Productivity.Management.Discipline
Words like productivity, management, and discipline are often considered synonyms for Teams, but we forget about our own.
Whether you’re a manager, team member, freelancer, or an Entrepreneur, Productivity, Management, and Self-discipline all can drive you to get more out of your day. This also means timely execution that leads to success. Work satisfaction and good productivity are assumed to bring elusive happiness, if not anything more. The Key is “Work Smart, Not Hard”.
But how do you exactly turn yourself into a smart productivity warrior? Here are a few tips, which have personally worked for me -
- Focus on getting things done by maintaining an up-to-date task list. Organize it in order of decreasing priority. Another quick motivation to see the day progressing well is to have a few quick small tasks prioritized and finish them early in the morning.
- Adjust tasks to be done at a specific time of the day. For example, calls that don’t need me to be in front of my laptop, I prefer them doing while I am in transit, and if I have analytical work, I like focusing early in the morning when I am most mindful.
- Regular Breaks. Usually, 52 17 is a recommendation, but I have my own 60 5 rule. Before returning to my work and not breaking the workflow, I prefer to break my tasks to finish in 60 mins or have a legitimate break after 60 minutes.
- Rapid Planning. To maximize productivity and better work clarity, I spend an hour every Sunday working on my schedule for the upcoming week, including planning meetings and high-level forecast of work.
- Focus on How-To over What-If. Often we wait to get started till complete analysis and preparation are done. Instead of worrying about possible bottlenecks, focus on how to get to your goal. Just get started!
- Don’t Juggle. When you hop between multiple tasks, focus reduces, distraction increases, and you waste more time switching between the work. Try to complete one job with an emphasis before you move on to another.
- Go Digital. Apps like Outfluence, ToDoist are a great way to organize and get tasks out of your head & into a virtual diary where everything is tracked and manageable when needed.
Over to you! Now since you know few quick fixes to manage work and increase productivity, it is also imperative to reflect and keep checking on yourself if you are making the best of your time :) Also, don’t forget to go on an information diet since we live in a world of overloaded information that drives us to take immediate action.
Pick the techniques that work for you and make them your quotidian practices. As time goes, you’ll find yourself being a lot more productive, well managed, and disciplined.
