Three easy ways to increase your productivity at work
Do you struggle to complete your work each day? Find yourself easily distracted? Here are three easy ways to increase your productivity at work.
It’s not easy keeping yourself motivated, especially if you work from home for yourself. But when you take time off from your work, you only cheat yourself. You either simply put off the work, or lose money.
So what can you do if you often find yourself distracted? Here are three easy ideas to try.
1) Minimise distractions
It’s hard to really focus and get into flow when you are constantly distracted by emails, Facebook group notifications, messaging apps… you get the idea. Here are some simple actions you can take to minimise potential distractions.
Keep off social media when working
While social networks are fin to browse, or even helpful for building business connections and boosting your brand, they’re a major distraction when you’re doing your most important work and want to increase productivity. So try to keep as much distance as possible from the like button when you’re working. If you don’t, soon your new Facebook update will read something like, “looking for a job”.
Turn off notifications
While you might consciously steer clear from social media, it’s hard to ignore the ping of a notification letting you know someone has posted or mentioned you, or someone has texted you. So turn off notifications and give yourself the chance to work in peace. Those updates and messages will still be there when you’ve finished your work.
Disable autoplay videos
For some reason, Facebook keeps introducing new changes almost every day. Some are good but others are terrible, like the latest autoplay videos that clog your newsfeed. Do yourself a favor and turn them off to increase your productivity.
Set your phone to flight mode
When you have so much to do, your friend or cousin who’s bored and hasn’t talked to you for a month may decide to call you for a whole hour. To avoid having to politely cut a call short (while having completely lost your place and momentum with work) put your phone on silent, or even switch to flight mode.
2) Work when you work best
Are you a lark or an owl? We all have times of the day when we naturally perform better. And if you want to maximise your productivity, find yours and schedule as much of your work day during that time as possible.
If you’re not in control of your working hours, here’s how to ensure you start the day right with an amazingly productive morning. We also recommend working in Focus Blocks, whatever time of the day you function best.
3) Make a to-do list
The classic to-do list has remained popular through the decade for a reason: it works! Making a list helps you to evaluate what you need to get done, and what is reasonable in the time you have available. You can then focus on completing the tasks on your list. Simple!
A to-do list makes it easer to say no to anything that may keep you from your work, and it feels incredibly satisfying crossing off your completed tasks. If you want to be REALLY productive you can go one step further and write a success list instead.
John Gregg is an experienced essay writer. He is also fond of reading and playing the guitar.
Photo by Alice Simkin
