Do you find yourself distracted from work most of the time? Are you having a hard time finishing your tasks? Is your productivity lagging?
Poor performance can lead to a backlog, not just in your department but in other departments as well. Once this snowballs, it can affect the whole company as well. Here are some tips to boost your productivity at work and improve your time management skills:
1. Ask yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in mundane “busy” work that distracts you from more important projects. Always ask, “Is this the best possible use of my time at this exact minute?” If not, drop what you’re doing and work on more productive tasks.
2. Shut Your Door. If you find it hard to get your work done because of drop-in visitors, don’t be shy about shutting your door to discourage interruptions. This is a particularly useful technique when you really need to concentrate for just an hour or two.
3. Tame Your Technology. Do you find your entire day eaten up by phone calls and emails? You may think that you’re being efficient but it’s actually the opposite. Schedule a time for checking your messages and dealing with calls. This way, you are still able to respond to important issues and still have time to get some actual work done.
4. Clear your desk. Some people have a hard time staying focused because the piles and stacks distract them from the task at hand. Clear the clutter off of your desk so you can focus on what you are currently working on.
5. Make a list. If your mind can’t seem to settle down, and you keep thinking of the million OTHER things that you have to do, keep a pad of paper on your desk and write down each of these to-do items as they occur to you.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything at once. The secret to time management is knowing which tasks to prioritize and which tasks could wait. It’s not always the best use of your time for you to tackle a to-do right when it comes in.