Make Yourself More Productive With These Tips

To-do lists never seem to stop growing, leaving you with the daily challenge of shrinking your workload to fit the allotted time. To increase productivity, learn to create environmental conditions that help you consistently perform well. Avoid trying to multitask and handle everything yourself, and focus on improving your efficiency by grouping tasks that add to your momentum throughout the day.

1. Know Your Habits

Take an analytical approach to productivity by tracking your habits and making small changes to see what works best. If your productivity tends to plunge in the late afternoon, complete the most difficult tasks on your to-do list early in the day. When possible, save your low-energy periods for easy, repetitive tasks you can complete with minimal brain power.

2. Set Warm-Up Goals

Balance your high-productivity periods with mini goals that let you warm up your brain at the beginning of the day, after a break or between challenging tasks. These short warm-up periods help you clear your to-do list of tedious yet essential tasks that can't be delegated. Small goals keep you working at times when your mind might normally wander, keeping the momentum going while still letting you recover from a draining project.

3. Complete and Delete

To-do lists become pointless when you continually avoid important tasks and spend more time planning than getting things done. At the start or finish of each day, delete tasks that are no longer important. Looking at a long to-do list of uncompleted projects can be demotivating and lead to procrastination, so plan tasks in blocks, and immediately start working to keep daily goals on track. More importantly, learn to speak up when the boss wants to pile on another project you can't handle. Discuss your workload together, letting your boss decide which nonessential tasks to delete or reassign.

4. Create Repeatable Processes

Try to remember times when you're "in the zone" and what you did differently to improve the outcome of a project. For example, an employee in charge of the company blog may break up the task and delegate or outsource prep stages, such as researching topics and gathering resources. This allows him to focus on the writing and editing stages, increasing the amount of content produced each year. If a process works and makes your job run more smoothly, keep repeating and refining your method until it stops being effective.

5. Close the Door

Shut out distractions, even if you don't have a physical door. Some companies believe an open floor plan fosters collaboration and productivity, but every worker is different, and your concentration may suffer in a crowded environment with no privacy. Let your teammates know which blocks of time are off-limits for socializing and delegating low-priority tasks, and create your own solitude by listening to instrumental music or white noise in headphones. Co-workers may value the convenience of managing your shared to-do list at predetermined times, making you all more efficient.

While efficiency can make you a coveted employee, don't make the mistake of overworking yourself in an effort to increase productivity. Regular breaks are a necessary part of building concentration and creativity, making it useful to step away from your to-do list when facing a stubborn mental block.

Photo courtesy of BeWe France at Flickr.com