Productivity is something everyone is struggling with at some time or another. Especially, our current work from home lives has increased lethargy and fatigue during the day. To combat this, we often further complicate our lives by attempting to master complicated techniques which claim to increase productivity and add to our already skyrocketing stress levels. The truth is that all we have to do is incorporate some simple tried and tested habits and tools that are guaranteed to make a difference.
Below is a list of 10 of these:
Get up Early
Wake up when everyone’s still sleeping. Morning is the time with the fewest distractions. Many productive people wake up hours before sunrise. Most people are also biologically more alert during mornings, allowing them to complete most of their important tasks even before the day begins for many!
Start your day with a Morning Ritual
An enjoyable morning ritual can be your best motivation to get you off the bed on time. It is crucial to start the day right, as this can determine your motivation and mood throughout the rest of the day.
It might be something as simple as eating a satiating breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee, or it could be a relaxing yoga and meditation routine that can make you better prepared for the day. A successful morning ritual might take time to find, but it can be instrumental in increasing productivity.
Set goals for the day, and prioritize using the Eisenhower Matrix
Setting goals for the day is extremely helpful in keeping you motivated. It’s best that goals are set early in the morning, or the night before.
The Eisenhower matrix is an excellent tool for prioritizing these goals. This matrix is also called the urgent-important matrix, as it helps you in filtering tasks by their urgency and importance. These tasks can then be prioritized into four different quadrants on the basis of their urgency and importance with different work strategies:
Listen to Music to Stay Focused and Relaxed
Music is an excellent tool to increase productivity. Several studies have shown that listening to music at 60 beats per minute can drastically reduce stress levels and improve work efficiency. Classical music is often considered the best for increasing focus, and surprisingly, it can make you better at maths.
Compiling a playlist of different genres of music for various tasks can keep one motivated and also increase enthusiasm for performing those tasks.
Use Productivity Tools like Trello and Quixy to Stay Efficient
Productivity tools like Trello and Quixy are guaranteed to make your life easier. These tools help you manage your tasks and move away from paper and spreadsheet-based activities to become more efficient at work.
On top of this, Quixy can help you automate any office-related workflows and build apps without writing any code using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. You can build applications to analyze your data or automate workflows like the ones involved in content creation and publishing for a marketing team.
Avoid Multitasking
Although multitasking is considered cool or super-productive by most, it tremendously reduces productivity. A study by Meyer, Rubinstein, and Evans claims that multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%. Multitasking also adds unnecessary stress to your life; imagine cooking, watching television, working, and texting at the same time; it does not sound pleasant or motivating.
Instead, if we plan all these tasks into our schedule and give each of them sufficient time, we can be much more focused and productive.
Indulge in Physical Activity
It is not unknown to us that physical activity keeps us healthy, but exercising also boosts productivity in all other areas of life. Exercise is a magical tool that increases work capacity, reduces fatigue, increases overall health, and improves performance. The benefits are limitless; therefore even if it is mentally challenging to adapt to a routine that involves exercise, it is definitely worth the effort.
Apply the Pomodoro Technique to Increase Work Efficiency
The Pomodoro technique is an excellent system of time management in which work is divided into 25 minute chunks with 5 minute breaks called pomodoros. After a series of 4 pomodoros you can take a 15-20minutebreak.
The benefits of this technique are twofold, not only does it reduce fatigue caused by performing repetitive tasks and instills a sense of urgency about the tasks that are to be performed.
Keep Meetings Short
People can often be attentive for only 10-18 minutes before they begin to zone out. Keeping meetings short can almost guarantee complete focus from everyone attending.
Most meetings only require the time that is allotted to them. If the planning is good and the topics lacking urgency are pushed ahead, meetings should not take up too much time. Short meetings can save you significant time and avoid mental fatigue.
Spend More Time on your Feet
Sometimes the simplest methods help achieve the best results. Humans have evolved to be physically active, but due to the advancement of technology, physical activity has transitioned into mental activity, allowing people to spend most of their time sitting.
Spending more time on your feet can boost productivity and massively reduce fatigue. Walking during short intervals or attending calls while walking can make the needed difference.
It’s not practical to immediately incorporate all these habits and tools into your life and instantly transform it. It is essential not to be overly critical of yourself and cut yourself some slack. You can start one step at a time and slowly incorporate the habits that increase your productivity and make you feel motivated. Be patient and willing, and your life will indeed undergo a significant and positive change.