You found our list of productivity tips for work.
Productivity tips for work are tactics and actions that employees apply to improve individual or team efficiency. For example, multitasking, prioritizing tasks, and working as a team. These tips aim to curb distractions, burnout, and bad habits like procrastination so that employees focus better on their assignments.
These productivity tips are related to productivity software, home office ideas, work-life balance, and time management tips. These concepts are similar to work from home office ideas.
This article covers:
- productivity tips for work from home
- tips for increasing productivity at work
- productivity tips for working parents
- work productivity hacks
- advice for productivity at work
- productivity tips for office work
Here we go!
List of the best productivity tips
Maintaining high levels of productivity is a significant challenge for many employees. Here are some of the best productivity hacks for work.
1. Keep a planner
One of the best productivity tips for working parents is keeping a planner. An employee can efficiently schedule and spread assignments over the next available hours, days, or weeks using a planner. This idea also enables employees to balance office tasks, personal errands, meetings, and events within the available time. Planners also work as reminders for details like kids’ checkup appointments and project deadlines. Referring to these details helps employees to plan their time, stick to the requirements of the jobs, and deliver accurately.
2. Focus on one task
Focusing on a single assignment is among the most effective ways of completing your work faster. Single-mindedness helps employees to concentrate on a particular job and produce quality results. This idea works best on projects with high demands. For instance, super important, extremely urgent, or highly sensitive tasks.
The two primary ways of focusing on one task are dedicating sufficient resources like time to the task and splitting the projects into several parts for each team member to work on.
Here are books about focus.
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3. Skillful multitasking
Multitasking is among the best productivity skills for work. When applied correctly, this skill can help employees do more work in a shorter period.
However, many employees make the mistake of choosing to accomplish any two jobs simultaneously. This decision often goes wrong when employees select the incorrect combination of tasks. Understanding that individual tasks require different levels of concentration and input is essential in preventing this mistake.
Skillful multitasking, on the other hand, involves combining two or more low-concentration assignments, so you can dedicate more time to high-concentration jobs. You can also multitask effectively by doing similar tasks concurrently.
4. Define your peak time
Most folks know what time of day they are likely to be most productive. Whether an employee is a morning person, a night person, or somewhere in between, identifying this optimum time is key to hacking most productivity issues. Likewise, some folks have their most productive day of the week.
By scheduling the most challenging jobs to your peak time, an employee can manage more assignments efficiently. Similarly, it is best to tackle less daunting tasks when your concentration levels begin to drop.
5. Use task management software
The use of task management software is among the best work productivity hacks. These apps help organize, prioritize, and streamline several tasks to complete projects efficiently. Task management software is a great productivity tool for project supervisors and their teams. The app gives the team a great view of the project’s progress. For instance, team members can see details like the available assignments, task allocation, and skills requirements. In addition, the software improves overall productivity through enhanced job planning, resource allocation, follow-ups, and reporting.
Here is a list of the best task management software.
6. Use Pomodoro
Time wastage is a major challenge for most workers. Employees can easily lose work time when they allow distractions and procrastinate tasks. One of the ways to counter time management issues is using the Pomodoro productivity technique, which enables the worker to create cycles that alternate work and breaks.
The Pomodoro technique is highly customizable and allows sufficient time for the employee to concentrate on the tasks. In addition, the breaks help workers revitalize and take care of the activities that could cause distractions during the work cycle. For example, making social phone calls, refilling drinking water, and grabbing snacks.
Here is a list of free Pomodoro timers.
7. Shorten your daily to-do list
Writing a to-do list is a productivity tip that reminds you of the tasks that you need to accomplish. However, a big mistake most folks make is writing an overly long to-do list and hoping to check all items on the list quickly. The long list subconsciously exerts pressure on the worker and can cause stress when employees fail to meet their expectations. Shortening the to-do list is a good hack to correct this mistake and help workers become more productive. For instance, focusing on a few tasks and covering them comprehensively produces quality results.
8. Take more health breaks
Concentrating on assignments for long periods can be tiring. Physical or mental fatigue can lower employees’ productivity. Whenever this downtime happens, it is the ideal time to give employees some time off work to re-energize.
Regular health breaks let employees rejuvenate by hydrating, stretching, snacking, or napping. These activities allow the body and mind to relax and regain more strength to continue the tasks.
9. Eliminate distractions
Distractions at work are among the worst enemies of productivity because they make employees take more time than necessary to tackle a single task. Major work distractions include office gossip, checking social media, and social non-work phone calls. If you are working from home, then children, pets, and house chores could be your major distractions.
Some solutions to help isolate yourself from these work interferences include:
- setting boundaries with colleagues so that you have less chat time
- using emails instead of internal phone calls to avoid gossip
- hiring a nanny or house manager to help with children and house chores
- avoiding social media during work time
Understanding your distractions is critical in choosing how best to avoid, minimize, or eliminate those interruptions and dedicate more time to work.
10. Delegate non-technical assignments
Too many tasks on the desk can easily make you feel stuck and frustrated. This situation is common when employees lack enthusiasm for repetitive, time-consuming, or less enjoyable tasks. Or when workers lack skills or experience for challenging jobs.
Job delegation tops the list of productivity tips for office work. Instead of piling jobs, a supervisor can reassign the tasks to more capable employees, especially in multi-talented teams. Or empower eager learners by assigning them such tasks. Where possible, employees can maintain enthusiasm for work by choosing projects they prefer to tackle.
In addition, learning new skills, shadowing, and getting a mentor are other efficient ways of delivering your delegated jobs.
11. Establish morning and evening work routines
One of the best productivity ideas is creating work routines.
A good morning walk routine can include the following:
- dusting and tidying up your desk
- checking the planner for the day’s tasks
- checking and responding to emails
- assembling the tools and files, you need for the assignments
Activities in this routine help employees settle faster to start working on their daily tasks.
Meanwhile, the evening routine may include the following:
- emptying the trash can
- filing retrieved files and documents on the out-tray
- reviewing the day’s tasks and reflecting
- compiling and sending daily reports
Evening routines help in ensuring that employees deal with all pending work for the day before closing business. Routines also allow workers to plan for the next day’s events.
12. Develop a good communication system
Choosing an appropriate platform for communication is the first step in establishing a good communication system. Emails are a standard form of written communication, but team leaders can opt for alternatives that work best for their teams. For example, Slack Channel and WhatsApp work groups are great for group communication due to their chats and comment features.
Choosing a communication system with a good flow of instructions and feedback improves productivity and quality delivery at work. Such systems enhance transparency, give clear direction, and increase accountability. As a result, team members will experience increased engagement, reduced friction, and boosted morale. In addition, team leaders who promote collaboration through good communication achieve better work output and happier teams.
Check out this list of internal communication tools and tips.
13. Develop a self-care routine
Peace of mind and good health are among the greatest contributors to personal productivity. A wholesome self-care routine covers the five pillars of well-being, which are physical, social, mental, spiritual, and emotional self-care. Employees can choose or design a suitable daily, weekly, or monthly routine.
For example:
- Connect with friends and family who make you feel good
- Read self-help articles and books to stimulate mental growth
- Participate in charity activities
- Meditate regularly to fulfill spiritual needs
- Take healthy meals and a lot of water
- Make time for your favorite hobbies
Including these actions in your routine helps you to achieve a balanced life and become more productive.
14. Starting with high-priority tasks
One of the best pieces of advice for productivity at work is grouping your tasks in priority order. To organize assignments, employees should first understand the urgency or importance of each job. Next, the employee should categorize the tasks into three groups: high priority, medium priority, and low priority.
Starting with high-priority tasks can help the employee to reduce work pressure. This tactic reduces work stress, enabling employees to concentrate on the next level, medium-priority tasks. Finally, employees can attend to any remaining low-priority activities. Employees should revise the priority order for repetitive tasks daily for the best results.
15. Exercise regularly
Exercising is one of the fun ways to improve your physical health and increase your productivity levels. Physical exercises produce feel-good hormones, release negative energy, and keep employees in good moods. Exercises help to keep diseases at bay and make employees more fit to perform their tasks. In addition, folks who exercise regularly sleep and look better, meaning they are more confident and mentally relaxed.
16. Bond with colleagues
Among the most effective strategies for promoting productivity is engaging in team building activities and games. Participating in these exercises encourages employees to understand each other better, have fun at work, and appreciate one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Team building fosters lasting team bonds and collaboration among colleagues. This unity among employees is a critical ingredient for enhancing team spirit and productivity.
Here is a guide to team building methods that promote productivity
17. Organize resources in advance
Asking for resources you might need is a great way to enhance your productivity. For example, you may need resources like money, working materials, manpower, and internet connectivity to deliver a job. Planning, sourcing, and allocating these resources help save time and energy, which you can reinvest into the task to give a better output.
18. Split work into manageable tasks
Splitting work into smaller blocks is among the top tips for increasing productivity at work. This strategy requires the employee to break down the challenging tasks into smaller manageable parts. Next, the employee assesses how long to take for the entire task and schedules the appropriate time for each part of the assignment.
This simple but efficient technique works well on time-consuming jobs, large projects, and long-term strategies. This tactic is also one of the best ways to tackle daunting tasks.
19. Learn essential skills for your job
Skilled and talented employees are more productive than staff who lack the necessary skills. Among the top strategies for making yourself or your team more efficient is learning essential skills and gaining relevant knowledge.
An employee can learn new skills by taking up learning opportunities. For instance, on-the-job training, enrolling in relevant courses, shadowing more experienced staff, reading job-related books, and attending self-improvement seminars.
20. Celebrate your wins
Going easy on yourself is one of the most underrated productivity tips. Unfortunately, most employees undermined the need to acknowledge their efforts on a well-done job. Failure to recognize your contribution can result in self-doubt and self-dissatisfaction. For best results with this tip, conduct periodic self-assessments of all the work progress. For instance, end-of-the-day reviews will help you follow up on partially completed tasks and determine the next ones to take up.
Here is a list of virtual team celebration ideas.
21. Have a dedicated office space
Having a dedicated space is one of the best productivity tips for work from home employees. A good office space mimics the real office by providing an excellent environment for working. For example, calm, physical comfort, and permanence.
An employee can personalize their office space to improve productivity. Examples include choosing relaxing colors and adding favorite office plants. You could also hang motivational quotes on the wall or place them on the desk for inspiration. Also, de-cluttering and reorganizing the office frequently helps to achieve a neat, fresh, and clean work environment.
22. Set and strategize personal goals
Goal setting is a great work tool that enhances productivity. Employees can set short or long-term goals to help them achieve a particular result.
For example:
- To increase monthly web visits by 15%
- To achieve daily sales targets
- To open one more branch annually
- To reduce spending by 10%
- To introduce new training programs for each department by the end of the year.
Goals help to keep the focus and maintain discipline. However, having a game plan to achieve those targets and sticking to the program makes goal setting an efficient tip.
Check out this list of goal-setting activities.
Conclusion
Productivity at work is vital to managing and executing work more efficiently. Some of the familiar productivity tips include delegating and technical jobs, developing work routines, and taking care of your well-being. In addition, work from home employees need productivity hacks to prevent distractions and increase self-accountability. Eventually, the tips help employees to achieve more within a limited time.
Next, check out the four-day work week and time management books.
