We live in a world where side hustles are no longer unheard of. Most of us juggle several responsibilities. And when handling so much, focusing on productivity is key to ensuring all tasks are tackled. It is always emphasized that smart work beats hard work. What’s crucial to working smartly is to cultivate certain habits and learn certain skills that can improve your productivity while ensuring you get through your to-do list on time. Learning, implementing, and honing simple yet effective skills for high productivity can also reduce the chances of excessive exhaustion. With that said, here are a few skills that, when mastered, can help you be productive at work.
Create a Priority List
When you have several tasks at hand, you can easily lose focus and feel overwhelmed. If you don’t create a list based on what tasks are high, medium, and low priority, you may end up wasting time on tasks that may not need your immediate attention. Therefore, before starting your work day, it is a good practice to spend about 15-20 minutes determining what you need to do and which tasks demand urgent attention. This will also help you dedicate the right amount of time to every task, as prioritization and time management go hand-in-hand.
Focus on One Task at a Time
When you keep switching between two tasks or divide your attention and tend to several tasks at the same time, it is easy to get things mixed up.
In fact, multitasking also results in errors and discrepancies. The best way to avoid this and tackle your day’s work is by doing things one at a time. Seemingly simple, the art of doing one task at a time can help improve your focus and productivity and reduce the time that it takes to frequently transition from one task to another.
Make Use of Technology
Whether it is typing out an email, sending daily updates, or preparing presentations, all these tasks have been made easier to accomplish by newer technologies. AI-powered chatbots can help you create templates that you can use time and again. While chatbots can help you with the above-mentioned tasks, you can also make it a point to improve typing speed by using online resources for added efficiency. The combination of technology and your superlative typing skills can help you save significant time that would otherwise be involved in thinking and typing out your thoughts every time you write an email or make a presentation.
Have Focused Meetings
Your work may involve attending and scheduling several meetings throughout the day. While ths may feel like a constant speedbump when you’re trying to get tasks done, you can make make your meetings productive as well. Therefore, set an agenda for each meeting, and as the meeting ends, come up with actionable items.
This will not only make it easier for you to identify what needs to be done but also help you delegate tasks to others more efficiently if that is a requirement.
Take Breaks
Working an 8-hour shift without any breaks is almost impossible. When you continue to work extended hours, you lose focus and are more prone to making mistakes. Keeping your mind clear and fresh is extremely important. You can follow the 10-minute rule of break as you work for an hour or create your own rule based on what suits you best. The idea is to allow your mind to have a breather between tasks and avoid burnout.
Following these small steps and inculcating these simple skills can transform how you work significantly. Productivity is not about how many tasks you can strike off of your to-do list or the number of hours you put into work. It is more about the outcome of the time and effort you dedicate to your work. Therefore, being mindful of how you go about accomplishing your work tasks is key to consistently maintaining high productivity while not feeling drained after a day of work.