Want to Be Loved by Your Team? Try These 10 Habits Of Productive People
Everyone wants to be productive. No one wants to procrastinate. No one wants to feel stressed every day. No one wants to face failure.
Yet we do.
You probably don’t want to admit it but keeping yourself productive at work often feels like a challenge. No matter how much caffeine you take for peak alertness or how many to-do checklists you create in a day, it seems like you’re in an endless quest to get more work done in less time, right?
Wait! What about Steve Jobs, Simon Sinek, Jeff Bezos, Tim Ferriss, and Marc Benioff?
How do these people seem to be able to get so much more done in a day than you ever can? Is it some kind of genetic potential that sets them apart?
Turns out, not really. It’s just the routines and habits they meticulously follow that keeps them highly productive every day.
How about a unique spin on things?
Let’s look at the habits of the world’s most successful people and reevaluate your approach to being ultra-productive at work. Here, try these 10 habits of productive people. And when you do - you can be certain to get everything out of working hours on a daily basis - you’ll also be loved by your team.
1. Clear your mind
It might sound counterproductive at first, but emptying your mind at the start of a day is a neat trick. “What tasks did I complete yesterday?”, “Did I do everything as planned?”, “Did I miss something?”, “What did I plan for today?” - There is too much to remember.
Instead of exaggerating over what you just forget, try starting your day with a clean slate. Clear your mind and think about tasks that are important and need to be completed by today. Include such tasks into your to-do list apps for the day and the rest can be accomplished later in the week.
2. Have a daily action plan
Preparing your day in advance isn't just about having a to-do list, it is also about having an action plan. Your to-do list is just an overview of “What” you need to do, but what about the “How”. Remember what Peter Drucker said: “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”
This means it’s not good enough to just map out everything that needs to be done in a day. You need to have a daily action plan in place to help you focus on what’s important and provide you that feeling of having everything under control.
3. Prioritize everything
You have a long day ahead, but you also have a dozen things to do. Organizing these dozen things by what needs to be done first, second, next, and so on will definitely help to put your mind to rest.
Setting priority to every task/activity is a great way to ensure that you are doing everything in the right order, without wasting time procrastinating over “what’s next”. At the same time, it helps you create room to check your errors and maintain optimum productivity.
4. Invent your own “thinking position”
Did you know that Truman Capote used to lay down whenever he needed to brainstorm or come up with ideas? And it’s not just him, Marcel Proust did this as well.
Now, what worked for them may not be for you. But it's certainly a great, unique idea to find new ideas. That is why you should consider finding a spot or position that make ideas 'click' in your mind.
5. Do the most dreaded task first
If you’re always tempted to start your day with the easiest task and end it with the most dreaded stuff, you’re doing it wrong.
There’s an interesting psychological effect that suggests – doing the hardest task first can keep you productive all day. That means, by using the hardest-first technique, you won’t be constantly stacking up your hardest, trickiest work for the end of the day. Instead, you will get over with the first and have the rest of the day free for everything else.
6. Follow the “Two-Minute Rule”
The “two-minute rule” by David Allen is a great way to overcome procrastination and stay productive. The rule says - if a new task comes up and you can do it in two minutes or less, do it right away. It’s surprising that most of the tasks that you procrastinate on aren’t that difficult to do.
However, putting them off just adds more stuff to your to-do list and makes everything seem more dreadful later. Follow this little strategy called the “two-minute rule” and you will start focusing on taking action and letting things flow.
7. Find your golden hour
There’s no rule that limits you to stick to the “typical” 9 to 5 work schedule. Here’s the deal: keep track of your focus, motivation, and energy on a daily basis and get a sense of when, how, and where you’re the most productive.
Also, once you find your golden hour, protect it with all you might. Eliminate any factor that might mess up with your sweet spot i.e. your peak productivity hours.
8. Use only a few tools
If you want to be your most productive self, you’ve got to use technology to your advantage. There are plenty of apps and tools that can help you with your intent to keep crossing things off your to-do list. But you don’t need all of them – you just need a tool that actually helps to make things easy, efficient for you. In simple words, don’t just use every app that you come across. Instead, carefully examine your work routine and determine what you need.
Is it an online project planner? Is it project management tool? Is it a team messaging app? Is it an accounting software? Or do you need a tool that helps you with your time management? Figure out what kind of tool do you need and utilize it to its full potential.
9. Don’t try to do too much
Smart people don’t multitask. Why? Well, they know that it’s a myth and it does nothing more than killing their performance and productivity. Doing too much at once is less productive than doing a single thing at a time.
This means you need to avoid saying yes to every project/task and bombard yourself with work you cannot pay attention to or complete in time. A human brain can only focus on one thing at a time. So when you try to do multiple things at once, you reduce your efficiency and productivity.
10. Be in tune with your body
Did you know that you can’t focus on a task for more than 90 minutes to 2 hours? Keep this in mind when you assign work to yourself.
Don’t forget to schedule regular breaks (not longer than 10-15 minutes) between work hours. It will help you ensure that your mind and body stay in tune and you won’t get burned out at work.
Don’t fall into the workday quicksand of spending all your day sending replies to emails, attending/hosting meetings, or figuring out what to do next. Try following these simple habits and hacks to be productive and liked at work.
Of course, there are lots of other things that you can do to be your most productive in a day. So, if you’ve got any special ideas or a secret hack to being productive at work, add a comment below!
About the author:
Vartika Kashyap is the Marketing Manager at ProofHub and has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2018. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.
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