Whilst productivity is a major issue that many office workers struggle to overcome, working smarter is an equally tricky task.
Defined as making the most out of your time by focusing on important things first, you could be missing out on a variety of things by not working smarter. Just a handful of things include impressing your colleagues, being trusted with more work and even pay rises!
If you’re interested in how you can work smarter without necessarily working harder, you should think about the current set-up of your office. This is because your working environment has a huge impact on your ability to function properly, and a certain few mistakes could prevent you from working smarter.
Think about the temperature
Did you know that the temperature of your office can have a major influence on your productivity levels? In fact, four out of five office workers complain about the temperature of their office and unsatisfied workers are unlikely to be the most productive.
For that reason, you should ask your boss to make sure that their office temperature is between 21 and 23 degrees Celsius. Not only can you use the working smarter benefit to argue your case, but it’ll make sure that their business electricity bills are being well-spent!
Customize your desk
The chances are, if you’re in a job where you’re working from a cubicle, you’ll find it hard to get motivated. This will then limit the chances of you being able to work smarter.
Customizing your desk is a great way to transform your workspace and work smarter. Whether you want to add sticky notes of things to remember or photos of your family to keep you motivated, there’s no doubt that personalizing your desk and transforming it into your own creative space is a fantastic way to work smarter.
Plus, FastCompany actually mentioned customized workstations as a way that offices might change by the year 2020… Why not get ahead, now?
Plan accountability meetings
If you’re working within a large business, you may find yourself sitting in meetings to discuss previous meetings. This isn’t a good idea and is usually a huge waste of time!
Instead, think about whether you could set accountability meetings with your co-workers (or even better, your boss or manager!). These are meetings that do as the name suggests – make sure that you’re accountable for the goals that you’ve set.
Having another person on your back can help you to work smarter and boost your productivity. If you don’t manage to complete every task that you’ve set, don’t worry. A good accountability partner will help you to set manageable goals and understand when unexpected things crop up.
Log your time
As much as I hate to sound like a micromanager, logging your time is a great way to analyze what you’re spending time on – and how much of that is related to unproductivity.
Even if you’re not required to submit your time logs to your manager, jot down the hours that you spend completing a specific task.
The key to doing this successfully is, to be honest! If you do spend 50 minutes a day browsing Facebook, write it down and be accountable. This way, you’ll get an accurate picture of how you’re currently working and be able to create a plan to combat these unproductive periods.
Hopefully, by reading this article, you’ll understand the benefits of being accountable – and the impact that it can have on your career – all by changing the way that you work in an office.
Now, it’s up to you to implement the tips and see a surge in productivity and smart working!