Your working hours are finite, and that’s why it is critical to ensure that you make the most of them. To increase your output, you need to increase the number of hours you work or increase your productivity.
Productivity is all about making the best use of the time you’ve got and brought out the maximum output possible. Increasing your productivity at work is no big deal. All you need is a few tips that can get you started!
1. Keep Your Health First
A healthy body allows you to work to your full capacity. At the same time, it ensures that your mind remains healthy as well and keeps you going. Exercising regularly can not only improve your fitness levels but can increase blood circulation in your body. This can directly affect your productivity.
On the other hand, if you’re not healthy enough, you may feel sluggish or tired all the time. This can reduce your productivity at the workplace, and you may have to spend long hours doing small tasks as well.
To improve your health, you can also eat healthy foods throughout the day. This can keep your brain fueled and reduce energy crashes as well. Some of the best foods are fresh fruits, oatmeal biscuits, and fruit-and-nut bars. Also, remember that you should avoid junk food at all costs.
2. Make Use of Technology
Tools can make life a lot simpler. But that’s not all. They can even help you work efficiently at your workplace and increase your productivity. There are many tools out there that can help with time management so that you can improve your output.
Some of the best tools for employees are:
Boomerang: This is an app for Gmail that helps you take complete control of your inbox. You can use it to schedule your emails to never miss out on sending an email at a later date and time. It also boomerangs emails to the top of your inbox to show that the recipient hasn’t replied to you yet.
Evernote: This tool allows you to record notes in both text and voice, along with pictures to help you remember things easily.
Time Doctor: This software helps to make your teams more productive at work. You’ll be able to see highly-detailed reports about how and where your team spends its time. This includes the websites and apps they are using. It even notifies them when they spend too much time on blacklisted websites.
3. Set Your Priorities and Learn to Say “NO”
You need to start assigning priorities to tasks that you’re doing. This will allow you to figure out which ones are the most important and must be done first. It can help you finish your work, especially the most important tasks.
It is also necessary to learn to say no to people who may disrupt your workflow. It’s very easy to say yes to help them out on some other tasks, and this can result in a reduction of your productivity. That’s why it’s necessary to learn to say no to them more frequently to ensure that you can dedicate enough time to your important activities.
4. Think About “How Can I do it Better?”
There’s no perfect method of doing something; you always have scope to improve upon it. Whenever you feel that some process is frustrating, take note of it and think about how you can improvise on it.
You must always remain flexible enough to change your routine slightly and keep your eyes open for any innovations. Doing this can help in increasing your productivity drastically. The idea is to work smarter, not harder.
5. Motivate Yourself
Motivation is essential when you want to improve your performance. Many times you get this from your co-workers or your seniors. However, if that is lacking, you can still motivate yourself to do better than you already are.
You need to use the reward mechanism to improve your productivity by yourself. A great way of doing this is by giving yourself small rewards whenever you do something right and finish it within the stipulated time.
When you reward yourself, you’ll feel good and get a sense of accomplishment, which keeps you motivated to continue. In simple words, if you’re happy, then you’ll be more productive at your workplace.
6. Track How Much Time You’re Spending on Tasks
It is easy to lose a track of time when doing a particular task. But, at the same time, it is also important to do all the jobs assigned to you. To ensure productivity at the workplace, you must keep a check on the time you spend on doing your tasks.
This will help you speed up on jobs where you’re spending too much time, ensuring your productivity. In case you are struggling to complete a task, which might be hampering your productivity, you can reach out to other team members for help.
7. Take Regular Breaks
A key factor ensuring productivity at the workplace is regular breaks. Employees often make this mistake and keep on working for a long duration of hours. While it might help the work get done in the short term, it reduces productivity in the long run.
Make sure you take regular breaks to give your brain the time to process information and breathe creatively. Pomodoro is an effective technique to ensure productivity where you work for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes. It also ensures that you are working in a balanced manner.
8. Avoid Multitasking
One of the biggest mistakes that employees make is that they tend to be productive by multitasking. However, it is important to know that the brain is not designed to do multiple tasks at once. It is often an illusion that ends up hampering productivity in the long run. Make sure you do not make this mistake and focus on one task at a time.
Final Thoughts
It is critical to stay motivated at your workplace to increase your productivity. You must also take care of your health by exercising regularly and eating healthy food. Additionally, you should learn to say no to tasks that may eat up your time and reduce your productivity. By using software and tools, you can further improve your productivity. Lastly, think of innovative ways through which you can improve the way you’re doing your tasks.
What are the other ways through which you can increase your productivity at your workplace? Drop your views in the comments.