Although today’s workers are more easily accessible via cell phones and email, having so many competing interests can often kill their productivity. There are certain patterns that emerge with nonproductive staff. Fortunately, there are ways to correct them all.
Lack of Delegation
A primary problem for many small business owners and other professionals is trying to do everything for themselves. You may worry that someone else cannot competently help you handle a project. However, overloading yourself with work actually makes you less productive. At the same time, another worker may be unproductive because you have extra work that they aren’t doing. It is important that you learn not to say “yes” all the time and that you are able to share the workload with others.
Lack of Planning
If you come to work with ten tasks to do and just start working on them, you may still not be productive without a fully formed plan. You need to have a purpose to your day. Before leaving work, make a to-do list of everything you need to do the next day. Also, give some thought to long-term planning and how individual tasks fit into this larger framework.
Time Wasters
There are so many distractions that are easy to access and that want to zap your most productive hours. These time wasters include:
- Web surfing
- Social media
- Texting with friends
- Television
- Newspaper
- Video games
- Talking to family, friends or coworkers
Multi-Tasking
For many years, people thought multi-tasking was a sign of productivity. However, when a person multi-tasks, they fail to concentrate on one assignment. They only give partial attention to assignments, which opens up the possibility to make mistakes. A worker may start several different projects, but they all remain incomplete. Multitasking also kills productivity because it takes time to refocus when switching between different tasks. It is better to concentrate on one task at a time, finish it and then move onto the next task.
How to Change Things Around
Fortunately, there are ways that you can actually get work done. One important step is to implement an automated system to deal with recurring tasks. Preparing templates ahead of time or setting up timers are easy ways to get routine work done. All workers must learn how to delegate tasks to underlings. Time wasters can be avoided by using site blockers and turning off phone notifications so that you are fully engaged in your task at hand. Being centered and focused can help you achieve optimal productivity levels once and for all.