FEELING UNPRODUCTIVE?

There can be times at work when we are feeling unproductive and aren’t getting the things we need to get done completed. There are only so many hours in the day, and we would rather be productive in the hours whilst we are at work, so that our job doesn’t eat into our personal time.

Here are a few things that can help improve your productivity:

Firstly, identify what is taking up the most of your time. Once you are able to pinpoint exactly where you are wasting your time, or the things that are distracting you from being productive, you can start to decrease the amount of time that you spend on these things or stop doing them all together. For example, if you spend a lot of time checking your phone notifications, turn off your notifications and only check them at set times. Responding to every single notification that pops up on your screen can be very distracting and time consuming, causing you to lose focus and be unproductive. Allotted notification checking times means that you can reply to all of your emails and texts at once and get it done and out of the way faster.

How about decorating your workspace? A splash of colour or a plant on your desk can improve your mood and make you feel more comfortable in your surroundings, which in turn can increase your productivity.

Scheduling and prioritising your time can make such a difference to your day and what you get done. Scheduling your day means that you can set yourself small goals throughout the day, and may get more work done than you would have if you hadn’t organised your time wisely. Do the task that you are dreading doing the most first. If you get this out of the way first, you will be less stressed throughout the day and all of your other tasks will seem less daunting as you’ve got the ‘worst task’ out of the way. Also, getting the most dreaded task completed first will give you a sense of accomplishment and you will be motivated to keep this momentum up throughout the rest of the day. This is similar to setting deadlines. Setting deadlines for yourself means that you will be motivated to get what you have set yourself done on time.

Keep your workspace clean and tidy. A cluttered desk means a cluttered mind. Do you have a messy desk? How much time have you wasted looking for sheets of paper in large piles? If you had everything organised on your desk, and kept everything to a minimum, you would save a great deal of time and effort.

Don’t spend time sending longwinded emails, when you can have a short face to face conversation. A quick conversation will clear up any misunderstandings quickly, instead of emailing back and forth making sure you’re both on the same page.

Get away from your desk for a bit! Leaving your desk to go for a walk or get a coffee, gives you an opportunity to clear your mind and help you prioritise what you need to do. It has been found that the longer you go without taking a break, the more your productivity declines, so breaks are necessary throughout the day to keep your productivity levels up.

Finally, multitasking can actually be a hindrance and not a help when increasing your productivity. You may think doing more tasks at once means more productivity, but it actually may just leave you flustered, stressed, and distracted. Having too much to do can be counter-productive, so take one task at a time and complete it before you move onto the next one.

Hopefully, these tips will help you improve your productivity and get things done.

What makes you more productive at work? Comment below!