If we all have the same 24 hours in a day, why does it seem like some people get so much more done than others? What makes them more productive? Sometimes it’s their organizational skills. Sometimes it’s just how they tackle their tasks. If you want to be more like them and get more done in a day, here are a few easy suggestions on how you can become more productive.
Bundle Like Tasks
As much as we like to talk about multitasking these days, the brain wasn’t really designed for that. What it does really well is perform repetitive tasks or similar tasks. If you are constantly switching back and forth between physical and analytical tasks, for instance, you’re losing valuable time. It takes several seconds for the brain to get back into what it was doing. Stopping and starting means you lose momentum. Lost momentum is lost productivity.
On the other hand, if you bundle tasks that are similar and perform them all at the same time you’ll be much more efficient. For example, if you have several clients to invoice instead of invoicing one and then writing a blog post, invoicing the next one and then making that important phone call, invoicing the third one and then going to the client lunch, it’s much more efficient to do all of your invoices at one time. While you’re invoicing, you may also want to bundle in paying bills or writing checks. All of these tasks require the same types of attention and similar brain function. Bundling them (or doing them in one block of time) will make you able to perform them more quickly.
Make Your Job Easier
Many of us make our jobs more difficult than they need to be. Sometimes switching up something very small can make a big difference in your productivity. For instance, if you ever watched the Rachael Ray Show and her cooking segment you would have seen that instead of running back and forth between her chopping block and the trash can, Rachel used a big serving bowl for all of her food waste. As she chopped she discarded the waste in the bowl. She never moved until she placed the dish in the oven. Then she dumped the contents of her bowl.
This small action saved her several seconds of walking to the trash can. Of course, this efficiency trick was better for filming but it also made her more productive. When cooking a large meal of several courses those extra back and forths really cut into your productivity.
Examine your daily tasks. What little things could you change up that could cut seconds off the time it takes you to do your job? Do all you printing at once so you’re only walking to the printer once instead of back and forth? Small things add up and can make you much more efficient than you imagined.
Know Yourself
If you’ve ever worked with a career counselor or headhunter to find work they may have asked you if you enjoy working on large teams or small teams or prefer to work on your own. They may have also asked you whether you like smaller projects with quick deadlines or longer, long-term projects.
Knowing your preference from a project perspective can help you become more productive. If you like short deadlines and quick wins, if they energize you, structure your day so that you begin with little projects that can turn into quick finishes. Lovers of to-do lists will likely get a boost of energy by checking things off. If that is the case, start your day off with smaller, quick wins. Save larger projects for mid-morning after you’ve made some progress on your to-do list. Performing those earlier quick wins will boost your energy and enthusiasm and give you more resolve to tackle the bigger projects.
On the other hand, if you prefer larger projects begin your morning tackling the toughest thing on your to-do list. Tackling your big item when you’re fresh can help you be more productive.
As long as you have flexibility in your to-do list set it up the way it makes the most sense for you to be the most productive.
Kill Distractions
One of the biggest threats to productivity is distractions. Unfortunately, our world is filled with them. From social media to emails, coworkers with questions to emergency changes from clients, there are distractions you can control and those you can’t. If you have a boss or a huge client, you may not be able to brush off their interruptions. But you certainly can do something about social media. In order to be more productive, you have to reclaim your day. Here are a couple of ways to do that.
- Schedule social media time. Check or post to social media at scheduled times during the day. Otherwise, keep those sites closed and fight off the urge to check them.
- Turn off emails. Just as social media is a distraction so is email, especially the notifications that pop up on your screen. Even if you don’t switch over to check or read the email you saw the notification and at least part of your brain is thinking about that email sitting in your inbox. Set email-free times. Work for an hour or two without allowing emails to distract you. At the end of that time look at your emails and answer anything that can be taken care of in under 5 minutes. No reason to put those off. For emails that will take longer, come back to them at a designated time later in the day. If there’s an emergency, weigh that emergency against what you’re currently working on. For situations where the “emergency” is more important than what you were working on, take care of the emergency. If it isn’t, schedule a time to handle it in the future.
- Be less available to coworkers. While you may spend more time with your co-workers than you do your family, you’re not getting paid to speak with them. In fact, sometimes they are real productivity drains. If you want to be more productive limit the amount of time you spend in public areas like the break room. When you’re at your desk use earphones or some other signal that now is not a good time to talk. You needn’t see this as rude behavior. It’s simply necessary on those days where you need to get something done.
Outsource
You can’t do everything yourself. At some point, you have to rely on those around you to do what they’re skilled at doing. If you don’t have people around you but have a lot of work, consider how hiring someone or working with a freelancer or vendor can free up your time to do what you need to do. For instance, if you have a small (or non-existent) marketing department it may be a huge time saver to partner with a company that can handle certain aspects of your marketing for you. If you’re going to a trade show and you need swag, perusing seemingly endless catalogs to find an item and then calling someone to order it, and then babysitting it through the production process may not be the best uses of your time. Instead, look to work with an offline marketing partner who can help you make a quick decision that will represent your branding well. Some companies can take over the entire process for you and become an extension of your marketing department keeping you on task for what’s more important to your business and your role.
Get Rid of Anchors
Are there things in your day (or are there employees on your staff) that are dragging things down? If so, stop making excuses for them. If there’s something in your day that’s ineffective, look for ways to change that. For instance, are you sitting in a coffee line for 15 minutes every morning? What are you getting from this 15-minutes besides a cup of coffee? Can you eliminate this wait and do something productive with those 15 minutes instead by making coffee at home with a machine that has a timer that you set the night before?
If it’s an employee that’s weighing you or your team down, deal with that person by communicating expectations and setting up a structure for them. Continuing to make excuses or giving them extra time brings down morale and affects everyone’s productivity. It also sets a bad example. Your team is only as productive as your weakest link.
Finally, it’s next to impossible to be productive if you’re running on empty. As much as it pains me to admit this, coffee can only take you so far. Your best productivity tool is a good night’s sleep. And not just one. Most Americans are so sleep deprived that we spend our days taking things to keep us up and our nights taking things to quiet us down. If you want to become more productive, the first thing you need to do is make sleep a priority. Once you have that in place and you feel well-rested, these other productivity tips will easily give you more time in your day to do the things you need and want to do.
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