5 Simple Tips to Improve Productivity at Work

Everyone wants to be super productive at work and enjoy their time with family and friends. After all those who work over weekends aren’t always hero (mostly it is other way round).

If you don’t want to spend your time working on office activities over weekend, you should definitely consider these very quick and 5 simple tips to improve productivity at work.

1.       Prioritize Your Work

Yes, it sounds over used words. Trust me; being more productive really starts with knowing what is the most important and what is really urgent to you. Personally, I always have piles of tasks to perform every day. It has been difficult for me to look at all these items and decide which one to start with. Now I have divided this list into two categories-

Tactical (urgent/ routine task) and Strategic (aligned with long term vision). I prioritize the list (of course, based on importance and urgency) and pick up first 5 tactical and 2 strategic items.

2.      Make Your Day’s Schedule & Stick to It.

For all primarily scheduled activities, start using digital format – e.g. online project management software like ZilicusPM and keep yourself on top of the things.

Then I follow, what Brian Tracy call ‘Eat That Frog[2]’ mantra. Pick up dreadful task and finish it off first. For remaining items, you can use – ‘what can be finished in two minutes’, pick up and finish that off. It is better to tick that off than to spend time in organizing it. Technical people can relate to ‘the meta data should not be bigger than the actual data’.

3.      Avoid Spoiler and Limit Distractions

We are living in the era of information explosion and speaking more specifically – the world of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Linkedin). There are plenty of spoilers and distractions – like emails, meetings, phone calls, social media alerts, and your colleague(s) who may drag you to pantry for office-gossip. The emails, phone calls, and meetings are fine to certain extent (which you only have to identify the right limit) but beyond which, they spoil everybody’s time and energy.

To avoid funny but unnecessary things at work like social media sites, chatter boxes and gossip with colleagues, you need to discipline yourself. It is really about self-control; of course you can take advantage of technology to aid these efforts.

4.      Develop a Habit to Ask – What is Next?

We all understand that we will keep on working for a while. And when we know that there is unending list of things to do – follow ups to perform, meetings to attend, sales deals to be closed, project deliveries to be made, executive presentations to be performed, and so on. If we want to get rid of as much as we can, so that you can be at peace over weekend with your family and friends.

The best way to go about this is – keep asking a question – what is next? Be aggressive to know what is pending and how best you can clean pending item. It is easier said than done, but your organization’s culture and your persistence will do miracle.

5.      Take Short Break: Mediate & Unwind Yourself

Work life can be stressful, full of expectations and pressure from various stakeholders –your managers, customers, vendors, peers, colleagues, subordinates, etc. To make it easier at work, take stipulated and well-crafted short breaks (10-15 mins) during work-hours. You can mediate and relieve yourself from stress. You can catch up with your colleagues talk about, hear/learn new things (I already said, avoid office-gossip).

What is your secrete sauce for better productivity at work? Have you got even better tips to improve productivity at work? Do let me know.