4 Ways to Work Smarter and Improve Productivity

In a perfect world, you can finish all of your tasks within the day and won’t have to work overtime or bring your work home. However, the reality is that there are several factors that can prevent you from being productive during work hours. Getting side-tracked once in a while is normal, but once it becomes a habit, it can lead to bigger problems like burning out. To prevent this from happening, you need to work smarter and improve your productivity.

Here are a few tips on how to achieve both:

Measure Your Productivity Based on the Tasks You’ve Completed

If you base your productivity on the hours you’ve worked, then you are doing it wrong. Being productive is not about the time you spend holed up in your office. You could be working for 12 hours a day but it won’t mean anything if you are not accomplishing stuff. That’s why it’s always a good idea to measure your productivity based on the number of tasks you have completed. Make sure you do this moving forward so you can track your progress.

Learn How to Delegate

As a small business owner, you might not be accustomed to delegating tasks to other people. You might feel like everything could go wrong if you are not doing it yourself. However, there’s is no denying that you need help especially when it comes to tasks that are not your forte.

If copywriting or blogging is not your strength, then hire a content writer VA. If you are way in over your head when it comes to social media management, then leave it to the experts. There are highly capable virtual assistants that can help you with such tasks.

Eliminate Distractions

Distractions keep you from being productive. They also make you susceptible to procrastination. If you want to get things done and move forward, you need to remove these distractions while you’re working.

One of the most common distractions in a workplace is your phone. It’s best not to check your phone especially if you are not expecting any important messages. Doing this will also keep you from browsing social media sites, which could totally derail you from focusing on the task at hand. If you can, make sure your phone’s not placed on your desk where you can easily see and reach it.

Create Micro-Goals

Not accomplishing a goal within the day can be discouraging. But you need to realize that there are tasks that just cannot be done in a day or two. To make sure that you won’t procrastinate even further when this happens, what you need to do is to set micro-goals. Taking on these minor goals and completing them will make you feel that you are progressing and accomplishing something. And before you know it, you have already completed a huge task.

Do you have a few tricks of your own when it comes to working smarter and improving productivity? Share them with us by leaving a comment below.

 

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