When it comes to time, we only have a certain amount each day, and within our lives it is hard to know how much time we have to live. That is one of the reasons why time is the most precious commodity on Earth, yet so many people waste it on meaningless endeavors. In this article we will be discussing how to better understand and increase your productivity or your team’s productivity in the workplace so that the time you have can be put to its best use.
How to Better Understand and Increase Productivity in the Workplace
There are hundreds of apps under the “productivity” category which is used correctly can greatly enhance how and when you do things. Productivity is defined basically as how much can you get done in the time allotted. Most people work the typical 9-5 job, and others may only work eight hours the whole week. There are people working a 9-5 who are millionaires, and also people who only work eight hours or less a week, who are millionaires as well. So what makes certain people who work less, more successful? The answer is in how productive they are with the time they do work. Below are eight different ways in which one can increase productivity in the workplace. This will increase the value that your employees provide to the company and help you re-evaluate how you can improve the company when you begin to ask employee exit interview questions.
- Remain happy
- Use positive self-talk
- Set goals you can track
- Create a better environment
- Get the tools you need
- Remove distractions
- Delegate as much as possible
- Simplify
It’s easy to tell you to be happy when you might be in a job that you hate, but bear with me for a second. Yes, you may not be happy ALL the time, but there’s always a way to get to a happier place. Maybe you listen to music that you like and that puts you in a good mood, or you can have positive reminders around the office, it’s up to you, but it’s imperative that you choose to remain happy for your well-being. In line with the happy section is the positive self-talk one has. The way we speak to ourselves is maybe one of the most important aspects of life, because our inner sanctuary can reflect either a positive or a negative view of life. If one can control self-talk to make it more positive, then the exterior environment will be positively affected and vice versa.
Goals
Set some goals you can track. Setting goals is like an archer shooting at a target. If there is no target, the archer cannot hit the goal, and so if we don’t have something that we are aiming for in life, then we will be going in whatever path life directs us. That is why you hear people saying “then life happened.” What they’re really saying is “I gave up along the way because I didn’t have goals and got lost.” Your environment has a lot to do with how you feel and how you interact. If your environment has zero natural light, closed windows, and dark colors, guess how you’re going to feel most of the time? On the other hand, if there are large windows allowing natural light, real plants, and lighter colors you will feel much more happy and vibrant.
Tools
The next thing is to get the tools you need. This could be anything from a calculator, a spreadsheet, a CRM, a social media management tool, or anything that is required or would make your job easier. Distractions are the biggest obstacle to productivity, and so the less distracted you are, the more focused you will be. This means silencing your phone, getting off social media, and not checking emails every five seconds. We spoke about people who can work less hours yet do more than most, and that’s because they understand delegation. Delegating is giving other people tasks that you don’t want to do, are not good at, or take too much time for you to do. Yes, you can do this even if you’re working at a company. You can hire a virtual assistant, pay them half of what you’re getting paid, and get twice as much done. Finally, keep everything simple so you don’t complicate your life.
Conclusion
In conclusion in this article we discussed the topic of productivity and how you can increase it in the workplace. The most important things you can do is to remain positive, do things that make you happy, and set some big goals to pull you forward. If you follow just half of the eight steps we listed, you’ll be more productive than before.
Author Bio: Finnegan Pierson loves business and has a passion for technology. Even more interesting is the combination of the two. As a freelance writer, Finn hopes to influence others so they can have a positive business experience.
