If you are in the job search phase and hope to be hired by a company, make sure you have a good resume. Before you get hired, improving work performance is easy if you know where to start. Learn about 14 actionable tips on how to be more productive at work.
No matter how busy the work schedule is – an average person is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes during the workday. That means, around ⅔ of the time and energy people spend in offices or in front of their computers contributes little to none to the result. Sounds like a terrible inefficiency, isn’t it?
But there is a way out. Productivity has several attributes, like energy or time management skills. By knowing how to improve each, you can boost performance on a scale never seen before. For those who are willing to improve productivity and prevent burnout, we’ve prepared some easy-going tips.
Start the day with a workout
Right, we all know it’s hard to wake up more than an hour early, drag out of a warm bed, and put sneakers on, especially if you worked a lot or went out with friends the evening before. But the truth is – physical activity is simply indispensable if you want to feel energized during the day. Exercises improve brain functioning and mental health, allowing you to handle stress better.
Besides, no one says you should do heavy lifting or run a half marathon in the morning. Choose moderate-intensity activities, like brisk walking or bicycling, and practice them regularly. Aside from slimming your body and refreshing your mind, sport strengthens the heart and lowers the risk of obesity. It seems like quite a lot of bounties for a 30-60 minutes daily workout.
Put your first things first
We tend to underestimate the time needed to complete the work, even if we know past tasks of a similar nature had taken us longer to complete. This phenomenon is called the planning fallacy. So, to deal with daily scope, always start with tasks with the highest priority and schedule less urgent matters for the remaining work time.
Doesn’t matter during what part of the day you start to work – in the morning or afternoon. Even if you are a night owl, not an early bird, take a habit to start productive hours with the TOP-priority, time-consuming, or the most complicated tasks.
Plan the next day the evening before
Waking up with a pre-prepared agenda for the day is the best technique to avoid procrastination and get things done faster. Make a habit of spending 15-20 minutes at the end of every working day planning the next one.
A planned day isn’t an inflexible day. Of course, you can and should adjust the schedule and To-Dos according to unforeseen assignments or issues. Think of a plan as your “North Star” that helps to keep the focus on essentials and sift through odds and ends.
Avoid unnecessary meetings
An average work meeting includes up to 15% of unproductive time. So, to keep up your energy level during the workday, learn to say “No” to video calls or meetings without a stated purpose.
Sometimes, the meeting is unavoidable. For example – if your teamwork has stalled, you have to solve a critical issue or generate new ideas. If such, prepare thoroughly. Share the agenda with participants well in advance, stick to the time frame, take minutes while others speak, and always end the conversation by agreeing on further steps.
Keep the desk neat
Tidiness in the workplace helps to keep thoughts clear. However, after a busy day, a desk turns into a sloppy space where piles of documents are agitated with occasional sticky notes, unfinished lunch, handouts from meetings, and a keyboard.
To prevent clutter from piling up, make a habit to digitize printed assets immediately. Made a napkin note during lunch? – Spend a few seconds putting it on the online whiteboard when you’re back in the office. Got an interesting bulletin from the presentation? – Scan it on your computer and recycle the paper.
Don’t be a multitasker
It’s a myth that people can perform many things at once. The attempt to be a Julius Caesar ends the same for everyone – none task is being completed 100%.
So, if you are still multitasking – just stop. Condition yourself to concentrate on only one task at a time. If you have dedicated N hours to prepare the report, don’t get back to a flashing “Inbox” or “Slack” icon (unless you wait for a message of a lifetime) during these scheduled hours.
Avoid interruptions
Small talks are essential to socializing and building good relationships with colleagues. But if you don’t ever limit the flow of unpurposeful dialogues or requests towards you, you risk turning into a low-performer and getting left behind.
Of course, talking back aggressively or demonstrating that you’re a hermit aren’t the best ways out. Choose more polite and acceptable tactics to keep your space. For example, wear headphones while working or use an auto-reply. If you work in the open space office, you can book meeting rooms or isolated spaces – to work over things that require utmost attention.
Use tools to organize work routine
Add a digital workspace to the physical and use it to keep ideas and plans in order. Desktop or web-based software, like digital whiteboards from Weje, may become personal assistants in daily matters.
You can create distinct online canvases for different projects and attach all relevant information, like documents, notes, tables, or media, to these canvases. Also, you may invite collaborators to online whiteboards, download work outcomes, or use them as reference points during presentations or video calls.
Don’t be a workaholic
Believe it or not, hard performers rarely get the recognition and gratitude that they deserve. So, if your zeal to work overtime or do others’ jobs is dictated solely by the desire to receive appreciation, it’s probably a futile enterprise. Because you’ll burn out long before you get it.
Don’t be afraid to delegate tasks and leave a “free space” to learn something new and grow professionally. Also, pay attention to the work-life balance, as it’s extremely important for playing the long game in your career.
Avoid information overload
It may seem that the more figures you possess, the more you deepen the subject, the better decision you’ll ultimately take. But that’s a wrong perception. The human brain struggles from too many choices and excessive details can put us into a feeling of powerlessness.
To avoid mental overload, define what key figures you should know to solve tasks and omit irrelevant inputs.
Set milestones and stick to them
Far-reaching goals and lack of instant results may lessen your motivation and lead to frustration. To counteract this, divide the foreseen workflow into measurable components. Set timeframes and KPIs for each “part” of the general objective, and take time to access and praise your performance after every milestone.
Take breaks
Pauses are necessary for a mental reset. You’ve probably heard the expression “you have to sleep on the problem”. That means – the solution usually comes when you don’t think about it. If you can have a nap during the workday – don’t sacrifice such it. And if you can’t, short hourly breaks may be similarly helpful.
Don’t leave things unfinished
People who suddenly drop tasks may experience a Zeigarnik Effect – a tedious state when you remind yourself about uncompleted matters, again and again. This happens because a person has to make efforts and continuously rehearse details in the short-term memory, otherwise, they will disappear. To avoid this, make a habit to portion labor-consuming tasks into smaller pieces. And once you’ve started one – finalize it.
Improve communication skills
You’ll perform much better in a friendly environment, won’t you? Good relationships with teammates are a prerequisite to higher productivity, but they aren’t a given. You should learn how to communicate thoughts and ideas in a way people can catch and imbue them. And what’s no less important – how to deal with tricky work situations and behave during tough conversations.
These simple 14 tips will make you more productive and confident in the workplace. Excellent work performance starts with understanding your personality, long-term life goals, strengths, and weaknesses. It also implies having good physical and mental health, a well-organized day, and ecological relationships with the team.
