Sometimes it’s hard to keep work productivity on a high level throughout the day. There will invariably be days when you’re not at the top of your game — maybe you haven’t slept enough, or you’re swamped with tasks and not getting anything done. If you feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day to complete your tasks, you’re not alone. According to Cornerstone research, productivity drops by 68% when employees feel overworked.
It almost seems like high productivity is the proverbial rainbow we keep on chasing fruitlessly. However, we have good news for you: whether you’re a multitasker or procrastinator (or you have them in your team), you can become more productive and wow your boss in the process. But first, three things will make it much easier for you:
1. Have Enough Sleep
Even the best schedule will fall apart if you haven’t gotten enough sleep the night before. Getting enough quality sleep helps you stay alert throughout the day, and increases your problem-solving capabilities.
2. Work in Small Steps
It goes both for your tasks and your effort to become more productive. You can’t change your habits overnight, and expecting to be able to finish a monumental task in one sitting is also unrealistic. Trust the process and take it slow.
3. Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself
Bad days come with the territory, but as long as you’re making progress and becoming more productive, don’t beat yourself up with a slip-up or two. Move on and learn from your mistakes instead.
Now that the basics of productivity are out of the way, we can look at a couple of different workplace behavior types. Procrastinators and multitaskers will have to approach the problem of productivity in different ways.
Productivity for Procrastinators
The psychology of procrastination is a complicated issue. Whatever the cause of your procrastinating habits may be, it’s countered by one thing: accountability. If you’re not motivated by the carrot, e.g., the rewarding feeling of getting a task done on time, then you might consider motivating yourself with the stick – so if you miss a deadline, for example, you have to announce it to everyone at work.
Alternatively, a task scheduling app might help. Procrastinators can benefit from to-do lists because marking tasks as completed helps with increasing the subjective value of their function. Just make sure to break items on your to-do lists into smaller tasks that you won’t feel intimidated by.
Productivity for Multitaskers
On the other hand, multitaskers try to do everything at once, but they could be much more productive if they focused on one thing at a time. When you’re constantly switching between tasks, you lose flow, and you’re more prone to making mistakes. To counter this tendency, try working on one job in intervals — it could be anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes, as long as you can remain focused. Additionally, you might benefit from anti-distraction apps that limit you to one screen or block apps that you shouldn’t be working in at the moment.
Better Productivity Means Better You
Increasing your workplace productivity not only improves your performance but helps you alleviate stress. Good time managing means you’ll be more organized and less overworked, so it’s definitely worth making an effort to master this form of self-improvement.
