One area where we all aspire to improve is productivity. Even though everyone has their individual approach to staying productive, sometimes the smallest and simplest details can help us do more within the work period.
It’s easy to think of extraordinarily productive people as being in a league of their own. But you too can increase your productivity by seeing where they operate well and how they get through the hurdles they face.
Identifying the Roadblocks to Productivity
You can’t just become more productive overnight. What you need to do is make minor adjustments and adopt some of the behaviors of those productive people. By doing these, you will be well on your way to improving your efficiency and productivity.
The first step to staying productive is identifying the roadblocks that are preventing you from doing so in the first place. Here’s a quick list of the most common ones.
- Stuck with procrastinating
- Losing focus on priorities
- Being forced to do boring work
- Getting distracted while working
- Difficulty in staying energized and motivated
Developing Productive Habits
In today’s hectic work situations, simply showing up at work won’t suffice. To prosper, you need to complete tasks. Everybody has days when they are more productive than others, but if you find yourself stuck in a rut, come up with a plan for staying productive and efficient that is suited to your list of distractions.
Here are some habits you can develop to help you get going.
Identify and eliminate distractions.
It’s simple to become sidetracked by emails, social media, and a million minor tasks. Distractions are the archenemy of productivity, whether you’re attempting to concentrate on important work or are just handling lesser duties. With distractions all around, it can be difficult to maintain productive work habits.
Making a “distraction list” is a highly effective way to be more aware of them and make a conscious effort to avoid them.
Dive into deep work.
Some jobs are just difficult to accomplish in just a short time. While everybody has some responsibilities that could practically be completed in no time, there are also jobs that you need to motivate yourself to complete, usually because they’re not that exciting to do. Or that there are certain tasks that are just so challenging that you cannot finish them in one sitting.
To completely master these tasks, you must invest a lot of time and mental energy. This concept is referred to as “deep work.”
Keep your focus on the priorities.
There are some things on any given to-do list that are more important than others, according to the principle behind Most Important Tasks (MIT). If your only goal is to cross things off your to-do list, you’ll accomplish both crucial and less crucial tasks. It also puts you at risk for procrastinating because it’s simpler to spend the day checking off simple, unimportant tasks than working hard on the difficult ones.
Instead, take a few minutes at the start of each day to decide on one to three MITs — tasks that you must complete that day, no matter what.
Make your goals more realistic and feasible.
When creating your to-do list, divide major tasks into manageable parts. Being more organized is crucial for staying productive because it allows for more effective outcomes. If you have a lengthy report to write, it’s easy to waste time worrying about where to start.
When you multitask, your productivity also drastically decreases. It’s a simple matter of fact. Your attention, clarity, and determination increase when you can stop your mind from flitting between different ideas.
You can start working on this daunting task right away if you split it down into smaller chunks. You go on to the next activity with a sense of success after completing each minor one and marking it off your list.
The recharge is as important as the grind.
Nobody can concentrate for eight hours nonstop, not even the very productive ones. It’s just not possible. No matter how many effective habits you develop, it is impossible to focus without interruption for a long time.
Because of this, taking pauses is crucial (research shows it makes people more productive). Even short breaks of a few minutes will help you reenergize, generate fresh thoughts, and set you back on the path to staying productive.
Take pauses on your initiative. It’s crucial to plan and intentionally schedule your breaks. Distractions are easy to excuse as “taking a break,” but if you don’t schedule that break time, it’s likely that you’re just becoming preoccupied.
Highly productive people take time to recharge. Maintaining healthy habits is an essential component of effective work habits.
Learn from past mistakes.
Making sure that fast work is also high-quality work is one of the difficulties that highly productive individuals face. You put yourself at risk for errors when working hastily. High performers manage this danger by constantly learning and developing so that creating quality work becomes second nature.
Analyzing errors and trying to figure out how to avoid them when something goes wrong is a hugely beneficial learning experience.
On the other hand, it can be tempting to pop out drinks or champagne and start celebrating whenever you succeed. Don’t get this wrong, though. It’s also important to recognize your accomplishments. However, victories need to be scrutinized just as much as failures.
Prepare a backup plan.
Everyone isn’t exempted from drawbacks, and they usually happen when you least expect it. You think that today is going to be your chance at staying productive, but as you get started, slight disruptions appear and demand your attention.
Sometimes things go wrong, whether it’s because your air conditioner breaks and you need to call a repair service provider, a last-minute meeting arises, or you forgot to schedule in time for lunch.
Highly productive people recognize the planning fallacy, which states that everyone underestimates how long projects will take to complete. We frequently underestimate the amount of work that needs to be done because we neglect to account for obligations that aren’t on our calendars.
Prepare for these unexpected drawbacks by coming up with a backup plan, and you won’t have to stress over them if they do happen.
Discipline beats motivation.
Many people who want to develop more productive behaviors mention the need to get inspired or motivated. On the other hand, those who find it easy staying productive concentrate on starting — whether they are motivated or not.
You must first look through a one-inch picture frame, author Anne Lamott advises aspiring writers in her popular book “Bird by Bird.” It simply means you don’t have to take on everything at once. The vast scope of a project is frequently to blame when you are struggling to stay engaged. When a task is overwhelming, it’s difficult to start.
Lamott tells people not to stress about motivation or inspiration. Simply begin by doing it in the most feasible way possible. Look through a one-inch picture frame if you’re feeling overwhelmed or finding yourself putting things off.
Starting something will make it easier for you to continue, such as splitting the task into manageable pieces. Action is what inspires drive, which in turn inspires more action. Highly productive people start working right away, and the inspiration comes afterward.
Final Thoughts
Highly productive individuals can appear to be robots or magicians. And you could say they are because they have discovered strategies for overcoming obstacles such as procrastination.
Here at Weremote, you have access to workspaces that will accompany you through your productivity journey. And if you’re a business looking for a workspace that is both flexible and customizable to help your team stay productive, you can check out Weremote’s private office spaces.
