7 ways to be productive at work
Time is crucial and so the project you are working on too. With deadlines pushing you hard, so many sleepless nights have passed by with large doses of caffeine accompanying you. Consequently, with all the after effects hitting you badly, one thing that seems curious is about that one colleague who always gets things done on time without uncountable sips of coffee or unlimited fag breaks.
Whether you are working from home or office or a Co-working space, you can keep up your productivity without depending solely on your hot cuppa. Well, we are not talking about robots or machines, just a little planning and attention to detail is what we are quoting here.
Cracking your maximum efficiency at work might look difficult ‘but it is not’ if you follow these “7 ways to be productive ways”.
7 ways to be productive at work: Prioritize each task according to its importance level:
After a long tiring drive on bumpy roads, you have reached your office. The moment when you open the inbox of your office email, numerous emails would have already poured in even after you have completed a big list before you left your home. In this scenario, you will be tempted to complete those tasks which you see first. Isn’t it? But wait, think for a moment. Is it important to complete the high prioritized work first or the ones that you see first? There are many types of tasks, some need to be completed daily, some monthly once, some comes as an urgent task, etc. So, start your day by prioritizing the work according to their cruciality level and plan each day’s task effectively.
Focus and finish off the most important tasks:
After prioritizing, jump into the most important tasks of the day. Yes, we are talking about the first few tasks of your to-do lists. Remember, most important tasks are the high-value tasks with tight deadlines which demands your full focus. Usually, the first few hours after you arrive at your work are the most productive hours of the day so use them wisely to finish off your most prioritized work then jump into the less crucial ones.
Keep your distractions to a minimum:
Many of us tend to open WhatsApp and Facebook in our laptop browser and keep checking them for each notification that pops up. Even if you are not opening and reading them, a little pop on the corner of your laptop is going to steal your precious moments of concentration. When focusing on deep works, banning your distractions or reducing it to a minimum will help you to maintain an efficient work. Distractions are not limited to social media or emails, sometimes you might even remember that you forgot to pay your bill or any urgent personal work that you lost track off. If that personal work can wait for a few hours, make a reminder in your calendar and get back to work. It helps you to stay focus on your crucial office work as well as not losing track of your personal work.
Take frequent breaks:
Focusing eight hours straight can happen with a machine, not with a human. No matter how efficient you are, you cannot sit for long hours without breaks. Small breaks can energize you and increase productivity. Beware, do not fall trap for long chit chat breaks. Take short breaks frequently to recharge yourself and come up with new ideas.
Limit Multitasking:
We often hear how beneficial multitasking is for increasing one’s efficiency. Being a modern worker, multi-tasking is a highly important skill. However, when you attempt to do multiple tasks at a time, your focus gets divided which ultimately results in loss of time and productivity. It is not needed to eliminate multitasking however implying it to all tasks is not necessary. Some tasks are critical and require your undivided attention, so give your full dedication to those kinds of tasks. Whereas, there may be times when it is mandatory to do multitasking, better not neglect them.
Two-minute rule to follow:
When you see a task that can be finished within two minutes, grab it and finish it right away. This two-minute rule is recommended by one of the most influential content strategists Steve Olenski. What he says is, if we complete those kinds of tasks immediately it might consume less time than having to get back to it later. We don’t restrict this rule to those tasks that can be finished within 2 minutes, any goal or habit that can be started within 120 seconds can also be considered. Well, setting up new goals is the first step for accomplishing them. Isn’t it?
Automate repeated tasks: If you are doing some tasks repeatedly, why not look for ways to automate them?? You don’t need to do big programming or learn some hard things to automate. Simple keyboard shortcuts, increasing your typing speed, using voice typing software, etc can be beneficial. Taking care of repetitive tasks and finding a solution to automate them saves lots of time. Additionally, knocking them off your schedule by delegating the work to interns will also work.
Talking about productivity, the most significantly rising creative phenomenon for increased productivity in recent times is working from a co-working space. Many of us have the convenience of working from home but, are we giving our 100% effort to work when we work from home???? It is an obvious no and that’s where Co-working space comes into the picture. There are pretty nice offers going on in the Co-Working environment and many entrepreneurs, freelancers are happily availing them.
To sum it up, you may be a program manager working from a busy office environment or a freelancer working from a co-working space, all it demands is high productivity. Learn and improvise from every mistake of yours, apply the above discussed 7 productive ways and be prepared to be amazed at how much more you can accomplish with these simple ideas.
