Powerful ways to increase productivity and reach your goals

No matter what job or business we’re involved in, we always want to make sure that our efforts are at par with our expectations. This brings focus to one important aspect, productivity . Work can be demanding at times. If you have a normal 9 to 5 job, you may have to clock in early and sometimes leave late after you’re done with the day’s tasks.

However, you need to remember that your productivity can vary based on your work routine as well as your attitude . Some people say that the best way to improve your productivity is to work smart and not hard. In any case, what matters the most is the amount of work that you get done within a given period of time rather than the number of hours taken to do the task.

Smart Working Tips that you can follow to improve your Productivity

1. Quality Sleep

Have you ever had to stay up all night and still run errands the next day? If you know what this feels like, you definitely know the importance of sleep. Unfortunately, we live in a time where most people are deprived of quality sleep. Basic things like looking at your computer screen or staring at your phone at night can interfere with your sleep patterns.

It’s high time that you ditch the old methods of working late and then waking up early the next day to go to work. If you prioritize sleep and resting well at night, your productivity levels can increase by as much as 40%. This can also be achieved by taking a short nap during the day especially during your lunch breaks.

2. Exposure to Natural Light

As weird as this may sound, natural light is essential to how our brain depicts time. As soon as you get up in the morning, the glares of sunlight hiding behind your bedroom drapes will naturally mean that it’s morning.

Even if you happen to still be asleep, your brain will naturally resume back to the normal functioning. Therefore, the more you expose yourself to natural light and avoid artificial digital light, the easier it will be for you to rest well and boost your productivity levels.

3. Get Yourself a Productivity Planner

Another way to increase your productivity is have a productivity planner. This is like a calendar that allows you to prioritize the important tasks of the day and week. You can search online for the best planners for productivity . There should be a list of goal-oriented planners with reviews from different users to help you make the right choice.

4. Start with the Difficult Tasks

According to Mark Twain, when you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, there’s nothing else that can ruin that day for you since you’ve dealt with most uncomfortable situation already. I am not telling you to literally eat a frog.

This basically means that you need to put the most difficult task planned for the day as the first one. This will leave you with easier tasks that will help you improve on your speed, allowing you to do more.

5. Single-Tasking

Science has shown studies that claim the human brain isn’t designed to multitask. As much as this is within your body capability, multitasking can reduce productivity. The explanation to this is that multitasking is likely to lower your attention, interfere with your working memory, and build-up fatigue and mental stress.

Therefore, the best thing to do is to focus on one task and finish it before you move onto the next one. This will help you finish loads of work within a shorter period of time compared to if you were to do more than one task at the same time.

6. Use the ‘Two Minute Rule

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The good thing about the workload is that you can break it down to several parts in order to make it easier. All the same, you can identify those smaller tasks that could probably not take you more than two minutes to complete.

These tasks may include daily chores such as replying to emails, updating your calendar or even rearranging your desk. Doing these small tasks will give you the confidence to handle the big ones. That way, you become more productive.

7. Plan Every Day the Night Prior

As soon as the day comes to end, don’t just rush to your bed and retire for the next morning. You need to have a to-do list that’ll guide you through the next day. This will help improve productivity since you’ll be able to complete more tasks the next day.

8. Be Organized

If you happened to come to a desk full of disorganized papers lying everywhere, you can be unmotivated to work. Being organized goes a long way when it comes to improving productivity. When you become more organized, you get what you’re looking for much faster or even get tasks done quickly since everything is right where you want them to be.

9. Work While Commuting

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you always need to remember that we only have 24 hours in a day. Therefore, it’ only wise that you take advantage of every minute you have to get some work done. More often than not, we tend to spend too much time in traffic every day. This can be a good time to get some work done. Completing a task or two while commuting can do wonders for your daily productivity.

10. Get Rid of Distractions

Working with focus is the only way to make sure that you get your tasks done in the shortest time possible. This means that you need to get rid of any distractions. Most distractions come from digital devices that we use every day. Putting your mobile phone on silent mode can help you stay focused.

Conclusion

Working smartly can help you boost your day-to-day productivity. After all, an increase in productivity will only push you closer to your goals. Therefore, try to use the above ways if you want to see an improvement in what you do.