In a previous article about the best strategies to increase your work productivity, we talked about how simple changes can really boost your productivity level in the office. Avoiding multitasking and delegating tasks effectively can help you focus on the most important things, allowing you to be more prolific throughout the day.
In this article, however, we are going to focus more on the practical tips you can apply to make your days even more fruitful. Here are the top five practical tips you can use to boost your work productivity in an instant.
Table of Contents
The Right Tools
The gears and gadgets you use for handling your work-related tasks really do matter. Using a slow computer or a system you are not comfortable with will actually reduce your productivity level. On the other hand, a fast tablet with a comfortable keyboard can be perfect for document processing and business messaging.
The right tools are among the investments worth making if you are serious about boosting productivity. Find gadgets that make completing tasks and jumping from one to another easy. Don’t just focus on hardware specifications when choosing gadgets for work. User experience and durability are equally as important.
Dictate!
Dictating notes and emails instead of typing them is another great way to boost productivity. A few years ago, dictation was never an option for one particular reason: the speech recognition software available back then was not good enough. Today, however, there are plenty of solutions that can help you transform speech into text accurately.
Speech recognition also works with any type of input or software. You can use it to update a customer’s information on your CRM platform, write down quick notes, and perform other tasks. Since the speech recognition software also learns from you, it will get better and more accurate over time.
Take Breaks
Taking short breaks in between tasks is a great way to bump up your productivity level by a substantial margin. It may seem counterproductive to take short breaks, but the short time off helps maintain focus and performance over a longer period of time.
Short breaks are also handy for when you’re dealing with a fairly long task. Instead of trying to get the task done in one go, you can divide it into smaller parts and allow yourself a break in between them. This will also make the task appear more manageable and will help you fight procrastination.
You can even add small rewards at the end of every task (or some of the bigger ones). Rewarding yourself is a fantastic way to stay motivated and driven when you have so many things to do and a limited time to do them all.
Start with Something
Getting started with a business-related task is always a bit of a challenge. This is the part where you get distracted the most. The more you give in to distractions, the more difficult it will be to actually get started.
There is no better way to get around this than to simply bite the bullet. If you follow the smart strategies we covered in the previous article, you should have a to-do list. Find an item on that list that can be done in the shortest amount of time and start with that task. The sooner you can finish that particular task, the better you will feel, and the more motivated you will be.
Turn Off Notifications
Our smartphones are quickly becoming the biggest distractions. The Twitter notification you receive while working on a proposal, a sudden beep when a new WhatsApp message is received, and even the blinking notification light on the corner of your phone can split your concentration and reduce your performance.
Set your phone aside and turn off all notifications when handling bigger, more important tasks. Try it once and you’ll see for yourself how much time you can actually save when working in a distraction-free environment. You can eliminate other distractions that may be slowing you down too.
These are all simple tips you can apply right away, but they are known to be very effective in boosting work productivity. Between these tips and the strategies you have mastered from the previous article, it is easy to improve productivity and effectiveness whenever you are working.
The same tips are also handy when you work remotely. As long as you can create a suitable working environment, have a list of things to do and know where to start, and you utilize the right tools and software, you will get things done in no time at all.
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