It’s easy to disregard extremely productive individuals as machines (or wizards). Nevertheless, by understanding how they work efficiently and overcoming the problems we all face, you may understand how to be more productive at work.
Many of us are not as productive as we’d want to be for two reasons: we have terrible habits that hinder our productivity at work, and we’re reactive rather than proactive, wasting our energies rather than progressing toward our objectives.
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”— Paul J. Meyer
How to be more productive at work
Every employee and their working methods are different. The variations in our working days have become increasingly evident as fewer organizations and people adhere to a regular 9 to 5 schedule. And It becomes very complex to create a productivity guideline for everyone. But, leaving those distinctions aside, try using these suggestions to be more productive at work.
Stop multitasking – Perform one task at a time
It is very easy to waste time doing multiple tasks at a time. It’s easy to fall into the trap of multitasking when there are so many distractions around us. The problem with multitasking is that people are bad at it and this is proven in research.
Multitasking is not humanly possible.Earl K. Miller – Neuroscience professor
Do you consider managing many projects at once will help you get more work done? Try calling a colleague while typing an e-mail and scrolling through your Facebook timeline. You may think you are being productive, but you’re certainly not accomplishing either of those activities well. You are basically losing your focus which can help you accomplish the tasks quickly.
But how can you avoid this?
Avoiding multitasking can be as simple as closing the email tab and turning off Slack, email, and text notifications. Waiting an extra half hour to respond to an email isn’t the end of the world in most occupations. First, finish one task and then shift your focus to a different task.
One of the most effective habits you can form is to stop multitasking.
Take regular breaks
We may believe that spending long hours at work implies we are getting more work done, yet we never work well when we are exhausted. Nobody, not even the most prolific people, can concentrate for 8 hours at a time. It is simply not doable. You can’t keep distraction-free focus for that long, regardless of how many effective habits you develop.
According to research, taking regular breaks improves focus and boosts your mood. Taking pauses throughout the day is essential to increase productivity at work. A five-minute walk around the workplace can improve your mood while having no negative influence on your ability to concentrate.
Working longer hours may not be as beneficial as getting proper rest and sleep. Allowing your thoughts to marinade in your subconscious mind for a longer amount of time. overnight, over the weekend, or on vacation allows for new bursts of production when you return.
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Break bigger tasks and set small goals
Break down tasks into a single next step for increased productivity. It will make you quit procrastinating.
Looking at a huge task might be overwhelming at times. Having a number of large projects on our calendar might be overwhelming… However, if you divide it into little jobs, you will feel more in control and be a lot more productive. Rather than writing “complete project,” break it down into all of the tasks that will be required. This will keep you on track in your daily activities and make larger jobs seem less overwhelming.
Try setting a goal and sticking to it for open-ended tasks and projects. You might be amazed at how focused on the task you can be when you’re looking at the clock.
Minimize interruptions
Cold calls, notifications, replying to emails, checking your phone regularly, unannounced guests, and colleagues dropping by your desk are amongst the many interruptions at work — with the development of remote working, many office disruptions have been eliminated.
However, working remotely introduces new ones. Delivery to your doorstep, noisy pets, visits by your children while you’re on a video conference, and partners conversing with their coworkers.
These hiccups can mount up. They can disrupt focus and cause deadlines to slide if left unchecked. We may feel exhausted, frustrated, and guilty as a result of our inability to manage ourselves or others. These sentiments become interruptions in and of themselves, further overwhelming us.
Try to minimize these interruptions as much as you can.
Just say no to unnecessary meetings.
Meetings are amongst the most time-consuming activities, yet we persist to schedule them, attending them, and, eventually, grumbling about them. According to Atlassian, the average employee wastes well over 31 hours per month in ineffective meetings. Before scheduling your next meeting, consider whether you can achieve the same goals or duties using email, phone, or a Web-based meeting like Google meet, Zoom, etc.
Focus on the most important task first
We all put off huge ambitions because we’re not sure we’ll be able to complete them… And by the time we get to them, we’re just too exhausted from the day to give them the attention they require. This is how tasks end up extending into extra days, creating the impression that productivity has vanished.
Understanding when and how you work best is critical to completing large projects on time. There is no one size fits all schedule… If you are a morning person, handle the major responsibilities first thing in the morning.
Reserved 20% of your everyday time to focus on your maximum tasks. Even if you are unable to focus on those high-priority projects for the balance of the day, you will still have spent 90 minutes on the most important tasks.
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Conclusion
People who are extremely productive may appear to be magicians or robots. Most of the time, the most efficient people you meet have overcome procrastination and other time-wasting obstacles.
Smart individuals seek assistance. When they don’t understand something, productive people confess it. When you ask for assistance rather than attempting to solve a problem on your own, you save your precious time (and frustration). Develop a habit to ask for help and knowing who and what your resources are.
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