Five Productivity Boosting Ideas

1.       Start your day an hour earlier

Are you a snooze button lover?  We are all guilty of sneaking that extra 10 minutes in bed

but what if you just got up straight away?

They say you should wake up with the sun, OK 5am may be a little early for most of us but let’s take on that WAKE UP GET UP attitude and seize the day!

Even if you are not a morning person, your brain is so much more productive and active when you first get up, it’s been stimulated after its rest and is ready to go!

Another plus point of getting started at work earlier, is that you can finish work earlier, giving yourself some well-earned ‘me time’.  You will be rather pleased with yourself too for getting up earlier!

2.       Getting to grips with multi-tasking

It seems most of us are working on many tasks at once, which can either give you a buzz to get stuff done or, more often than not, it can make us feel overwhelmed and unproductive.

Apps like todoist can help you to plan all your tasks in methodical lists, that help you prioritise the most important tasks on a day to day bases, with the satisfaction of ticking them off as you achieve them.

How long should a multitasker work on each task? Until the task is finished? Or for a set amount of time?

If you are a person who gets easily distracted and works better in smaller segments, try the Pomodoro Technique.

This productivity technique balances out the amount of work time with rest time and can be used to give a certain amount of attention to each of your tasks. Breaking down the monotony of working on a single project for long periods..

3.       Stop Procrastination

We all love to indulge in a bit of procrastination, whether it’s checking our social media, having a chat or daydreaming about your next holiday.

You need to give yourselves regular breaks, a time where you can freely procrastinate, switch off and check that all important social media.

Tip - Stop looking at your phone whilst working. Give it a go!

4.       Combat afternoon fatigue

You’ve had a productive morning, a lovely lunch break and now you are ready to…….go to sleep….

Maybe it’s the food or maybe you have just lost your work mojo, whatever it is afternoon fatigue gets to all of us.

There are two ways to combat this, one is a high in protein lunch (stay away from those lethargic carbs) and two, is to make your afternoon task something to look forward to.  

Get those hard to tackle tasks out the way in that morning productivity phase!

5.       Plan ahead

Hands up who spends a good 30 minutes to an hour, at the beginning of their working day, settling in to work? Chatting to colleagues, making coffee and generally distracting yourself from getting started.…sound familiar?

Plan ahead and decide the first thing you will work on the night before, especially if you have a lot of work on. It will stop that, first thing procrastination, which will make you more productive!

Using a productivity tool like todoist will help you prioritise tasks and allows you to bring certain tasks to the top of your todo list.

Spending just 10 minutes at the end of your working day to plan your next days work schedule will help you accomplish your goals. Make this a daily task until it becomes a part of your routine.