6 Tips to Increase Your Productivity
Let’s face it. We’ve all been in situations where both our personal and work lives collide, causing absolute chaos in our world. We can’t always prevent this from happening, but we sure can decrease the frequency of it. Below are six simple tips to increasing your productivity, whether in your personal life or your career.
1. Keep your inbox organized.
It sounds simple, right? Keeping your inbox organized is the most effective way to categorize and prioritize the tasks you need to do. Some people choose to use labels to identify what needs to be done with a specific email. Other people may choose to just flag an email, showing that it is a high priority. I’ve seen people drag emails into specific folders they have created, meaning they need to take care of it in the near future, but they don’t want it clogging their inbox folder. There’s no right or wrong way to categorize your inbox. Ultimately, you will know what works for you through trial and error… and believe me, sometimes it takes time to find what works not only for your personality, but also for your career field (a paralegal is going to organize their inbox much differently than a teacher might).
2. Prioritize your tasks.
I have seen soooo many people become overwhelmed by the things on their plate, that even though they mean well and want to knock everything out, they end up accomplishing very little. Although multi-tasking is great in some cases, sometimes you need to focus on one thing at a time. There are a ton of ways to do this, and like the first tip listed above, you will have to try out different methods to see what works best for you. Here are some options I’ve found helpful:
Use an app to track and prioritize your tasks. My personal favorite is Microsoft To Do because it’s free, you can sync it with your Outlook email, and there are both phone and desktop app versions available (for both Mac and Windows users). Some other great options are:
monday.com - They do have a free version, but it’s very limited. They also have a ton of use cases and templates, particularly for managing any product, task, or workflow, sales and customer facing teams, and development and product teams. If you pay for an upgraded version, you can get pretty fancy with it and automate some tasks so that when one task is completed, it triggers another. They offer three different tiers depending on what features you might be looking for, as well as an Enterprise version for businesses.
Asana - I have personally never used this software, but I have heard great things about it. They do have a free version if you are just looking for the basic features, but visually it looks extremely similar to monday.com. They only offer two different tiers, as well as an Enterprise version.
Create a to-do list, whether it’s digital or on paper. I have learned that I prefer a digital to-do list because I can access it from wherever I go, but some people love the satisfaction of writing down and crossing off completed tasks. There are also a ton of options for to-do lists, obviously, but here are some that I have used and love:
Microsoft OneNote - Honestly, this is my absolute favorite tool because it’s free, you can sync to any device, you can share specific notebooks with others, color-code sections and pages, add hyperlinks, translate notes… I could go on and on.
Google Keep - I have also used this and like it quite a bit. You can create different lists for different topics, change the list colors, and even add a header photo to each list to make it visually pleasing. It’s also free to use, which is a bonus.
Notes - Unfortunately for Android users, this can only be used if you have an Apple product. Personally, I have about 50 different notes in the app. I have used this to create packing lists for a vacation, grocery lists, even lists of shows and movies to watch… mainly because I always have my iPhone with me.
Use the 4Ds of time management. In order to prioritize tasks, it helps to sort them into different categories:
Do the task now. These can be done quickly and take less than a minute or two.
Defer the task to a time in the future. These will require more time and the priority will need to be determined.
Delegate the task to someone else. Assign these to somehow who has the skills and information to complete.
Delete the task from your list. These could be things you don’t need to do anymore, may have been on your list for weeks, or they provide very little value to you.
3. Block time in your schedule for certain tasks.
Time blocking is a time management method where you divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is solely dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or a group of tasks. A quick way to start this is:
Identify what you need to work on for the day (or for the week, if you’re trying to plan ahead).
Think about when you’re the most productive during the day.
Group any meetings you might have so that they aren’t scattered throughout the day, if possible.
Block off any personal time, including lunch or appointments.
Make sure that you include space between each task, whether to decompress, take a quick break, or to switch your frame of mind.
Try not to schedule every day for intense work tasks, as this will definitely move you towards burnout even faster.
Here is an example of time blocking your calendar. Personally, I find that it helps to use colored categories to visually see how you plan on spending each day.
4. Take breaks and physically move around.
Ever heard of burnout? It’s a real thing. I can guarantee that either you or someone you know has had the experience of working straight through their lunch hour, whether deciding to forego lunch completely or eating at their desk while they continue working. Breaks are essential to help with positive mental health and to avoid burnout. “Breaks can improve our moods, overall well-being and performance capacity. Taking regular breaks helps us to be more resilient when stressors arise, and they function as an intervention to help us deal with the daily grind.”¹
Here are some easy ways to take a quick break:
Go for a five minute walk outside.
If you work remotely, take your dog outside and grab some fresh air.
Watch a quick YouTube video of something that will make you laugh, like this classic video of a man and his dog.
Step away from your desk and stretch it out.
Listen to your favorite song.
The point is… actually use your breaks. Try to get away from your desk and clear your mind; find what works for you.
5. Delegate what you can.
I am guilty of thinking that if I want something done right, I will have to do it myself. The truth is, if you take the time to describe the details of the task and what you expect the outcome or finished product to be, it will still be less time than actually doing the task. Not every task can be delegated though, such as performance reviews or tasks that require your direct oversight. It helps to know what a person’s strengths and goals are, as you can assign tasks to them that hone in on these while still lightening your workload. It’s also important to allow for failure, because doing so will allow the person to grow, experiment, and possibly find a new approach to take. If you’re a perfectionist like me and tend to avoid delegating, remember that showing patience, providing clear and open communication, and allowing for failure is essential.²
The more you invest upfront in the people that support you, the easier delegating tasks will be in the long run. Remember, you have to start somewhere.
6. Decrease the number of distractions.
Clearly we live in a world that is FULL of distractions.
A poll was conducted by Udemy and Toluna back in 2018 on workplace distractions, and even then, the results are eye-opening. The report, visually represented below, shows just how many distractions are common in a workplace. Over 80% of people found chatty coworkers distracting, 70% found office noise distracting, 61% were distracted and overwhelmed by changes at work, 60% found meetings distracting, and 56% of employees found social media distracting.³
Here’s the catch… this was conducted back in 2018. Since then, the world has experienced an even heavier focus on technology and social media… both of which have become daily aspects of a person’s career and personal life. I can only assume that these distractions have increased tenfold in this post-Covid world we live in, especially with remote work now being a bigger option than ever before.
The trick is figuring out how to minimize these distractions in a realistic way. Here are some suggestions depending on what prevents you from being productive:
If you find your phone the most distracting, try placing it in a different room or out of sight. If you have an iPhone, an awesome setting to utilize is “focus.” You can customize this to control what apps on the home screen page you see and what notifications and calls you get. What I found cool is you can pick specific people to receive notifications and calls from even with the focus on. Here is an Apple support page that walks you through setting this feature up.
If coworkers tend to bother you, either in person or remotely, it sounds like you could benefit from setting boundaries with these people. Many organizations use a communication platform such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jabber, etc. and a feature on most (if not all) of these platforms is the ability to set your status for others to see. If this doesn’t work, simply say: “Hey John, I would love to chat with you but I’m trying to knock out this project. Maybe we can catch up later?”
If noise distracts you, there are some great options. If you work in an office setting, noise-cancelling headphones will work wonders. You can find my favorite headphones that I use daily here. If you work in a remote setting, it helps to make sure you are in a space with a door you can open and close. This tells people not to intrude and blocks out any other noise, such as a husband who likes to put a soccer game on blast. If you prefer to work at local coffee shops or restaurants, then try to find a location that has a calm atmosphere and try sitting somewhere off to the side.
If overwhelming thoughts distract you, then you might benefit from writing them down to clear them from your head. Make sure you are utilizing those 5-minute brain breaks as well, since this will help tremendously.
Wrapping It Up
You can increase your productivity by staying organized and focused. This requires consistency and a daily effort to stay on track. Try to keep your inbox organized, prioritize your tasks, block time in your schedule for specific tasks, take breaks away from your desk, delegate what you can, and minimize the amount of distractions. You’ll be amazed at the outcomes you’ll get just by implementing one of these tips!
I’ll leave you with this: What can you begin trying today to help increase your productivity?
Footnotes:
Kirsten Weir, “Give Me A Break,” American Psychological Association (blog), January 2019, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/break
Lauren Landry, “How to Delegate Effectively: 9 Tips for Managers,” Harvard Business School Online, January 14, 2020, https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/how-to-delegate-effectively
“2018 Workplace Distraction Report,” Udemy, February 2018, https://research.udemy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FINAL-Udemy_2018_Workplace_Distraction_Report.pdf
