5 Ways to Boost Your Productivity

Productivity levels are a common topic of discuss for business of all types and sizes, because productivity impacts a plethora of other aspects of business, including the bottom line—profitability. Increasing personal productivity levels can help secure your job position, get you promoted to the next level or help your business flourish if you are an entrepreneur; but sometimes that is easier said than done. Check out the following steps for easy ways to increase your productivity.

1. Optimize your schedule. Most people have a certain time of day when they are more productive than others. Whenever possible, try to schedule the time when you work alone on projects and various tasks during your highest period of productivity. For instance, those who love the morning should try to leave mornings open, and schedule the bulk of their meetings in the afternoon. Although the morning person will need to be productive all hours of the workday, he or she can also boost productivity for the afternoon by being extra productive during the morning hours (ie. brainstorming a list of talking points/ideas in the morning to increase productivity during afternoon meetings).

2. Prioritize your “to-do” list. Have you ever had a day where you were seemingly extremely busy, but accomplished nothing of substance at the end of the day? Prioritizing your “to-do” list can help eliminate this all-too-common problem. By prioritizing your list, you will complete the most important tasks first, and the less important tasks if you have time remaining in the day. Prioritizing you list will also make sure you are not tempted to complete easy tasks on your list first, which typically leaves more complex (and important) items for the following day, week or even month.

3. Get rid of distractions. Email, telephone calls and other distractions are a necessary part of doing business. However, these distractions can severely decrease productivity levels. Designate a set time for answering emails and making telephone calls each day. Of course, you may want to answer incoming telephone calls as they come in, but setting a specific time to respond to emails or missed telephone calls will enable you to work on tasks with virtually no interruption. Working without distractions eliminates constant starting and stopping of tasks that can make it difficult to complete anything of real substance. If you work in an office setting, let your co-workers know when you prefer to have “Do Not Disturb” periods so you can concentrate on important tasks, making it clear that you are available for emergencies or important last-minute issues that arise.

4. Delegate tasks. Although some of us would like to think we are, no one in your office has the title of Super Man or Super Women—so stop trying to do everything by yourself. If you have a task that would be better completed by someone in another department within your company, or by multiple people, rather than just you, don’t be afraid to say so. Delegating tasks can help you feel less overwhelmed and increase overall productivity.

5. Change the words “have to” to “get to.” Believe it or not, changing the way in which you view your daily tasks can actually help increase your productivity. If you approach all of your daily “to-dos” with a positive outlook, you will look forward to completing them, and possibly complete them in a timelier manner. Rather than “I have to complete these marketing brochures,” say “I get to complete these marketing brochures.” Automatically, your mind will be taken to a place where you see the endless opportunities and future growth that your business will experience through the completion of your sometimes-tedious tasks.