Productivity Hacks to Use at Work

Whether you work remotely or in a busy office, maintaining focus can often be a challenge.

If you work in tech, you’ll understand the difficulty of trying to juggle email management, attending meetings, and meeting deadlines. This constant stream of distractions and the increasing demands of modern work can often hinder our ability to stay focused and efficient.

Don’t worry, you’re certainly not alone in this struggle. Here’s how you can stay productive at work.

Starting your day with a clear plan in mind can make a significant difference in your productivity. Begin by listing your tasks and responsibilities for the next couple of days and sort them based on urgency and importance.

For example, if you have a report that is due in two days’ time, make sure this is at the top of the list.

Consider blocking out time in your calendar, such as Monday afternoon to work on your admin tasks and Monday afternoon to focus on reports.

Once you understand the time you have available in the day, you can start to block out chunks of the day for designated focus.

One app, Flora, is designed to help you concentrate. It works by allowing you to focus on growing a tree within the app. Each time you go off the app or procrastinate, the plant dies and the timer starts from the beginning.

If noise is a big distraction to you then Noisli, an ambient sound app, allows you to select different sounds such as rainforest, rain, and calming music. This can be very helpful in a busy working office or alternatively, a deafeningly quiet space.

Let’s be real, it’s unrealistic to work 7 hours a day without breaks. In fact, it can potentially make you more unproductive to do so.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that many people use to provide structure to their day. With this method, it involves breaking your work into focused intervals such as a 25-minute focus followed by a short 5-minute break.

This method helps to combat burnout and keeps your mind fresh and engaged.

Prioritisation is an essential aspect of achieving optimal productivity. It could be that you have a list of 15 tasks on your to-do list, however, not all are essential.

It’s a good idea to categorise your list into the following:

• Could do (low-importance tasks)
• Should do (medium-importance tasks)
• Must do (high-importance tasks)

That way, you can weave out any irrelevant tasks that do not hold significance. For example, you might have ‘clean your files’ on your to-do list. Although it is important, ‘send data report to manager’ might have a closer deadline, so this follows into the must-do list.

Kanban board is another prioritisation method, as it allows you to manage workflow by your progress, i.e., ‘doing’, ‘in progress’ or ‘complete’.

Although technology can often be a source of distraction, it can also be a valuable tool for boosting productivity.

Chat GPT, a powerful AI tool, can be used to help with generating ideas, drafting content and brainstorming solutions. Additionally, if you need quick answers to questions, it can help you save time by condensing research into easy-to-read bullet points.

The use of calendar apps such as Outlook can help you to mark out time in your day, such as admin hours between 9-10 am. This can help provide structure to your day, allowing you to avoid scheduling calls between particular “core working hours”.

As for meetings, if you’re someone who struggles to retain information, transcription services such as transcribeme, rev.com and gotranscript are great tools, allowing you to stay focused during the meeting without having to make notes.

You don’t have to do everything on your own.

If you’re a manager, it’s important to delegate tasks to colleagues who are better suited for certain responsibilities. Collaboration can also lead to innovative solutions and increased efficiency.

Additionally, if there are certain tasks that you could be streamlined, consider using automation to remove admin.

When leaders delegate tasks to others, it gives them more time to focus on high-level activities and use their time more wisely.

Enhancing your workplace productivity requires a combination of effective strategies and consistent practice.

It can often be easy to get caught up in the latest technology, trends, and hacks, but remember, the ultimate solution is one that works best for you.

Take the time to understand what your core objectives are and the goal you are working towards, first. Then, you will be able to identify the appropriate strategy for you, ensuring you are working towards this goal at the correct pace.

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