You’re a busy, bustling professional, and you feel like the whole world is riding on your shoulders every single day. You work tireless hours, day in and day out, without so much as a break for lunch most days. Your desk and computer monitor are filled with sticky notes and to-do lists, but you still seem to struggle to get everything done by the end of the workday. Some days, you don’t get everything done and find yourself doing even more work that night, from home. Sound familiar?
If so, you’re in a big club, because millions of workers struggle to be as productive as possible, trying every tip and trick in the book to boost their productivity. The problem with that strategy, though, is that trying every tip and trick in the book does not build up the habits that will really lead to better productivity. There are really only three things you need to do to become a productivity rockstar, so that you’ll be able to get more done in less time.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
When I say work smarter, I mean you should put your smartphone to work for you. If you can automate a task using your smartphone, do it. Instead of having countless sticky notes and to do lists scattered around your workspace, centralize them on your smartphone. Two of the best products for boosting your productivity are available right on your iPhone and iPad: Evernote and Things.
With Evernote, those sticky notes are a thing of the past. You can organize all of your notes into folders, and easily search through those folders to find just the note you need. Want to pop in a picture? No problem, because Evernote supports attaching pictures (it will even take a picture right from the app) and many other attachments. What’s even better is, those notes will be available from your phone and any other Internet-connected device (like your computer or tablet), because they’re all stored in the cloud.
Things is my current favorite among all of the GTD (Getting Things Done) apps. You don’t need paper to-do lists, you need Things. It allows you to create projects for the different aspects of your life, and set up action items within those projects. There are also tags in Things, so you can quickly sort through all the actions you need to do while you are on the computer or at the hardware store, and check those off your list. Unfortunately it is only for Mac and iOS at this time. Windows and Android users should check out Todoist, which I also recommend.
By using your smartphone to help organize your life and work, you’ll be working much smarter and will find yourself getting things done more quickly than you ever thought possible. Not having to shuffle through piles of paper to find out what you need to do next, or what those last sales figures were, is one of the keys to maximizing your productive time.
Don’t Multitask. Focus!
When you are juggling multiple projects at once, it can be tempting to work on all or some of them simultaneously. The thought is that by knocking out a little bit of each one at the same time, you’ll be more productive. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth, because by multitasking you are actually decreasing your productivity. Here’s why.
When you are working on a task, your brain gets into a “mode” for that task. As your brain gets more into that mode, it works faster and enables you to get the task done more quickly and effectively. When you “switch gears,” your brain needs time to adjust to the new task, and you lose out on the maximized productivity that you would have maintained by sticking to just that one task.
Avoid multitasking whenever possible and you will find that you still complete all of your projects on time, possibly even completing them faster than you initially expected. In time, your brain will get used to focusing just on one task at hand, and will reach its peak processing and productivity time faster than ever before.
Avoid Distractions
This is a tough one for office workers and work-from-homers alike. Distractions abound in the work place and the home office, from the constant ring of the telephone to the children wanting to show Mommy their latest Lego creation. These distractions cause your brain to function exactly the same as it does when you try multitasking, shifting gears from one topic to another but never quite getting up to speed for any of them.
Try to find distraction-free zones for working. For example, many work-from-homers are tempted to try using the local coffee shop as a workplace. While this is cheap and convenient, these locales are ripe with distractions. From the strange man who orders the most horrible-sounding concoction possible to the casual acquaintance who wants to catch up on old times, the coffee shop is not a place for distraction-free productivity.
Avoid distractions wherever you can during your workday by turning your phone to airplane mode when you are deep in a task, and setting strict expectations and guidelines for when people can come visit you in your office (or home office). Avoid the temptation to open your email client whenever the new mail notification comes in, and focus strictly on the task you are planning to complete.
Summary
These three tips are essential to maintaining the highest level of productivity you are capable of. While some of them may seem unnatural at first, give them a few weeks to settle into your daily routine. Once you’ve gotten used to these different work habits, they will become just that—habits, and good ones, because they allow you to accomplish more work in less time, feeling even less stressed at the end of the day and avoiding the worry of having to take your work home with you for the night.
As one final, bonus tip: take a break! Taking periodic breaks has been proven to increase your overall productivity, so make sure to take time out once in a while throughout your day to rest or do something pleasurable, like take a walk. To make breaks a routine part of your work habits, try the “Pomodoro Technique.” It simply consists of working in 25 minute “bursts” and taking a short break between each burst. Give it a try!
