Here are some tips on how to stay productive. Also, read on to know what works and what doesn't.
Nowadays it seems more and more difficult to focus on just one thing. It’s because we see so many things around us, all at once, and we have so many communication means to choose from.
With the advancement of technology and the huge temptation of the Internet, it’s becoming quite hard to stay focused at the office, and not access Google search every five minutes, or not check Facebook or Twitter every now and then.
All these have a negative impact on our productivity, but there are many other such things as well. Another more subtle temptation is to check our email constantly.
Constantly won’t be a problem, the idea is not to become obsessed by it. Although it’s good to stay in touch and find out the latest work-related information, checking one’s email too often may decrease one’s productivity.
When going into the office, it’s better to start working on something really important for about half an hour, before checking one’s email. Some people say they only check their email at lunchtime, in order to prevent any productivity problems.
The thing is, if we are ignorant on what is going on outside our day-to-day environment, we can actually focus on what we have to do at that particular moment.
The best thing to do is to check one’s email only once a day, and tell all one’s clients or friends that they will be responded within 24 hours. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to focus even on simple, single tasks.
There are very few chances for a person who wakes up early and goes to work at about 9 am to still be very productive after 5 pm. Even if we work really hard, the only thing we are likely to obtain is exhaustion and higher chances of getting sick. Staying late should be done only when it is absolutely necessary.
Another major issue is how to set your priorities straight. This is often related to many mistakes when it comes to managing one’s time in a productive way. So doing a to-do list is not always easy.
The idea is to make a list of one’s things that need to be done during a particular day. Then when it comes to action, one should start with the biggest task on the list, no matter how tempting the smaller tasks may seem.
This biting off the bullet attitude can indeed save us from a lot of trouble and from the pressure of wasting time on smaller things still keeping in the back of our minds the knowledge that there are even bigger and hardest things to do during that day.
Too much coffee drinking doesn’t help, either, no matter how popular this beverage is. The energy caffeine gives you does not last very long. Especially if you take sugar in your coffee.
The sugar in one’s coffee can make one hyperactive, increase one’s level of insulin, and make it crash and then get it stored as fat.
In short, coffee is not a productivity booster. Not to mention that it makes you more talkative and likely to make you chat either on the internet, or with your work colleagues. Instead of the daily coffee cups and coffee breaks, the best alternative would be an energizing, refreshing breakfast, with plenty of fruit and veggies.
Having one’s lunch at one’s desk might not be a good idea, either. Although one’s boss may have the impression that his employee is so diligent that he/she doesn’t even go on a lunch break, but this may not be the case. Having lunch at one’s desk does not necessarily make one more productive.
It’s not advisable for clumsy persons to have lunch at their desk, or else there might be accidents such as spilling soup on one’s keyboard, or on very important documents. Another thing, there is also the danger of spilling food on one’s clothes, and that won’t be too good especially if there are important meetings on the day’s schedule.
Also, because one does not eat mindfully, there is the danger of eating in excess. That means one can get fat, can start having heart problems, and then one’s productivity is clearly going down.