14 tips that increased my productivity by 90%

Yes, I want to be insanely productive! Well, who doesn’t want to be? Reinforcing my professional efficiency over time has been my center objective from last six months. And for this, I was madly reading books, blogs, magazines, getting productivity advice from others and what not. I experimented a lot; failed and then experimented again, until it was success.

It’s a great realization and I would definitely want to share the tips that have helped me in removing the barriers to my personal productivity. Let’s have a look, one by one:

1. Set clear goals: Before you start working on a project, especially a long term project, set a simple and clear objective that is to be accomplished. Why? Because in the ongoing process, the chances of getting deviated from the actual goals are high or simply ‘scope creep’ happens. To avoid such situations, revisit your goals and measure your progress on regular basis. Be an archer with a strong visual picture of your target so as to hit the bull’s eye.

2. Social networking isn’t that bad: Though, majority of the articles and productivity journals on the web emphasize to ‘turn off’ social media websites while working, but personally, I found the opposite to work for me. For every two hours of continuous working, I take a two minute sneak peek to my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. This habit suffices my social networking curiosity and helps me focus on my work.
Social media may positively or negatively affect your workplace activity. If you know how to manage social media in the workplace then you can get better results to improve productivity. I believe social media can be one of the best productivity tools, you just need to know how to utilize its potential.

3. Schedule your downtime: Remember the saying — “What gets measured gets managed”. By downtime, here I mean the time during which you’re really not working. For instance — having a cup of coffee with a colleague, a meeting with teammates, etc. You can simply mark these moments on your calendar before or after they happen. This would help you to track the actual time you’ve devoted working and calculating the corresponding outcome.

4. Record. Record. Record: Every now and then, we get an idea into our mind that could do wonders to the project or solve a current problem. But, what happens is that we’re never able to implement those ideas as they’re easily skipped from our mind. This happens! What I’ve started doing is simply type in and save these ideas into my ProofHub quickies as soon as they hit my mind. So I can refer to them whenever required.

5. A day unplanned is a day wasted: There was a time when I used to start my day with whatever comes first and would keep doing like this till the end of the day. Certainly, this was the reason why some of my crucial tasks were always pending. But then, I read this somewhere — “It is highly crucial to do the right things than to do the things right.” It made a hit and I realized where I was wrong. Now, I ensure to have a plan before I start working on a given day with my ProofHub’s to-do list. Personally, I prefer to do it a night before so that I can jump on the tasks as soon as I’m out of bed.

6. Reduce meeting time by 25%: We all know that meetings rarely start and end on time. It has become a culture. A simple solution to this problem is to reduce the meeting time. For instance — Reduce a one hour meeting to 45 minutes. You’ll see the difference — people who all are participating will arrive early and will be more positive about participating as a result.

7. Switch off pop up notifications: Your email, chat, and other programs that are running on your system and cell phone will throw in distracting notifications that will divert your attention. Save yourself and turn off these notifications while you are working.

8. Set deadlines: Self-imposed deadlines can be really helpful in getting your tasks done on time. Be it 5 minutes or an hour, set time limit for every task you do. Certainly, you’ll notice improvement in the time you finish your job. Try it!

9. Don’t forget your personal space: “Never confuse having a career with having a life.” said Hillary Clinton. Other than work, there are several important things including your health, your personal space, your family, etc. To stay fit, I ensure a 30-minute workout in the morning (Well, I’m no more a cry baby!) followed by a healthy breakfast. This sets me up for the day ahead. For my loved ones, I keep an hour or so in the evening plus a major portion of my weekends are spent having fun with them. This way I feel afresh when back to work which adds on to my efficiency.

10. Say No to the unexpected: While we’re in the execution mode, the biggest distractions tend to be those unexpected things in the form of — “Can you do this for me? Do u know how to send this assignment? Well, in such situations you should know how to guard your focus and energy. The easiest way is to simply say — NO.

11. Be prepared when on the go: Travelling should never hamper your work. We’re living in the digital era where we can access work and can connect to our people without being worried about our physical presence. For this, I am managing all my projects in ProofHub, so with just a few clicks I can access my projects from my tablet, mobile, laptop, etc.

12. Get up and walk: Prolonged sitting can cause serious health damages including inflexible spine and poor leg circulation. Try to reduce your sitting time by breaking it up. A five minute walk along the corridor or taking a stroll to the lobby keeps me more active. I often circle through my own cabin while into some thought process. This helps a lot!

13. Motivate yourself: Staying happy and inspired is one of the most important things when you work. And for this, you should reward yourself whenever you achieve something big. Treat yourself with a dinner at your favorite restaurant, or you can purchase new clothes or gadgets for yourself. It feels wonderful, trust me!

14. Use technology: Right technology can help you get error free output in the minimum possible time. This enhances your efficiency and saves time. For example — to manage your tasks, an online task management system would be a much better choice instead of using a spreadsheet.

You see, there are endless opportunities in a given day for you to be productive. You just need to pick those key areas and make the right hit. Experiment as much as you can because there’s no better way of knowing what works for you and what doesn’t. As soon as you learn to take advantage of these opportunities, you will definitely become more productive.