If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be more productive this spring, look at two tips we’ve rounded up from productivity experts. We think they’re a good place to start.
1. Quit focusing on the wrong stuff
Which tasks that you perform in your workday produce the best results? Make a list. Those tasks should be your focus and the rest should either be discarded or handed off to someone else.
They simply aren’t worth your time and performing them makes you less productive.
If you need help figuring out what to keep and what goes, “Consider tracking everything you do, the time it takes to complete each task, and the results,” suggests CamMi Pham, at medium.com.
“Then go back, assess your list to see what did (or didn’t) prove fruitful, and consider your findings to optimize for future tasks.”
2. Eliminate distractions
Many of us suffer from distraction-itis. For me, it’s the cute little miniature pinscher that sits on her own chair next to my desk. What a time stealer!
For many, it’s the phone. The average mobile phone user picks up his/her phone 1,500 times per week, which works out to an estimated 3 hours and 16 minutes daily. (crossrivertherapy.com)
When eliminating distractions, which is critical to becoming more productive, it isn’t enough to just put the phone in another room. It will still ring when you get a call and chime to notify you of texts and voicemail.
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Turn it off. The same goes for email on your laptop or desktop. Create a dedicated time to check the phone for messages, to check your email, and to attend to whatever else commonly distracts you during the workday.
Why?
“There is clearly a direct connection between the various distractions at work and productivity,” according to Juliet Dreamhunter, a certified goal success coach.
And the reason we’re so easily distracted? Apparently, our attention span is 8.25 seconds. That’s less than a goldfish’s at 9 seconds, according to Steven Zauderer, CEO of CrossRiverTherapy.
If it’s an irresistible pup, your kids, or coworkers, use those 8.25 seconds wisely and figure out how to minimize distractions and work at your full capacity.
May this be the year your productivity soars!