Increase productivity at work - become an exemplary employee

Each employee longs for well-deserved recognition from a hard to please superior. However, differentiating yourself from other co-workers becomes a challenging mission that requires effort and dedication, not to mention that you need to learn how to fight against the most dangerous two enemies that impede you to grow and go up in your employer’s estimation: distractions and procrastination. The reality is that both parties, namely the employee and the employer should find ways to improve their productivity at work for various reasons. Productivity has a close relationship with efficiency, which is necessary for a successful business that enjoys increased profits. If you want to become a diligent worker and contribute to the progress of your employer’s company then you should find motivation to reach your maximum potential and not limit yourself to accomplishing only the job duties but to go a step further and engage in major projects where you can express your relevant suggestions and truly make a change. You will not only receive the much-desired recognition from your superior and your co-workers, but also an attractive bonus.

Excellent qualities that best describe an outstanding employee

An outstanding employee must possess several important qualities. Aspects like age, sex, remuneration or industry have nothing to do with the performance level of workers meaning that we strictly refer to the personal characteristics you should have in order to become a powerful influence in the corporate environment . First, you have to display intelligence, ambition, individuality, confidence, leadership and exude success while remaining focused, detail and action-oriented, honest, modest, hard working and passionate. Practically, these represent the main ingredients that you need to combine perfectly in order to stand out at the workplace. You may believe that companies apply unrealistic standards when it comes to selecting the best candidate for a position. However, the real struggle begins after they accept you because you have to prove your worth, not to mention that you must constantly expand your knowledge, gain experience and improve your skills. Shortly, you need to evolve professionally. Engage in a conversation with your superior in order to discover the expectations you have to meet on a daily basis. Do not hesitate when it comes to asking questions and sharing productive ideas that might facilitate your job. Finally yet importantly, having excellent communication skills and being easily adaptable to change will help you overcome many obstacles at work.

Factors that negatively influence performance at the workplace

As an employee, you experience both internal and external pressures that cause a great impact on your mental framework and productivity, but also on the company as a whole meaning that both you and your superior need to make the necessary corrections in order to mend matters. Joining forces and identifying the factors that impede you to receive the wanted recognition and your employer to ensure the success of his business represents the wisest decision. Outdated technology, inadequate resources, unsuitable pairing of team members, the inability to manage heavy workloads and even poor management could interfere with your plans and efforts of standing out from the crowd and showing your worth. Of course, you do not have control over these factors and all you can do is share your concerns with someone who can wield his power and provide better conditions. On the other hand, you do have to admit that sometimes you are slacking. Whether you lack motivation, you are terrible at meeting deadlines, you engage in various activities at the same time and then you cannot seem to complete any of them, you avoid collaborating with others or you cannot eliminate distractions the bottom line is that sometimes you set obstacles that impede you to evolve at the workplace .  

Acknowledge the obstacles that hold you back and eliminate them

You have to recognize yourself as your biggest enemy and accept that you will not be able to change your bad habits overnight. However, this should not discourage you. After all, you are human and you have the right to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. The most important thing is to become responsible for the obstacles that you intentionally or unintentionally create and forgive yourself. For instance, multitasking represents a common factor that most employees attempt and obviously, fail. You probably already noticed that if you juggle multiple tasks simultaneously, you may feel productive but the truth is that you will never complete them efficiently. Multitasking is a biological impossibility and you will agree with us if you make a simple experiment: try to speak with a co-worker and scrolling down your Facebook page while writing an important e-mail. Can you concentrate your full attention on the e-mail? The answer is “no” because you engaged in other two activities that also require your attention. Therefore, you should take each task at a time.

Secondly, becoming distracted represents another common issue among employees. Whether you think about a catastrophic date you experienced recently, you cannot help but look into that interesting magazine you just bought or you feel lucky and you want to play an exciting poker game that could bring you more money, the reality is that any source of entertainment seems attractive when you have to work. Ignoring distractions is very difficult but with determination and perseverance, you will eventually succeed to focus on relevant tasks that could bring you a promotion instead of momentary pleasures. For instance, blocking your access to certain websites by installing anti-distraction programs, taking a brief walk from time to time or putting away the phone are small actions that will really make a difference. You may believe that creating a list with tasks that you need to accomplish in a certain day is useless but it does help because it keeps you on the right path towards reaching your goal. You know that you need to complete a task in a certain timeframe in order to consider the respective day a success and you do it. Reward yourself if you need and remember: the biggest reward will come from  your superior.