5 tips to improve your productivity

If you feel like you’re always rushing through the day, trying to get a million things done at once, it may be time to look at ways of improving your productivity.

Do you have a co-worker or friend who always seems incredibly productive and on top of everything? Take a deep breath and a leaf from their perfectly organized notebook – it’s time to get your work life in order.

We’re going to show you how to take control and take charge of your work day. Getting on top of your To Do lists and feeling confident in your productivity skills will:

• Improve your work efficiency and performance
• Help you get more done in less time
• Reduce stress and build your self-confidence
• Allow you to have more time to do what you like!

Read on for our top 5 tips to become a more super-productive version of yourself.

1. Schedule Time to Manage Your Emails

When we talk about productivity, it soon becomes clear that it’s a really personal thing – especially, it seems, in the way we manage our inboxes.

While some people stick fastidiously to checking their emails first thing every morning, others swear by leaving their inbox well alone until at least 10am, allowing them to focus their full attention on completing other tasks.

Regardless of what time of day you decide is right for you, one of the best things you can do to improve your productivity is to schedule proper time each day to go through your inbox. Constantly checking emails, or responding to every little notification from your inbox, results in a lot of wasted time and energy and disruption to your workflow.

Choose the time (or times) of day you’ll use to process your inbox and stick to it – for example, you may decide to read and respond to emails every morning, noon and night. Don’t be tempted to keep flicking over to your inbox to see if anything new has come in. With your new schedule you’ll have ample time to read and action new mail.

2. Touch Things Only Once

By committing to handling things once, and once only, you’ll be able to focus on dealing with things as they arise, particularly little things that only take a moment but can easily be forgotten. Or start adding up when you put them all together! Taking the time to do things in the moment will actually save you time in the long run, as well as a lot of potential stress.

You can start practicing this way of thinking by paying bills as they arrive, replying to emails when you read them or simply putting something back in its place straight away. Doing this means it’ll be done, dusted and out of your head – allowing you to focus on new tasks at hand. 

3. Get Yourself a Notebook

Richard Branson is known to be a big fan of the humble notebook, carrying a notebook with him wherever he goes and claiming he’d never have got where he is today without this habit.

Using a notebook to get things out of your head and onto the page is very effective for stress management, allowing you to keep on top of your daily To Do list and jot down your ideas throughout the day.

Whatever you write in your notebook, it’s sure to be a lot better for your brain and creativity than staring at a screen and hitting refresh on social media.

4. Curb Your Social Media

Did you know that the average office worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes a day? That’s only three hours of productive work, out of the general eight-hour work day. This tells us that a lot of time is spent being distracted by other things. Or sites.

Take a look at your own day and evaluate how you spend, or waste, your time. If checking social media has become a problem for your concentration or work deliverables, consider taking a break from it or at least putting some strong strategies in place to manage it.

5. Take Advantage of Productivity Tools

It’s important to find productivity tools and strategies that make sense to you, while fitting in with your personality and lifestyle. Look for apps and websites that offer tools that can boost your productivity as soon as you start using them. There are also apps that can help you kick bad habits and change old behavioral patterns.

Check out the Top 10 Apps for Enhanced Productivity by organization expert Suzanna Kaye. This online course shows handy productivity apps in action, providing tips for leveraging their best features and offering cool alternative uses.

Online learning courses are a great way to learn more tips and tricks, helping you to boost productivity and achieve your goals. You may also like to enroll in 10 Steps to Ultimate Productivity, an online course offering simple, practical steps to help you create the perfect productivity system and build powerful habits to help you achieve your goals.

Good luck with your new systems and strategies – we hope they work as well for you as they do for us!