Five Ways to Boost Productivity at Work  

No matter your profession, becoming more productive in the workplace and increasing your output can help transform you into a model employee. But unfortunately, this isn’t something that occurs overnight. 

Often, such a fete requires that you possess exceptional organizational and time management skills, both of which you can work on in various ways. For example, introducing some adjustments to your workflow can lead to better output by the end of the day. 

In this post, we will take you through the five tips you can implement to help you become more productive, paving the way for you to become a better employee. 

Tips on How to Boost Workplace Productivity  

1. Learn to manage your energy in the workplace, not just your time 

Professionals typically have ebbs and flows in their daily workflows, affecting how well they can focus on their work. What you may not know is that your ultradian rhythms are behind this and that they can also affect your motivation to get certain tasks done. 

And given that you aren’t in a position to compete with science, the sensible thing to do is to observe the hours of the day when you’re most productive. Start by maintaining a journal and keeping track of the hours of any day when you feel ‘in the zone.’ 

Use this information to plan your workdays more efficiently. For example, you can set aside the more complex tasks for when you feel more creative and the menial ones for when your body feels drained. 

2. Focus on completing one task at a time 

While it’s tempting to want to multi-task, any person who has ever attended a performance management course knows focusing on a single task at a time will make you more productive. Trying to switch between tasks makes it challenging to focus on what you’re doing. 

Furthermore, you may find yourself wasting precious minutes attempting to transition from one activity to the next. In the long run, you’ll end up accomplishing less of what you had set out to accomplish, and you may even find yourself with several incomplete tasks. 

Boosting your productivity will require that you concentrate on one task at a time. Here, you get to turn your focus to a single objective until its end. When done correctly, this can motivate you to keep working on your remaining tasks, enabling you to complete your daily to-do list. 

3. Eliminate all distractions 

Constant interruptions and distractions can act as an impediment to your daily productivity goals. Apart from robbing you of time, you also need to consider the time and energy you’ll spend trying to refocus on what you were doing before you got interrupted. 

According to HR consultancy professionals, distractions can fall into any one of these two categories: 

1. Internal/ Self-Imposed: These are within your control, e.g., notifications from your cellphone and social media accounts. You have the power to eliminate such distractions. 
2. Environmental/ External Distractions: They’re challenging to control, as they’re generally out of your control, e.g., colleagues stopping by your desk for a chat. 

While it’s almost impossible to eliminate the two, it’s possible to reduce their effect on your workflow by: 

• Activating the “do not disturb” mode on your cellphone 

• Setting up an email autoresponder or closing the email tab 
• Putting on headphones to help block external distractions 
• Installing a browser blocker to keep you away from time-wasting websites 

4. Schedule regular breaks 

Taking regular breaks in the middle of your workday can appear counterproductive, but it may also prove helpful by helping to rejuvenate you. Experiencing burnout, for example, can make it challenging to find the morale needed to continue with the work at hand. 

However, you can prevent this by scheduling a break between your tasks. If your schedule happens to have dedicated break times, make sure to take advantage of these times to the maximum. 

Also, try not to skip a break in a bid to finish a task, as you may not get another chance to rejuvenate for the remainder of the day. Where you’ve got an opportunity to create your schedule, try to get in a five- to ten-minute break every couple of hours. 

5. Learn to prioritize healthy work and lifestyle habits 

Various things can impact your overall productivity, not just the stuff that takes most of your time at work. In many instances, you’ll find that what you do during your downtime can also carry a lot of weight. 

And while practicing healthy habits may prove easier said than done, implementing even a few lifestyle changes can positively impact your productivity. Examples of things you can do to boost your focus, energy levels, and overall mood include the following: 

• Alter your regular sleeping time to allow you more sleep hours 
• Set a timer to go off at the top of every hour to remind you to get up and stretch a bit 
• Down a full glass of water every day before taking your morning coffee 

Conclusion 

A typical professional woman has a lot to do while at work. But the truth is that, by the end of the workday, many are still unable to achieve what they set out to do in the morning. And this is despite having the best intentions and wanting to make a difference. 

For many such professionals, the problem lies in being unable to muster the motivation they need to get organized and become productive in the workplace. But while it’s impossible to always operate at peak efficiency, there are things you can do to make yourself productive. 

The five tips listed above are a great starting point. For example, learning to manage your energy and minimizing distractions will help you get more done by eliminating the need to refocus. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll soon be on your way to achieving more at work.