Learning to manage time (EP001) – How I have Enhanced Productivity at my Workplace

https://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/6-effective-ways-to-enhance-workplace-productivity.html

Workplace productivity is the efficiency in which tasks and goals are completed for the company. By creating a productive workplace, benefits such as profitability and employee morale will be more  discernable.https://opensourcedworkplace.com/news/what-is-workplace-productivity-how-to-increase-and-why.

The following are the steps I have taken to be productive;

1. I don’t start my day with chats but instead focus on the tasks I have to do

Whereas some people start their day with Social Media which may encroach on their time for doing meaning work,  I personally use the first few hours of my day to prepare and set the tone which make me more productive and fruitful. My day start with exercise, bible reading and prayer, meditation, journaling, book reading and review of my to do list. I schedule about 30 minutes every day towards lunch time after I have accomplished my most important task of the day.

 

2. I remove destruction

Because of the nature of my work where I always receive instructions via email and watsup, I always have a specific time in a day when I respond to my emails and watsup work related messages. I always use a one full hour time block where I deeply focus on a task at hand and then use 5 minutes after every hour to respond to urgent and important instructions. This has enabled me remain productive and submit my assignments on time.

 

3. I make a priority to do list

Working on many tasks say 10 – 20 things make you feel busy yet unproductive. I am always clear on the 2-3 tasks I want to accomplish in a day. Every evening before leaving for home, I make a 3 row to do list; aside 20% high impact tasks in the first row, 80% low impact tasks (tasks that need to get done but don’t require a basis of my time), and in the last row put other tasks (things which I need to get done but don’t need to do them right away. prioritized-to-do-list.

 

4. I match and accomplish similar tasks at once

I get more work done by juggling multiple tasks at the same time. Fore example instead of answering one email, I use my 5 minutes effectively and respond to all the important email, whether urgent or not. I can also combine calling someone while typing these emails.

 

5. I delegate

Its usually impossible to do all the work alone because we cant accomplish much if we do everything on our own. So some questions that I use to help me know which tasks to delegate are; Is this task recurring? Is it the best use of my time or can my time better be spent elsewhere? and finally I the cost of hiring or outsourcing could be if necessary.

 

6. I do a regular audit

I usually look back at how my week has been and ask my self these questions.

How has this week been?

• I am satisfied at how this week has been?
• Have I spent this week on the most important things on my task list?
• Could l have spent this week in a better way?
• Moving forward what changes do l like to make if any?

Answering these questions help me know how I am doing things and analyze whether there is a better way for me to do something. This auditing enable me step back and think about these 3 points.

• The WHY, why I am doing this? Is this the best use of my time?
• The WHAT, What things I am doing, are they the best use of my energy? Are they pushing me to wards my highest goals?
• The HOW; How I am handing things? Is the approach I am using now the best approach or can there be a better one? Can there be a better way to do things?

Conclusion

Productivity is when we are consciously spending our time, consciously approaching our days and thinking about how we can make the most out of it, busy can some time be considered a lazy way of living in that we are not really thinking about the things we are doing as just as we are doing them. And it very good to have a good work ethic and make sure our time is spent in a most effective way. This is what productivity is about; working hard but at the same time making sure that our hard work is creating the highest impact, making sure our energy and efforts are creating the biggest impact in the world.

Let’s join hands and put these tips in practice so as to make the most use of our time in everything we do as productive rather than acting to be busy.