Those who land their dream job, or do what they love for a living are among the luckiest people in the world. However even the best jobs turn into drudgery eventually. When this happens productivity tends to suffer.
Do you feel you are heading along this path? What are some things you can do to be more productive at work?
- Streamline Your Workstation
Clutter can affect how you work and think. When you see clutter it’s like a mess that is waiting for you to clean it up, and in the end you can’t be at peace or think straight because you worry about having to clean it up.
Keeping a clean workspace will do wonders. You don’t have to waste time looking for the things you need, the things you need will always be readily accessible, you don’t have to push things out of the way, or take things to the trash bin en masse.
- Take Breaks or Move Around
Studies have found that powernaps have been known to increase productivity. However, not all offices encourage this. If your office has not discovered the wonders of power-napping taking a break will have to do. Have coffee, listen to music, take a walk around the block or in a nearby park. Do anything that doesn’t involve work for a short period of time.
More often than not you will find yourself refreshed and your creative juices flowing when you come back to work.
- Tackle the Toughest Tasks First
Do you always have that one task you dread to deal with? Do you always end up putting off this task repeatedly? In the end that task will occupy the back of your mind and make you worry a lot. Sometimes the worry becomes too much and it will start to affect how you deal with other more mundane tasks.
It’s always good to deal with this challenging task first. Just imagine the relief you will feel after this particular task is finished and how free you will be to pursue other things.
- Turn Off All Sources of Distraction
There are many things we do that can distract us from work, like checking our phones for messages, checking our inbox for new emails, chatting with a co-worker, or even surfing the Internet.
Turn off all sources of distraction. Keep the phone out of sight, don’t check personal email during office hours, avoid chatting with officemates, and close browsers that have nothing to do with work. All distractions begin as little things and before you know it you have wasted time.
- Set Self-Imposed Deadlines
Deadlines can be a source of stress, but they can also be an effective motivator. What’s the best kind of deadline? One that you set for yourself. That way you cannot claim whoever made it did not take into account your abilities, circumstances and situation.
Deadlines can be long-term for tougher tasks and short-term for small ones. For example you can convince yourself a certain task should not take twenty minutes. Another task should be done in an hour and so on. Eventually you will find yourself able to finish tasks in less time than you expect and find time to squeeze in other tasks.