Did you know that the days you spend doing nothing are the days you’re fatigued the most? It’s a paradox of the human body. When you spend time doing nothing, you are actively endeavoring not to do something productive and this can be exhausting!
So why not give yourself a break and commit yourself to staying productive? Here’s some tips to help…
1. Discover Your Most Productive Time
Employees are typically most productive in the morning—and that includes you. Anywhere between 7 and 11 AM is the ideal time for all the nut-cracking tasks. It is not time to do consolidations and reports. It is certainly not a time to hold 1-hour meetings.
If you’re a manager, let everyone know today what he or she has to deal with tomorrow. Relegate all unimportant events and tasks to afternoons. If you allow lazy mornings in your company, expect half-hearted performances from the team.
Unfortunately, that is what most organizations do. In the morning, everything is snail-paced; in the evening, it is an engine room. A simple shift from that mentality can significantly unlock potential productivity.
2. Have an Email and Text Messaging Strategy
All time is not texting or emailing time. If you wake up to emails, at that hour, you are yet to soak in recent updates or have the clarity of thought to not misunderstand a simple request. If you choose to answer email, there is a possibility that you will need to update the reply within the day. You can certainly read the emails, but give yourself some time for your subconscious to come to terms with that they are saying or asking.
A mid morning or afternoon break is an excellent time to update all the information and respond to business emails and text messages.
Formal, detailed emails and texts can save you valuable minutes. Do your best to be clear and concise to avoid any back-and-forth replies. If you’re providing instructions for others, be sure to include all of the information and resources they need to complete the job.
3. Be a Conscious Social Media Hiker
Did you know that an average American spends north of 5 hours on social media every day? Unless you are reaping the rewards from it, now is an excellent time to have a sit-down with Web 2.0. Do you really need to watch those 15 kitten videos while you’re “working”?
At work, employers lose up to 3 hours every day thanks to social media. Some companies have instituted a no social media policy during work hours—and for a good reason. Once people start scrolling for updates, they do so for almost an hour in every sitting!
At a company setting, a policy is inevitable if you don’t want to lose that valuable time. However, if you can’t do that, training your employees on how to explore social media safely can go a long way.
4. Consciously Track Time Spent On Unproductive Work
Investing in a time-tracking software is a noble thing if you feel things are a bit out of hand. If you are struggling to meet deadlines or unable to find quality time for your family, it is definitely a good move to track time. Even when you think you are okay, just try it; it never hurts. You might be surprised by the results.
There is a lot that you do that bogs you down by the end of the day, but you may not notice. Time is spent on not-so-important calls, on Forbes reading rich lists, on Vanity Fair following celebrity gossip, or even on YouTube streaming crazy videos.
Taking an occasional commercial break from work is okay. However, you will wear yourself out watching videos behind your desk.
5. Learn the Four Quadrants
In life, we have to balance two things, important and urgent. Very important and very urgent tasks fall under the first quadrant. Keep it empty at all times. If a job comes up in this quadrant, dispense it right away. Like submitting payroll before the deadline hits – these things can’t wait. There’ll be hell to pay if you procrastinate.
What is important and not so urgent is your everyday task. The task is helping you reduce the number of functions that end up urgent on your desk. If you let it stay unattended, expect to be in a perennial mad rush.
Then there’s not important but very urgent. It’s a pet friendly workplace and your dog is whining next to you because if he doesn’t go outside right now he’s going to pee all over the new carpet they just installed. These are usually the interruptions that plague the day and busy work. Try to refuse or delegate them when you can.
Some tasks are neither important nor urgent, but we still keep them in our calendars. We hope that one day we will reap some benefits off them. Shun tasks in this quadrant unless you have nothing else to do.
6. Do Enough; Perfection Is Overrated
In any business function, in the quest to deliver the best, tasks are often duplicated. There are checks and rechecks. The project gets 90% completed and then suddenly comes to a screeching halt when someone new pops in and says they think the concept is not good enough or not on target. Time is wasted in between the process, but no one seems to care. The focus is on perfection.
If you investigate the process, you might discover that the added layers of quality assurance have little or no significance at all to the overall quality. They just keep projects from being completed.
7. Invest In Project Management Tools
Agile technologies rarely go wrong in business applications. This is because they help knit the organization together. They streamline communication, reduce duplication, and control processes.
You can choose between bespoke and ready-to-use programs in the market. Whatever option you choose, it should marry your business operations, facilitate scaling, and open your doors to the world of data-driven decisions.
8. Make Strategic Planning a Company Culture
Doing things for the sake of it is an outdated business model. We are in a dynamic world where one business solution can make or break the entire industry. Continually making strategic and informed decisions is imperative. Periodically review the tasks your team does on a regular basis to see if they are still relevant and actually add value. Keep your eye on new technology innovations and look for ways to incorporate them when there’s a clear benefit to your specific processes.
In the end, productivity is a result of deliberate and nuanced effort. It is about the quality of time, level of focus, supportive tools, and having a functioning work environment. There’s a level of satisfaction that only comes from a knowing you’ve had a productive day – enjoy it.
