There are all sorts of theories online for improving your productivity at work, from taking miracle pills to completely avoiding things at work that you don’t like. However, over 60% of individuals in the UK have confessed that they don’t like their jobs at all and, therefore, avoiding your job completely would be counterproductive. Instead, we’ve come up with 7 easy steps that will help you to be more productive in the workplace.
1. DON’T MULTITASK– One of the biggest mistakes people make at work is multitasking! Although it may seem like the logical way to increase productivity it can, in fact, have the opposite effect. Making the brain focus on multiple topics at once can not only cause a degree of confusion it will dilute the attention you pay to individual tasks. Having to differentiate between several assignments at once can actually slow down the process and reduce your work quality. Working on assignments individually and prioritising can make you more productive by allowing you to allot the required amount of attention to each task with a lower risk of errors and confusion.
2. PROCRASTINATION IS YOUR ENEMY– Avoid leaving tasks you don’t like until last. If you don’t like it then it will likely take you longer to complete. Leaving it until last minute can significantly decrease your productivity! Procrastinating can cause you to delay the completion of all assignments in an effort to avoid the job you’re evading, decreasing your productiveness.
3. PLAN AHEAD– Creating a day-to-day plan of tasks and identifying future jobs can help you to better organise your time and prioritise. Effective organisation will increase your productivity and help to decrease your levels of procrastination.
4. MANAGE YOUR CAFFEINE INTAKE– Although caffeine can initially give you a much needed boost to finish your workday, it can also disrupt your sleeping pattern and make you less productive in the long-term. Managing your caffeine intake can ensure you get your coffee fix without harming your productivity.
5. SLEEP!– Getting enough sleep every night is essential to your productiveness. Sleep will help you to relax and start fresh the next day. Lack of sleep can cause demotivation and slow you down.
6. BLOCK OUT DISTRACTIONS– Having lots of different noises surrounding you in the office can have a negative impact on your productivity. Try using different techniques to block out any distractions in the office. Methods such as listening to music can muffle background noise and has been proven to increase concentration. Blocking out distractions allows you to focus on the task at hand, which will help to raise productivity levels as well as improve the quality of work produced.
7. TWO HEADS CAN BE BETTER THAN ONE– Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from your colleagues, as they may know the answer to your problem and it can save you a huge amount of time! If not, having two people look into a problem can seriously speed up the process.