Being productive at work leads to professional achievements, reduces stress, and leaves you more time to do the things you love. We each have our ways of maintaining productivity, but as we researched this topic more, we found three common steps that most use to be more productive at work.
Step 1: Write It Down
We get pulled in many different directions, leaving us with countless to-do lists running through our minds at all times. These mental checklists are stressful and overwhelming. Take some time each day and write down everything on your personal and professional to-do list. Seeing what tasks lay ahead will reduce the stress and allow you to better plan for these and find similarities between them, which can help complete them quicker.
Step 2: Give Yourself a Deadline
Time is the most precious thing we have and can be lost so quickly. As you review all of your tasks give yourself a deadline for when you hope to have your task completed, work towards this timeline as best as you can. Sometimes this means missing out on impromptu activities in order to meet your self-given timeline. But as you begin to be more mindful of your time, you will start incorporating breaks into your schedule, and later come to find that managing your time gives you lots of flexibility in your schedule. Hopefully, you can slowly start saying goodbye to late nights.
Step 3: Work Ahead
Working ahead is ideal when trying to reduce your stress and become more productive. Working ahead allows you to feel good about your progress and quality of work regardless of what interruptions happen that day. This working method is ideal when tasks require approval - no matter how many revisions are needed. You being ahead will ensure the timeline is not in jeopardy.
We found the best way to work ahead is to be mindful of your deliverables and appointments for the upcoming week. If you know you have a task to complete in two weeks, why not start slowly thinking about it? As you plan your days and find free slots to plug in big upcoming tasks. Little bits here and there will make it easier to tackle it on time.
As you begin to implement time management in your daily life, you will notice that your stress level is reducing, and you are finding that you have a lot more time to do other things.