Increase Your Overall Productivity By Working Smarter, Not Harder

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Are you having trouble achieving everything you want to accomplish each day? Before overworking yourself and burning out, look at all the factors. Are you working hard and do you have the necessary knowledge, tools and resources? If so, the problem may be your approach to completing the work. You may not need to work harder to increase your productivity levels, you may simply need to work smarter.

5 Simple Ways to Boost Overall Productivity

Want to learn how you can accomplish more without doing additional work? Use the following five tips to increase your overall efficiency and avoid spending more hours at the office each day!

1. Stop Multitasking

You probably think you are saving time by trying to do three things at once, but it’s unlikely. When your attention is split between tasks, it’s often difficult to dedicate the attention needed to focus and work efficiently to do the job well. This can lead to sub-par work and mistakes. Instead, complete each task separately. It will help to ensure that you always do your best and that each finished product meets any standards.

2. Create Daily To Do Lists

Take a few minutes each morning to plan how you are going to spend the rest of the day. Create a to do list by prioritizing the most important and urgent items and saving the rest for later. Ensure that your lists are realistic and let others know if it looks like you will not be able to complete something in time. Your superiors will appreciate knowing of the issues and it will provide the opportunity for co-workers to assist before any deadlines are passed.

3. Start Delegating

Do not be afraid to ask for help when you have more on your to do list than you can handle. When reviewing your assigned tasks, you may realize there are people on your team better equipped to handle certain items than you. Trying to do it all can quickly lead to burn out. Avoid overworking yourself by delegating tasks or asking for help from someone else.

4. Track Your Time

If you constantly find yourself wondering where all the time goes each day, make it a point to find out. See how much time you are spending on each task. Are you wasting time attending meetings you really don’t need to be at, talking to co-workers who stop by your desk to chat and other activities that can easily take up a good portion of your work day? Use the results to make a positive change.

5. Minimize Inbox Monitoring

How many emails do you receive each day? It’s easy to get sidetracked when a notification flashes on your screen every time you get a new message. The time you spend responding to emails probably adds up quickly, and each time you stop in the middle of another task it takes time and effort to regain your focus.

While it might not be conducive to all roles, one way to combat distractions is to turn off email notifications while completing time-sensitive tasks. Another approach could be to only proactively monitor your inbox during specific times. There isn’t a one size fits all solution to this problem, but you might be surprised how much more focused and efficient you become once you make the effort to condense your email activities each day.

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