It is the time of the year again to start the so-called New Year’s resolutions. Did you know that one of the most common new year’s resolution is to be more productive with our own time? Yes, you know! Actually, we may all be guilty of procrastination at some point. We don’t know, but maybe this 2018 could be the year to drive it out for good! The start of the new year is really a great time to take a stock of your goals as well as aspirations on how you want to uplift your life.
Do you want to have a new job or a promotion? Do you aim to be more organized at work? Are you eyeing to begin a much healthier lifestyle, which includes eating the right foods and working out? You know what, regardless of what you really want to accomplish, you do not have to wait for the new year to accomplish them.
If you want to know the different ways on how you can improve your productivity this 2018, give this article a read. And you will surely learn a lot from it, enjoy!
Productivity?
There are some who don’t really know the term productivity. That’s why they tend to not show it in their work or in things that they do. So, let us first discuss it thoroughly.
Productivity is actually the assessment of the efficiency you have in finishing a certain task at a given period of time. Your productivity relies on how you can handle things in your life. For instance, when you read emails for certain jobs, instead of just focusing on reading the important emails, you tent to read the spam. This will make you consume more and more time that is supposed for your work. If you want to be more productive in life, make sure to focus what is more important and use things that may help you in automating your tasks.
7 Ways to Improve your Productivity in 2018
The following are the most efficient ways of improving your productivity this year:
Keep your brain sharp.
If you want to improve your productivity in 2018, keep your brain sharp all the time. Always remember that your brain is the most powerful tool you have. When your brain is sharp enough, you will not just be able to remember more, you will also be able to process more information much faster.
If you want to keep your brain working at its peak, eating three balanced meal a day and avoiding alcohol can be beneficial. This is since alcohol affects the brain by diminishing the memory and the overall cognition.
Avoid any distractions.
Distractions are everywhere, most especially now that the technology addiction is one major source of distraction.To be able to avoid distractions, putting your smartphone in a “do not disturb” or airplane mode is beneficial. This will help you focus on your tasks more.
Stay flexible.
One important part of being productive is scheduling. However, it is important to know and understand that things won’t always go according to the plan. If there is something important that comes up while you are doing your tasks, remain as flexible as possible. You must be flexible enough to create new plans in advance for all the things that you have to do.
Create your routine.
Having a good routine can separate being productive and being a procrastinator. When you are capable of handling a particular task every day at the same time, there’s no doubt on the things that you should be doing at the moment. Hence, you just do it since it is your own routine.
Take some breaks.
You have to take breaks when you are trying to get your tasks done. In fact, research tells that we can be more productive after having breaks. However, just because you are breaking from a certain thing doesn’t mean that you cannot be productive in the other. You can take a break from your work but use the time to work on some other necessary things.
Focus on measurable outcomes.
One key factor in improving productivity is motivation. One thing you can do to motivate yourself is to have a checklist of your to-do things and check the items off when you’re done with it. Make it a habit to measure the results form your tasks. Tracking progress and knowing that your efforts are producing a good outcome, you’ll be more motivated to continue some of your tasks. It is the feeling or accomplishment that sometimes keep us going.
Try some apps to automate tasks.
If you’re stuck, you can use some productivity applications to automate your tasks. Many of these apps are free to use, so giving them a try is worth it. Some applications that you may try are Gyst, Any.do, or Promodoro. Even using a spam filter for your emails, economies your working time and automates your daily email checking routine. All of these applications can be beneficial in improving your own productivity.
With all the above-mentioned ways on how to improve productivity in 2018, I hope that you’ll be able to improve yourself. Not just to be a better employee, but also to be a better version of you. Always remember what Paul J. Meyer once said, “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
