5 ways to make your WhatsApp usage productive and save time

My WhatsApp journey has been different from the majority. Initially like everyone I downloaded WhatsApp for just chatting with friends. One thing I realized that no matter how busy I was, I never skipped messages that contained stories.

That made me think that there might be many people like me who will also enjoy reading stories. So I decided to share short and inspiring stories via WhatsApp. The response to the idea was good and soon around 200 people joined to receive stories on daily basis.

The initial plan was just to share 101 stories in 101 days. But by that time, there were around 800 people in the list and they requested me to continue with the story initiative. It was difficult to send stories every day so I started sharing it on alternate days. Till now I have shared 190 stories and there are around 2,200 people who have signed up to receive them. I receive around 250 messages on personal chat (stopped counting unread messages of groups) on a daily basis.

In this time period, even my training business grew and it became difficult to manage both (still it is). Therefore it was necessary to improve my WhatsApp productivity. Just spending more time on WhatsApp was not the answer as that leads to spending more time on the unnecessary chats and reading unnecessary forwards.

I have experimented a lot (and still do) on ways to be more productive on WhatsApp. Following are the 5 ways that have helped me and I am sure that they will help you too:

1- Be Selfish

It happens many times – I open WhatsApp with the intention to send a message to a colleague. But the moment I on the mobile data/Wi-Fi there are hundreds of unread messages. And I get distracted and then spend time in replying them. In that process, I many times forgot why I had open the WhatsApp in the first place. To avoid this problem, I need to send my messages before replying to others. Following is the process

With the internet being off, open the WhatsApp.
Start messaging to people with whom you want to communicate – like reminding someone to meet, asking for some help, sharing your decisions etc. (Messages will not get delivered but it’s okay)
“On” the mobile data/Wi-Fi once you are done sending all the messages.
This process will make sure that before you get distracted with new incoming messages, messages which you wanted to send gets delivered. Then you can start replying others.

2- Close automatic downloading of images and videos

Considerable amount time is spent in seeing the funny/motivational videos and images which are not that important. You will be wondering that if you close that option, you will miss on some important information. But trust me you won’t because if some video or image is important, it is always followed by a text message giving more info about it. After reading that text message if you feel it is relevant then download it. If someone just forwards a video/audio/pic without any message then don’t spend your time in downloading it as it is not that important.

3- Take Action ASAP

Whenever you read any message, you should take action on it then and there. If it is a compliment to good forward then say “thank you,” if its request then either do it or say – “you are sorry, you can’t.” If you can’t do it now, then say the time when you will do it. If you want to save some message then star mark it or screenshot it. Never read any message and think that you will take action on it later as it just consumes your mental power.

4- Manage group effectively

No matter how important the group is, mute it for a year or else the notification of birthday/gm/gn/ happy ___( put any festival’s name) messages will distract you. No matter how many times you come online but if everyone wants to discuss something in the group, you all should decide a particular time for it.

If you wish to know more about some message which is shared by a group member, message him personally. If you want to check any prior multimedia file then please don’t scroll hundreds of the messages, just go to the group and click on the option – Media, links, and docs, you will see all the media files shared in the group.

5- Use WhatsApp Web

Very few people are using the Web feature of WhatsApp. The major advantage of using web WhatsApp is screen size is big. Plus our typing speed on PC/laptop is fast as compared to the phone. And it becomes a convenient option when you want to send some media files as our PC has all the files whereas phone may or may not have. Therefore start using WhatsApp web option whenever possible. (Whatsapp web link - https://web.whatsapp.com)

These are the 5 ways in which you can improve your WhatsApp productivity. I am using WhatsApp to inspire people via stories, for my training business and also for my personal use. These tips have made me more productive on WhatsApp and due to that, my work productivity has improved a lot.

If you have any unique tips that make you productive on WhatsApp then please do share it in the comment section.