The world is fascinated by the word productivity. Everyone wants to be productive but not a lot of us can pull it off consistently. Environments do not support the possibilities for optimum productivity. That is exactly why we need to carve our way into it.
One Thing At A Time
As humans we tend to accomplish multiple tasks at once. We address most of our to-do-list at a single moment and miss out on the little things which actually make the difference. It is very important to multi-task in the current competitive scenario, but we overdo it most of the times. Productivity is not about finishing different work at once, it’s about completing work while doing one thing at a time. It’s not always possible to focus on a single task every single moment but there is a high possibility of ineffective results if we’re doing everything at once. So do we want multiple ineffective results in a short period of time or productive results over a little extended period?
Break Down Your Goals
While setting our goals, we always write the ultimate goal. That is definitely the most important aspect as we need to be clear about where we want to be, but we tend to miss out on the steps to achieve the goal. Breaking down our ultimate goals into series of smaller goals will help us achieve the desired outcome in a more productive manner. Once we start achieving the smaller goals we can actually feel the progress which pushes us even harder to reach the ultimate ambition.
Take Short Yet Significant Breaks
The process of productivity can be physically and emotionally draining and it is pivotal to remind yourself to take a break. Taking breaks will help in rejuvenating the energy and keeping you on track. More hours does not mean better work.
Organize Your Work Space/Desk
Humans are a reflection of their surroundings. A clean and organized space/desk significantly boosts the productivity rate. It eliminates the time it takes for you to rummage through a cluttered desk just to look for an important document or a paperclip. An organized desk provides us with a sense of achievement which translates into motivation.
Don’t Stay Around Chatter Often
32% of employees reported their chatty coworkers as the single largest culprit to killing productivity. This does not mean that we should risk our relationship with the colleagues. Once we feel like our productivity is being hampered we should create a boundary which can be as simple as staying away from a crowd and getting into a quiet/peaceful area and completing the micro-goal we are working on. If the colleagues understand your value towards your work they would not mind at all and support you instead. Also, make sure you invest some time for your colleagues while taking one of the ‘short yet significant breaks’ while working.
Let Your Vision Inspire You
To achieve optimum productivity of our capacity, the vision of our work should inspire us. Nothing pushes us more than our genuine interest towards our work and the ultimate goal we want to achieve. We spend majority of our hours working and if we want to feel elated at the end of the day, we should be working on something that aligns with our aim in life. Our career choice and roles have significant impact on the outcome of our work. Maybe one of the main reasons for our ineffectiveness is our lack of interest and value in the work we do. The work we do should align with our vision in life and if that happens we are half way into achieving the productivity we want. For our vision to inspire us, we should be working on the things that actually add value to our aim in life. The alignment of vision and enjoyment of work is the catalyst to optimum productivity. In a nutshell, an eco-friendly person may not be productive while working on a project that requires deforestation for road expansion.