11 Powerful Tips How To Be More Productive At Work
May 5, 2019 7:00 AM EST | 8 min read
Learning to be more productive at work is not about working hard and getting more things done.
It is about creatively managing your time.
We have 24 hours a day, and we can’t create more hours to do more.
How to be more productive at work?
Being productive is more about managing yourself and how you tackle your tasks each day at work.
If you feel like you’re not getting much done by the end of the day or don’t have enough time for all your tasks, below are the 11 powerful tips that can help you.
What is productivity?
Productivity is a skill you can learn and a habit you can cultivate.
And when you’re ready to be more productive and get done, read below…
1. Stop Multitasking
If you truly want to do great work and get the most out of your day, don’t multitask.
Instead, focus and put in undivided attention to doing your task.
You cannot be in the flow when you multitask.
Your brain will switch between tasks, and you will get distracted from task to task.
Psychologists have discovered that when you try to tackle a few tasks in one go, you will tend to lose focus in your work because you are trying to jump your focus point.
So learn to focus and put your full attention to one work at a time.
You will be most productive and creative when you are in the flow.
And you can only achieve this with a laser focus on what you do.
You will also enjoy our article on hard work beats talent.
2. Make Use Of Your Commute Time
It takes at least a few minutes to commute from your house to your workplace unless you sleep in your office.
And if your workplace is far from where you stay, or you are always stuck in a jam, you will have even more commuting time.
Most people listen to the radio while driving, and they prefer to check out Facebook while waiting at the traffic light.
Don’t do this, instead, turn your car into a learning center and use your commute time to plan for your day.
Listen to the audio program to learn something new.
Use your commute time to brainstorm and think about what you need to get done for the day.
You will also enjoy our article on Stop Getting Distracted and Get Things Done.
3. Time Block
This is one of the most powerful techniques to get more done at work.
You have time to block the day and the time to finish the task.
For example, if your task is to write an article each day, you can time block and write it for an hour from 10 am every day.
When you time block, you will do the task at that moment, with no excuse.
If you time block to make cold calls, ensure you do it and don’t do other things until the task is done or the time is up.
4. Take A Break
Studies have shown that our concentration will fall as we use our energy to focus and work on our things.
And this means that we simply need to replenish our energy and refresh so we can stay focused again.
For instance, you can take a short break between tasks.
Such as working on a task for 50 minutes and taking a 10 minutes rest.
You can schedule your break to suit your style.
5. Create Distraction-Free Environment
Like it is mentioned above, you become the most productive and most creative when you are in the flow.
And when you are in the flow, don’t get distracted.
Therefore, you need to create a distraction-free environment to achieve this.
Turn your phone silence or switch it off when necessary.
Can you imagine when you are so focused on doing your work, that suddenly you get distracted by a phone call, and then you can’t find the focus to get back where you left off after?
6. Plan Your Day
It is true that we cannot predict the future, and we cannot guarantee that everything will go according to our plan; however, it is better to have a plan than no plan at all.
When you have no idea what you need to do during the day, most probably, you will waste all your time on things that don’t matter.
When you have a plan and know what needs to get done, you will at least know what you need to do.
You can also adopt the big 5 or the big 3 strategies whereby you plan for the 5 or 3 tasks that you need to get done for the day.
And the rest is up to you.
7. Do The Most Important Work First
Brian Tracy, in his book, Eats That Frog said that to be productive, you need to eat the biggest and the ugliest frog first.
In other words, you need to get the most important task done first.
You will feel lighter, accomplished, and more satisfied when you get the heaviest and most important work done.
8. Exercise And Workout
It is said that exercises and workouts will make you more productive at work, which is backed by science.
You release all your stress when you exercise.
Your body will release a chemical called endorphin that will make you feel good.
Robin Sharma, the author who wrote The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, suggested we take 2 rounds of exercises each day.
Once in the morning before we start our work and once in the early evening.
Exercises will improve your blood flow and build your alertness.
This is why it helps to make you more productive.
9. Get Enough Sleep
Do you have enough sleep?
And do you know that it will be difficult for you to concentrate if you don’t have enough sleep?
Normal people require around 6 to 7 hours of sleep each day.
Some people can be productive and energetic even though they have fewer hours of sleep.
This is because they have used to it.
If you take 6 hours of sleep each day and feel that you need to sleep less to have more time to work, you can do it.
You need more quality sleep and change your sleeping time slowly than dramatically.
Try to wake up 5 or 10 minutes earlier and slowly change your sleeping habit.
Most people underestimate how their sleep can affect their productivity.
You just can’t focus and produce great work if you feel sleepy and tired.
10. Develop Productive Habits
Productivity is a habit.
You can learn to be productive if you want to.
All you need to do is to turn it into a habit.
For example, if you found that time blocking is great, and is working for you, you may want to make it into your habit and use time block every day.
Understanding your strengths is one big way to transform yourself into a leader from a follower.
If you find that exercise in the morning allows you to better concentrate on your work, do it every day and adopt it as a habit.
We are creatures of habit.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Hence, excellence and success are the results of our habits.
11. Get A Sense Of Accomplishment
Would you feel motivated to do something if you don’t know when you can accomplish it?
Not likely.
This is why you need to have a sense of accomplishment for all the tasks that you work on.
Just like writing a book, you will know that you have accomplished it after you have written it.
You will know what things you need to get done to accomplish the work.
If you cannot tell when or how to measure your work when it’s done, you will never have the motivation to do it.
When you want to lose weight, the first thing you need is to weigh yourself and decide how much weight you want to lose and by when.
This is what it means to have a sense of accomplishment.
You can break down a big task into smaller tasks and decide how to measure your work each day so that you will feel accomplished.
These are the 11 powerful tips on how to be more productive at work.
You may not want to implement all these 11 tips at once.
Try out those that are suitable for you and make productivity a habit.