5 TikTok Work Hacks That Will Make You Better at Your Job
TikTok is full of #workhacks designed to improve the way we do our jobs. But short of helping you corral stray computer cords or jury-rigging your mouse to simulate at-home productivity, how many of them actually move the needle?
We decided to find out. After a week of wading up to our eyeballs in TikTok work hacks, we came away with a useful bag of tricks, tips, and learning techniques that can make you a happier, healthier, more productive member of the labor force. In short, TikTok is a great source for microlearning — tackling new subjects in short bursts rather than hours-long stretches — a topic that is very on trend in learning and development.
Are these hacks oversimplified or even silly? Sometimes. But taken as a whole, they provide a fascinating glimpse into the modern workplace and all its quirks and challenges. From optimizing your PTO calendar to training your brain to learn new skills to literally knocking your own socks off, here are five work hacks on TikTok that will make you better at your job.
1. Learn how to learn
There are a ton of tasty learning hacks on the app for anyone looking to clear away the cobwebs and pick up a new skill. Our favorite is this clip via Huberman Lab on gap effects in learning (sometimes known as the spacing effect).
The idea is that taking short micro-rests while learning a new skill — be it a programming language, musical instrument, or the latest TikTok dance — helps you absorb the content more effectively. Studies show that during these cognitive breaks, your brain replays the information at 20 times the speed, leading to an acceleration in learning.
So the next time your boss asks why you were nodding off at the last budget meeting, just tell her you really wanted to learn the material.
2. Piggyback your personal days
Long before “work-life balance” became the center of an online storm, employees made an art form out of cherry-picking their personal days. Pluck a seemingly random Friday or Tuesday from the calendar, hitch it to either end of a paid holiday, and voilà: You’ve got the perfect extended weekend — or week.
It’s called the piggyback method, and it’s been around forever. This TikToker takes the practice out of the shadows with a step-by-step tutorial on how to maximize your vacation days in 2023. Do as she says and you’ll enjoy 36 days off for the price of only 15.
Our advice: Start putting in those requests now. Because everyone knows more time away from work equals better performance when you return.
3. Block your calendar
Any football fanatic will tell you that the key to winning is good blocking. Same goes for your work calendar. In this clip, a TikToker unpacks the perennial problem of overscheduling. When you jam your calendar with tasks, she argues, there’s no time left over to address the million and one fires that flare up during the course of a typical workday.
Her solution? Book only 80 percent of your calendar, and block out the remaining 20 percent for ad hoc meetings, unplanned deliverables, etc. She swears it’s a game-changer that allows her to “respond to those urgent requests, those urgent emails, those . . .” Then the video cuts out. She ran out of time.
4. Turn work into a performance
It’s a scientific fact that you tend to work harder when someone is watching — the so-called Sentinel Effect. But what if that someone is . . . you? This clip touts a super-easy way to boost productivity when you’re feeling unfocused. No, it’s not the Pomodoro Method or a refresher on the importance of keeping a to-do list.
Turns out the path to better productivity is right in your pocket. Simply set up your phone’s time-lapse camera to record you doing work and you’ll magically start feeling motivated. Is it our own shameless vanity or an amped-up sense of performance that kicks us into action? Possibly. But with more than a quarter of GenZers glued to their phone for 10+ hours a day, it could be as simple as removing a major distraction from your work routine.
5. Trick your brain
The midday lull sets in, your energy drops, the motivation motor starts to sputter. Fending off fatigue at work can be a real struggle. Sure, you can opt for the quick fix of a Diet Coke, as was once the custom. Or . . . you can change your socks and brush your teeth.
It’s a nifty trick that, this TikToker says, helps you break your typical thought patterns. Changing your socks tells your brain you’re doing something productive, which triggers it to want to do more productive things. Brushing your teeth dupes you into thinking it’s morning, when you’re bright-eyed and ready for the day; your brain obliges by serving up a bonus blast of morning-like energy. And who couldn’t use more of that?
Does it work? Well, you lose nothing — except maybe a future cavity — by giving it a whirl. We believe the best tricks are the ones that encourage us to do something we already do, just a little differently. Because there’s no better hack than keeping it simple.
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