Since going to work is one of the most important activities in everyone’s life, I am pretty sure you want to know some new ways to be more productive at work. A lot of people have trouble managing their time efficiently, especially during work hours. The ones that usually succeed to do this, have discovered the winning formula after years of trials and error and, of course, after a lot of missed deadlines. If you don’t want to wait all that time and you’re not willing or you can’t afford to learn from your mistakes, I can recommend you some ways to be more productive at work.
One of the most important and easy ways to be more productive at work is to get rid of all the unimportant things, as early in the morning as possible, and draw up a well-structured list of all the important tasks you have to complete that day. Next, you must analyze each task you’ve got and you must put together that list by taking into account every task’s importance, value and, of course, the impact that task will have on the final result. The most important and most urgent of your duties must be placed in the beginning of your list. The unimportant stuff you have to do can be removed from the list if you don’t have the time to do them that day. You can easily postpone them for another time when you’ll be in the mood to take care of them and do a great job, as always!
Whether it's the music you are used to listening to while you do your work or whether you have a computer that always freezes, or even if it’s all the phone calls you get, all the e-mails, memos, letters and so on; there will always be something that will distract you or even worse, stop you from completing the activity you’ve started. Temptations are everywhere! You must learn to say no, no matter how sweet they are. You can always reward yourself after successfully completing a task by checking your Facebook account, your Twitter account or by spending a little time doing something relaxing that you really really love doing. But, don’t forget, you must get back to work right away!
First of all, find out what are the things that really motivate you, what are your professional objectives, and think about the ways you can accomplish them. Then, try to channel your entire inspiration and effort towards a specific goal, your goal. Once you manage to clarify the things in your mind, it will be easier for you to focus much more intensely every day in order to get things done. Remember that you are always much more focused and much more productive when you have a time limit! Don’t think that what you are doing is not perfect, just do it! Others may not agree with you. You may actually be surprised how many people truly appreciate your work!
Don’t ever forget to use the technology available nowadays to get things done much faster. You can do pretty much everything with the right program or the right piece of equipment. So, if technology advancements may help you and you could save some precious time, then simply allow them to do so. Even if sometimes it is practically impossible to finish an entire task automatically, still, a good part of your work can be done this way so why not take advantage of that? For example, you can set your e-mail service to sort your e-mails by importance and automatically delete all the spam that you might receive. Also, you can pay your bills on-line or you can schedule your meetings with the help of all that new technology available.
Even before you begin to work, make sure that you carefully establish your breaks, and I’m referring at the time spent on break and at how often you will take one. A good productivity doesn’t always mean all work and no fun. On the contrary, working too much without taking a time off, just for you to relax, can decrease productivity and most importantly it may affect the quality of your work. With the help of a few strategically placed breaks, combined with periods of time of intense work, you can achieve a maximum productivity. Also, remember that there are other aspects in your life that you mustn’t neglect and that are as important to you as your work!
Always start your day with the easy tasks first, in order to get used to the effort. Then, you should separate the automatic work from the tasks that you need to put a lot of effort in, especially mental effort. Divide the tasks that seem impossible to finish into smaller chunks. This way, with every little thing you do, you are one step closer to your objective. Remember that if one of your tasks can be done 80% by another person and if your position allows you to, then delegate your work to somebody else and appreciate the help you will get.
It is perfectly normal to have days when you can’t simply work and also, days when you can’t stop working for up to 12 hours on a row. Work more when you feel up for that and relax when you need to. Don’t push yourself too hard! There’s always enough time! You must simply know how to manage it efficiently. If not, you can always learn to do that; it’s pretty easy!
In conclusion, being productive means being able to complete your tasks in a short period of time and still being able to reach all your professional goals. A good productivity also implies the ability to coordinate yourself and your professional habits in order to obtain the best results. Besides the tips I’ve mentioned, what other ways to be more productive at work do you know?