5 Ways to Make Your Workday More Productive
The sharp minds over at Vandelay Design recently blogged about how to make your workday more productive -- a post so on-target that the folks at Black Belt Productivity noticed it as well. The Vandelay group offer 15 tips to help you achieve maximum efficiency in your workday, but five in particular resonated for me.
They are:
1. Have a task list for the day. Simple, right? So why do so many of us skip this step? In my case, it's because I think I'll remember everything I need to do. But it's so easy to get distracted by to-do's that sometimes the old ones slip through the cracks. (My particular worst was forgetting to sign and return a contract that was due at the end of the day. Oops.)
2, And then...prioritize them. Michael Ramm at Black Belt Productivity doesn't agree so much with this one, saying, "Everything on your list needs to get done." But in my case, I find it very helpful. I sometimes have a tendency to assume everything is created equal; but "submit final edit of article" is a more important task than "file receipts for the month." A priority list helps me remember that.
3. Maximize your most efficient times of the day. Are you a night owl? A morning person? It pays to know when you feel most motivated and energized, because that's when you should be tackling the big stuff. Save the stuff that requires less mental energy, such as the aforementioned filing task, for when you're operating more on autopilot.
4. Get fresh air. Or, at least, a change of scene. It's easy to stay tied to your desk all day and find yourself spiraling into periods of boredom and inefficiency. If your wheels are starting to spin in the mental mud, take a few minutes and go for a walk, preferably outside. Or even grab your laptop and head to a coffee shop (or an empty conference room) for a bit. A change of scene can work wonders.
5. Batch and bulk-process similar tasks. I'm conducting an e-mail experiment right now in which I'm checking my inbox (and responding to e-mail) only a few times a day. I'm hoping this'll make me more productive and less prone to distractions. Whether it's doing administrative tasks, catching up on correspondence, or processing invoices, try to save all the small jobs up and do them all at once during a dedicated time period.
For more great ideas, check out the original post (15 Steps to a More Productive Workday) as well as Black Belt Productivity's take on the efficiency ideas. And as always, share your own thoughts in the comments section.
(image by dimnikolov via Flickr, CC 2.0)