Have you ever felt that you are not achieving enough at your workplace? Every morning you go to the office with a certain plan and goals for the day. But there are times you are left with the feeling that you could not achieve enough. This is not because you are less competent. It is the things that you are doing wrong and the things you are failing to include in your work regime. The lack of productivity at the workplace is a serious issue from both organizational and personal perspectives. So, what can you do to boost your productivity and efficiency? Let's find out.
Why is it necessary to improve your productivity at work?
The simple answer to this question would be to increase organizational proficiency. You are not the only employee in your workplace. You are part of a team that is relying on you to do your part. It is the combined effort of everyone within the organization that drives it to become better. If you are not being productive, it will have multiple drawbacks. In addition to driving down your motivation, you will also hinder organizational growth.
Increasing productivity helps to boost the morale of other employees. They will feel motivated to do better resulting in increased overall output from the organization.
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The improved performance and productivity will be reflected in the customer satisfaction rate also. Study shows that highly efficient companies tend to retain more customer. So from a customer service point as well, it's necessary to be productive.
However, the responsibility of being productive isn’t on the employee alone. The organization itself needs to promote a productive and growth mindset among its employees. The strategic goals and vision of the organization should include the personal development aspect of its employees. The rule of thumb here is that if you take care of your employees, the employees will take care of your organization.
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10 ways to improve your efficiency at Work
Improving productivity and efficiency at the workplace is important. But the question is, how can you do it? Here are 10 ways to get you started.
Avoid multitasking
Getting a number of things done at one go might feel efficient. However, that is the opposite of being productive. When you are multitasking, you are essentially dividing your attention and effort. As a result, the quality of the finished work might not be as good as it would have been if you had worked on it alone. It also ends up taking more time. Hence, it's better to avoid multitasking.
Set realistic goals
If you plan on getting a week's work done in a single day, that won't be happening. The human mind has its limitations. If you set an unrealistic goal for yourself, you will end up working more but that will downgrade your productivity. You will face energy burnout, as a result your overall level of efficiency will drop.
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Taking break
Don’t stretch your work regime like a machine. The brain needs its optimum level of a timeout as well. The more you try to push it to overwork, the more it’ll slouch. It’s recommended that you take breaks throughout the day in certain intervals. This will rejuvenate your brain and you’ll find yourself being able to concentrate better.
Stop finding perfection
There is a common misconception that you need to keep doing something over and over again until perfection is achieved. In reality, you can never find true perfection. There will be always a scope of things being better. So, you should not get stuck with a single problem. Do your best and move onto the next one.
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Minimize interruptions
The idea is to work smarter, not harder. You need to reassess where you are spending your time and how you are spending your time. Instead of cramming your schedule with more and more work, focus on how you can minimize interruption to your work. Whether it is limiting the interaction with your colleagues or turning off the notification of your phone, take initiatives where you can work for an extended period without any distraction.
The two-minute rule
This is a rule of thumb that everyone should follow. The two-minute rule states that if the work can be completed in 2 minutes, it should be done right away without any distraction. Therefore rather than setting big goals to work with, break them down into small objectives or micro-goals. Once those achievable targets are brought under short time brackets it will be easier for you to tick them off.
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Set your deadline
Procrastination can kill productivity more than you can imagine. When you stack up everything for the last minute, they only add up. This will lead you to multitask or rush works which will ultimately reduce the quality. So rather than following the organizational deadline, create your own deadline. Try and stick to it so that you never fall behind the clock.
Reduce meetings
This might sound counterintuitive at first. But you should try and avoid unnecessary meetings. In this day and age of connected communication, most of the official tasks can be effciently delegated over a memo or a mail. You are simply wasting your time and productivity by attending mindless meetings.
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Wake up early
Successful CEOs wake up as early as 4 AM. This is just a stat to show that when you wake up early, you have more time to get things done. Go for a run or a walk if you can. This will not only freshen up your mind but will also prepare you for the day.
Learn to say ‘no’
Every once in a while, you will see your boss or peer dumping more work on you. You should learn to say ‘no’ to that. There is no need for you to take up more than you can chew. Instead of getting overloaded with bulk of tasks, focus on having your own ones done first.
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Final Thoughts
Your productivity and efficiency will be added to the overall output of your organization. In addition to making yourself productive, you should try and foster the same mentality among your peers too. Being more productive and efficient is not really a tough thing. You just have to do what you already do; but in a more efficient way.