Success Advice
6 Ways You Can Be More Productive at Work
Every human being has been given the same twenty-four hours in a day to live their life to the fullest. Time is no less than a gift for us all, yet if you ask people around you about their opinion of time, you will hear them say that they have less time than they need. They may even tell you they have more to work on than the number of hours in a day.
Forget others, and think of your life. Do you also think this way? You work hard to make the most of your time, and focus with the utmost attention to achieve higher productivity. Still, you may not feel satisfied with what you do or deliver at the end of the day.
Improving your productivity at work simply means doing more than you have done before. It can be related to learning new skills, reading about the work-related processes, or attending seminars to add knowledge.
Other than allowing others to gauge your productivity, it is better that you do it yourself regularly and improve. Simply put, there are two ways to get more work done – either work more hours or do the smart work, not just hard work.
Working more hours than normal is possible, but to a certain extent only. You can’t add a twenty-fifth hour in a day. However, it is possible for you to do smart work. It is more about managing your time most effectively.
Here are 6 simple tips to increase your productivity at work:
1. Create a List of Tasks as Per Priority
When you start your work day, it’s important to figure out what you need to do before you leave for the day. Improvement in work productivity can be defined as your ability to do the work you have been assigned on time or even before the expected time.
You can achieve this by creating a list of tasks to be done in a day in the order of their priority. Start your day by creating this list and if possible, assign a time-period to each of the tasks in which you expect to complete it.
Then, pick up the tasks one by one, and work on them. Having that list in mind will prevent you from feeling distracted at work. The less you waste your time on the least important activities, the more you get to focus on the job. As a result, you will see an improvement in your productivity.
2. Don’t Procrastinate
Believe it or not, procrastination is one of the main enemies of work productivity. If you delay getting a specific task done or putting it aside for some other time, you are shouldering yourself with more work to be done in the time ahead.
Now, when you reach that time and look at the workload already built up, it becomes nearly obvious to feel stressed, let alone focus on the current priorities.
Stress, which is another enemy of productivity, will do its part to distract you off the right course to be followed, and the work will keep on increasing. To be highly productive at work, you need to beat stress.
This can best be done by not delaying getting things done as required. Overcome the procrastinator mindset with a will to do things now. The more you practice not to delay tasks at work, the more productive and efficient you will become.
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln
3. Identify Wastage of Time and Resolve It
If a specific task at hand that can be done in a few minutes is taking too long to finish, you’re wasting too much time. Either the method or way you are following is incorrect, or you are not doing your part to simplify the task.
The modern age is full of hi-tech products that have made things easier for everyone. No matter what kind of work you do or which industry you belong to, you can get help with advanced technology.
Let’s say you do a data-entry job wherein you need to manually enter data of each product in some retail store into a computer system. Just picking up each product one by one, then looking at its details and entering them into the system is not tough, but a redundant task that kills time. To speed up the process, you can make use of barcodes and barcode readers.
Similarly, if you are an accountant and have accounting software installed in your computer, you can make use of cloud technology to get the benefits of remote data accessibility, data security, and many others.
If you feel your precious time is getting wasted in doing a specific task at work, identify the cause and then act on it.
4. Take Good Care of Your Health
At the basis of your work-productivity lies your good health. No sick person can be found working in his most productive form. You can only do great work and be highly productive if you have maintained good health.
Some people believe taking care of their health is a difficult task, but it is not. With a few simple daily habits followed for health maintenance, you can strive towards working at your best form always.
If you feel your health does not support your desire to work productively, just do two things – consume a healthy diet as much as possible and do physical exercises regularly. These two small changes in your lifestyle can help you become more productive.
5. Keep the Phone on Silent When Focusing on Work
Smartphones have become a part of our lives, like food, clothing, or shelter. We feel like we can’t live without our cell phones.
It is true that using advanced phones has made a lot of things easier in our personal and professional lives. We should embrace and use this form of technology, but only to a certain limit.
It is when people become addicted to using their smartphones that they feel they do not have much time to do the work productively. Whether it is scrolling through social media, waiting for text messages, or staying on long phone calls, everything works best when it is done within certain limits.
So, if you feel your smartphone takes up most of your time even when you are at work, make a habit of keeping it silent when you are focusing on critical tasks. Use it to your advantages, but don’t be addicted to it.
“My mind is constantly going. For me to completely relax, I gotta get rid of my cell phone.” – Kenny Chesney
6. Wake Up Early
Ultimately, a lot of people desire to have some more hours every day to do their work and maintain a healthy work-life balance. But not all of them are willing to do the simplest thing – which is to wake up early.
Think of it this way, if you wake up earlier than you usually do, you get a few extra hours which you would have otherwise spent sleeping more than required. You can utilize this time by reaching the workplace on or before time. If you want extra hours in your everyday life, start developing the habit of waking up early.
Being productive at work is not just a one-time act, but a habit you should follow during your entire work-life. By following these useful tips, you can easily improve your productivity, while also getting the secondary benefits of good health, work-life balance, and success.