The course requires your full engagement, as it depends on active participation and discussion with both mentors and other students in your cohort.
While the level of guidance is quite unique to this type of course, it does come at a steep price. Pricing is not publicly available, but the various variants of the course are “valued” between $1,500-$6000.
Nevertheless, for creative professionals embarking on a huge new project, the course could be a great business investment. If you are interested in the methodology but not in the price tag, you can also buy his book for about $20.
