Ultimate Learning Guide To Improve Your Productivity
In an ideal world, we’d all love our jobs and approach them with enthusiasm every morning. However, very few of us feel motivated at work and see our current position as a step on the ladder to what we really want to be doing. So, how do you stay productive at work and why is it important?
What Is Productivity?
Productivity is how efficiently a system or person works. For example, if you have a set amount of work to complete each day, the time to finish it shows how productive you are. However, the quality of your work contributes to your productivity levels too.
Companies measure their employee’s productivity to see if they are meeting targets, performing well and evaluate if there are certain parts of the job employees need more support with. The most important thing to remember about productivity is it’s about getting the outcome you want by using less time and resources.
How Should Employers Measure Productivity?
Employers often place productivity at the top of their priorities, but forget how important it is to encourage their team. Nobody wants to feel overworked and underpaid, so employers must achieve the right balance. The basic way of measuring productivity is dividing output by input. This shows employers how well their team is performing and whether they need to make changes.
Productivity is about meeting deadlines, but employers know that quality matters. Ten poorly made products will never equal one that passes all the tests and is of selling quality. More often than not, employers expect way too much from their team but don’t think about extenuating factors.
One of the most important things to do if you’re a company owner or manager is think about how to measure the amount of input required. Think about the project and form a strategy to ensure your team members know what they’re doing.
Planning funding, who takes on which responsibilities and setting reasonable deadlines are all aspects of productivity. Employers that don’t understand how to manage productivity cannot expect their employees to deliver what’s expected of them. It’s difficult for both employers and employees to work in collaboration, but having set guidelines means both sides can improve on their productivity.
Tips For Being More Productive at Work
It’s an unsettling feeling when you feel like there’s never enough hours in the day to complete your tasks. Following these tips could enable you to become more productive at work and reap the rewards.
Don’t Multitask
Multitasking is a skill, but sometimes it causes more harm than good. When you take on too many things at once, it can overwhelm you and make it harder to manage your job. The best way to be more productive is to manage each task at once and keep your head clear.
Change Your Sleeping Habits
Sleep is one of the most important things for everyone and not getting enough can impact your daily life. When we’re tired, or stressed then we don’t perform well at work, which compromises our productivity. Never underestimate a good nights sleep and make sure you take steps to relax more. Experts recommend we need eight hours of sleep every night, so follow these tips to improve your cycle.
Have a Rest
Productivity isn’t about getting as much done in the time you have. It’s about producing quality work within your deadlines, which is very different. Take regular breaks and you’ll notice your energy levels increase. Sometimes, all you need is a short walk or a trip to the bathroom to refocus your attention.
Be Realistic
When you work on a project, take some time to break it into small pieces and consider all aspects of the task. Doing this will enable you to put together a plan and evaluate how much time you should spend on each task. When you look at the end goal, you can get caught in the moment and miss important details, so set small goals. Each small goal adds up to the result.
Prioritize
We can’t be alert every day, and nobody enjoys every moment of their job. Some of us feel most alive in the morning, while others find their energy kicks in during the afternoon. It’s important to understand these things about yourself because they can aid you in carrying out your job role. Always save the most important tasks for when you’re more alert, which ensures they’ll get your full attention.
Use the Two-Minute Rule
The two-minute rule is popular in the business world, and it inspires people to act instead of think. If you see a task which should take no longer than two minutes, do it immediately. By using this strategy, you’ll get more work done and spend less time on the task than if you leave it for later.
Stand in Meetings
When we sit down in our meetings, they can drag on. This is because most people are comfortable, which means they’re happy to spend longer in each meeting. By introducing standing meetings, people will be more alert, willing to contribute and the meetings run shorter.
Use Your Commute
Most people have to commute to work, and if you do it by train or bus, it’s the perfect way to be productive. Instead of checking out your Facebook or swiping through Tinder, catch up on your emails and plan what you need to do for the day. Doing this will enable you to get straight to work and meet deadlines.
Stop Interruptions
Work isn’t the place to indulge in gossip and banter. Save that for your lunch break and focus on the task at hand. There’s always that one person in the office that loves to chat through the day, so ask for a quieter work area. If you’ve got a great boss that lets you use your phone at work, attempt to put it away and ignore it during work hours.
Key Take-Away
Productivity is tricky for both employers and employees to navigate, but working in collaboration makes it a simple process. You can become a more productive team member, but make sure your boss’s expectations aren’t too high.
About This Productivity Guide
This guide offers the most insightful articles, educational videos, expert insights, specialist tips and best free tutorials about productivity from around the internet. The learning guide is split into four levels: introduction, basics, advanced and expert. You can learn at your own pace. Each item shows an estimated reading or watching time, allowing you to easily plan when you want to read or watch each item. Below you’ll find a table of contents that enables you to easily find a specific topic you might be interested in.
What Does it Mean to be Productive?
Productivity advice tends to be written with an eye toward accomplishing more work tasks, but that’s not exactly its goal. The goal of productivity advice is to free up time by reducing time spent on wasteful activities. It usually comes with recommendations on how to spend the newly-freed time, but technically, you can spend it on whatever you want.
The Science of Productivity
In today’s crazy world, productivity is on the minds of many. So what can science tell us about the human brain and productive work? How do we become more efficient at working, and spend less time working overall?
The Importance of Productivity
To understand productivity, you have to approach it holistically. It has many different angles, and we’ll touch on three. Through detailing the influence of planning, sustained focus and resource availability, we’ll provide a nuanced perspective on productivity while offering helpful management strategies.
Habits of Highly Productive People
True productivity is the ability to create high impact results in a short amount of time. This is the kind of productivity that matters, not busy work that creates no impact in the long term. For example, it’s better to send out one email that may double your sales, than reply to 100 emails that make no difference to your business.
What is Productivity, Really?
Writer Charles Duhigg defines productivity as “making certain choices in certain ways” that moves us from being “merely busy” to “genuinely productive” in his book Smarter Faster Better. Tony Robbins’ approach to productivity focuses on ways people can systematize and better manage their lives so they have more time to do what they want.
How To Have The Most Productive Day
When we think about our responsibilities (spending time with loved ones, being a good employee, continuing your professional education, taking up hobbies, etc.), it can feel like 24 hours are, in fact, too little for each day. But, they’re all we have! The key is to become extremely disciplined and manage our time well—something we’re all constantly learning to do.
Productivity Tips
Superhuman productivity is possible. Just like anything else it takes practice, dedication, and hard work. But once you unlock new levels you will not only feel like a total badass, but you are bound to see bigger results in your business, less stress in your everyday life, and the accomplishment of your big, scary goals more quickly than you ever thought possible.
How Slow Work Makes us More Productive
The philosophy of “slow work” challenges the unsustainable practice of doing everything as fast as possible and offers an alternative workplace framework for energizing people and helping people better align their personal and professional priorities. It urges us to punctuate our routines in ways that might initially appear to compromise productivity but actually enhance long-term creativity.
Ways To Live a More Productive Life
Many of us are looking for the best strategies & tools to stay productive or a way to keep good habits because we are constantly distracted by the world around us. These distractions can become overwhelming causing you to be lazier and increase procrastination.
The Best Productivity Apps
For the purposes of this blog post, a productivity app is any piece of software that makes your job easier and allows you to get more work done in less time. Some of the applications listed below aren’t “productivity apps” in the true sense of the phrase. But each is worth having and will save you hours of precious time when used consistently.
Tips for Improving Productivity Management
Employee productivity management requires a series of individual steps. One must measure the required tasks, collect performance data, maintain two-way communications, analyze results and create a basis for decision making. We must go beyond gut feelings or feelings of affinity and begin closely monitoring our workflows. You may think that this would lead to an increased workload, but in reality, the opposite occurs.
The Impact of Sports on Work-Life and Productivity
The connection between physical activity and productivity has been known to humans since the dawn of civilisation. But never before has it been a subject of multiple scientific research and various social experiments. A great thing about this connection between human growth and civilisation is that some things never change. Healthy body – Healthy spirit might be old and overused, but it has never been more accurate than today.
Employee Wellness Programs that Boost Productivity
It seems counter-intuitive, but spending money can actually save you money in the long run. Additionally, if you spend on the right things, you can boost productivity. You end up with happier, more invested employees, and that can go a long way toward helping you in the long run.
Over time, the increases in productivity and the savings in some areas of your company can result in a return on investment that more than matches your initial outlay for employee wellness programs.
Measuring Health-Related Productivity Loss
Costs of productivity loss were compared to medical costs for the same conditions and health risks. Practical benchmarks of lost work performance may help employers assess the financial impact of suboptimal health in their own companies. Estimates of lost work time can help employers realize the value of maintaining a healthy population.
Mental Health Issues and its Effects on Productivity
When there is a slight alteration in the work environment it can affect the mental well-being of a person. An unreasonable boss, an unrealistic target, competition for the coveted promotion, unpleasant colleagues, health issues, etc. can affect the productivity of a person, which in turn can cost the employer or the company. Each person is different and their threshold to take on the work stressors can be different. Some buckle in very early while some can go and cope with stress for long periods of time.
The Cost Of Ignoring Mental Health In The Workplace
Mental health and substance abuse cost US businesses between $80 and $100 billion annually. Another study showed that serious mental illness costs America up to $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year. Depression is thought to count for up to 400 million lost workdays annually.
Mental Health at Work
It’s not something we talk about with our work colleagues, but it affects many of us. Almost 40% of employee benefit claims are related to mental health, and mental health issues cost the Canadian economy $51 billion each year in lost productivity. From cost to stigma, coping to sharing, The Agenda examines mental health in the workplace.
How Does Stress Affect Workplace Productivity?
As hard as it is for managers, supervisors or even employers to hear, a plummet in productivity can all too often be down to pressure. With stress and anxiety as an increasing threat in the workplace, it pays to recognize the damage stress can inflict on even the biggest businesses.
Meditation: A Simple, Fast Way to Reduce Stress
If stress has you anxious, tense and worried, consider trying meditation. Spending even a few minutes in meditation can restore your calm and inner peace. Anyone can practice meditation. It’s simple and inexpensive, and it doesn’t require any special equipment. And you can practice meditation wherever you are — whether you’re out for a walk, riding the bus, waiting at the doctor’s office or even in the middle of a difficult business meeting.
How Productive Are You?
Productivity is a measure of how much you accomplish – not how busy you are. So it’s far better to learn how to work intelligently, and to use leverage to achieve more with your time and resources. This will increase your productivity – and help you find extra time to do other things.
Time Management Tips To Maximize Your Productivity
Have you ever had one of those days when you find yourself getting up from your desk, answering phone calls from family members, and clicking through web pages only to realize it’s noon and you still haven’t accomplished anything? We’ve all been there. But when this becomes a daily occurrence, it’s time to take action. Use the following tips to maximize productivity, whether at work, school or home.
How to be More Productive
Small adjustments can lead to more lasting changes, but those may take time and discipline. It looks really easy when you’re reading a productivity article like this to think it’s easy. But it’s not. I’m not writing this from an expert point of view, but from a fellow worker in the fight against distraction.
The Cult of Extreme Productivity
In this talk Mark Adams shares a dramatic and powerful system that takes productivity thinking to whole new and terrifying level, allowing a person to achieve almost any goal they set themselves with rapid speed. The secret to this type of exponential success? Bin your ‘affirmations’ and ‘goals’ and instead embrace fear as your friend by making irreversible decisions. Instead of hapless resolutions members of the “Lock-In” cult contract with themselves in a way that they cannot escape from (without suffering brutal consequences). The “Lock-In” system harnesses our most primal evolutionary instinct – to avoid pain – and uses it to radically supercharge our lives. Many of the most successful people in history have used its phenomenal power to create extraordinary success.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Regardless of your job or industry, there aren’t always enough hours in the day to get everything done. Instead of putting in those extra hours, you can become more effective at work by focusing on what really matters. And you can get started with that ASAP by following these ten simple tips.
A More Human Approach to Productivity
Chris Bailey has been obsessed with the subject of productivity for more than a decade. In this talk, he argues that productivity doesn’t have to feel cold and corporate—and that it’s possible to get more done every day without hating the process. Drawing from a decade’s worth of research, as well as his yearlong productivity project, Chris argues that the best way to become more productive is to manage our time, attention, and energy better. In addition to sharing this more human approach to productivity, Chris concludes by providing 5 practical ways we can all get more done every day.
A Well-Educated Workforce Is Key to State Prosperity
What can state governments do to boost the economic well-being of their people? That is the central question of state economic policy. Incomes and wages can increase across an economy when productivity—production per capita—increases. States have many tools in their arsenal to increase productivity, including investments in public infrastructure, in technological innovation at public universities and other institutions, and in workers through the education and training systems.
Further Reading: Best Productivity Books
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Since it was first published almost 20 years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy. The Productivity Project—and the lessons Chris Bailey learned—are the result of that year-long journey. In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more.
Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less. New York Times best-selling author Michael Hyatt has created a total productivity system that’s much more than endless box-checking. Proven by more than 25,000 professionals, this system helps overwhelmed leaders achieve what matters most so they can succeed at both work and life.
Further Learning: Best Productivity Courses
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal & Professional Productivity. You will be able to gain and apply your knowledge and understanding of personal and professional awareness, organization and commitment, and use the tools, methods and techniques that you have learned in goal setting, prioritization, scheduling, and delegation to overcome time management challenges and enhance productivity.
Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed. Take control of their mindset and energy levels to increase your productivity. Discover why you are not as productive as you could be and develop a plan to improve. Increase your productivity by implementing new strategies throughout your day. Create a personal plan that fits your personality and style.
Practical Time Management – Personal Productivity Tools. This course will help you with those issues. You will be more productive and find a balance between achieving your goals, relationships, leisure and creative time. If you want to know the core of “Getting Things Done”, “Essentialism”, “The power of habit”, “Your brain at work” and many more and how they fit together – this course is for you.
Productivity 10X: The Secret Skill Of Performance. This course will teach you how to 10X your personal productivity, avoid distractions, have laser-focus, implement powerful daily rituals.