We all wish that we could be more productive. But, how is that possible when assignments keep piling up, the latest season of Orange is the New Black just appeared on Netflix, and you have a flurry of emails, texts, and social media notifications distracting you?
1. Constantly checking your emails.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that email is one of, if the biggest, time waster. After all, more than 200 billion emails are sent everyday and it's been found that the average employee checks his or her email 36 times an hour. And, we're all guilty of it.
If you're worried about those notifications peaking your curiosity too much, you can turn-off your notifications on both your laptop and smartphone.
2. Not automating your social media accounts..
While social media is a one of the best tools to spread brand awareness, network, stay updated on the latest industry news, and catch-up with friends or family, it's another huge time waster. In fact, we spend an average of 118 minutes per day on social media. Unless you're a social media manager, there's no need for me to spend that much time on social media.
As with your emails, schedule certain times throughout the day to look-at and update your social channels, such as during your commute to and from work.
3. Bulky to-do-lists.
Whether you write down your to-do-lists on in a notebook or use a tool like Evernote, to-do-lists can be a real life-saver since it reduces the stress of trying to remember things like a meeting or what you you need to pick-up at the grocery store. To-do-lists can also help keep you on-track by highlighting the most important tasks that you need to accomplish.
4. Multitasking.
Multitasking doesn't work. "When it comes to attention and productivity, our brains have a finite amount," says Guy Winch, PhD, author of Emotional First Aid: Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt and Other Everyday Psychological Injuries.
Multitasking wastes productivity because when you switch back and forth between tasks your "attention is expended on the act of switching gears."
Do one thing at a time. Once you've completed one task, then you can move on to the next one.
5. Being a perfectionist.
When you have unrealistically high standards you'll devote more time than you should on a task. Even after it's completed, you still make revisions in order to make it "perfect." In other instances, being a perfectionist can throw you off since things didn't go your way. That means you may give-up on a project that you already started working on.
6. Unnecessary meetings.
If you want meetings to be productive, keep them under 30 minutes, set clear expectations, send materials in advance, start and end on-time, and stay focused. I would also recommend that you ask whether or not a meeting is really necessary. In most instances a quick email or phone call will suffice.
7. Saying "Yes.".
Be honest with others and inform that you simply don't have the time to lead a meeting, write a blog post, or whatever else it is that they're requesting. You can then offer to come back to their request when you do have the availability.
8. Postponing harder tasks.
We all have those tasks that we either just don't want to do or find too challenging. We ultimately push those tasks off until another time and work on those easier tasks instead. That doesn't change the fact that that task disappears. Instead of letting that hang-over your head, you need to just bite the bullet and get it done.
Avoiding this type of procrastination ensures that you stay productive day-in and day-out.
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