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Productivity tips for organising your work life
Structured ‘me time’
Go through email and social media updates that have piled up overnight and triage the backlog. Knock out quick responses and referrals so other people can start working on tasks.
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Schedule the bigger tasks and delete the stuff that are not informational or important.
Coordination tasks
It is crazy not to use commute time to winnow out time-intensive tasks. During your morning commute, do a roundup of your external consultants -- getting an update on open projects and finding out if they need assistance.
In that way by the time you arrive at the office, you have an accurate picture of your projects’ status.
Schedule regular breaks
Running from back-to-back meetings is not productive, because you get tired and lose focus.
Block off time in your calendar and take breaks. Making these break routines increases predictability; creating a regular schedule to keep your mind organised.
If you can afford it, take a 10- to 20-minute power nap after lunch too.
Don’t email
Pick up the phone or walk down the hall and talk directly to colleagues.
For geographically remote folks, use chats.
You can give precise direction and clear up misunderstandings quickly.
The amount of time wasted perpetuating endless email threads is mind-boggling -- and the pointless mistakes generated.
Use checklists
Particularly when you are overworked or are operating under time constraints, checklists keep you on track.
Mindset
Put yourself in a position where you can focus on doing the right task for the moment. Focus on the task for the day and prepare towards it to avoid anxiety and nervousness.
Switch off pop-up notifications
Don’t let applications interrupt your concentration with annoying pop-up messages.
Shut them off and limit checking your email to set times during the day. You won’t regret it.
Break big problems into smaller chunks
This will reduce the feeling of overload and the procrastination associated with taking on big jobs.
One practical way to do this is to break big jobs down into short sprints.
Having a solution in hand throughout the process reduces the anxiety of tackling big jobs.
Work 'off site' when it makes sense
When you need to write a document or research a topic, the absence of office interruptions will improve concentration.
Letting employees work from home has other advantages, including reduced commute time, shorter lunch times and fewer sick days.
Reduce meeting times
You will get the same amount of work done, because so much time is wasted dealing with conference call setup and useless banter.
If you cut one five-person meeting per day from one hour down to 45 minutes, you will gain back 25 hours a month of work time.
That is roughly 300 hours a year -- almost two months of work!
Credit: entrepreneur.com
