Improving Your Productivity in the Office: Five Simple Steps

Everyone at the office wants to improve their productivity and complete tasks without any hassles or setbacks. The company and team leaders always seek to maximise the time you spend at work. Those whose productivity is low and inefficient could put their job in jeopardy. Good productivity also makes one feel like they are an integral part of a team. Need a productivity boost at the office? Here are five steps you can take to kick up your output at your company.

Prepare and prioritise before hand

What does your schedule look like? Improving productivity has everything to do with prioritising and preparing beforehand. Firstly, know the tasks and duties to be done before you jump into your workload. Unexpected distractions and interruptions won’t completely affect your schedule after emergencies or urgent assignments. If you don’t prioritise and plan hours or days ahead, emergencies and urgent tasks will leave you confused. As a rule of thumb, always create next day’s schedule on the previous night. Leave for the office knowing clearly what you’ll be handling that day. Scheduling allows you to leave at the end of the day knowing clearly what activities were accomplished. It keeps you highly focused and organised.

Reduce distractions from your office life

One of the beauties of the 21st century is technology and your ability to remain connected all day all the time. Most people would find it hard to live today without social media, digital TV, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile gadgetry. However, all these gadgets eat up time and distract us from completing our work in good time. Improve your productivity by eliminating distractions at the office. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and all benefits of modern technology have their place even for your company. But they need time that will interfere with your office duties, even if you’re the social media manager in your department focus on your work. Avoid unnecessary engagement and networking beyond your call of duty in order to accomplish your targets by the end of the day.

Consume light lunches

Don’t over consume and gulp up heavy meals at lunchtime and throughout the day. Heavy lunches, particularly in a hot afternoon leave you drowsy, fatigued, and brain fogged. Instead, snack up on light meals such as fibre, protein bars, fruits, and other foods rich in antioxidants. For instance, berries and nuts can keep you alert and focused without feeling starved. If you can avoid energy drinks like sodas and sugary foods you won’t turn into a sugar addict, gain weight and affect your ability to complete office tasks. If you still need a quick energy boost, try some vitamin supplements or nootropics for an extra afternoon kick of motivation.

Don’t over multitask

Everyone wants to multitask, and it has its place in the office. However, doing so much at the same time can be unhelpful, harmful, and distracting. Research shows serial multi-taskers are usually very distracted which seriously affects their quality and quantity of work. Follow your schedule and stick to one job at a time, and thoroughly complete a project before rushing into the next task.

Take breaks

With so much to do many people ignore breaks and work throughout the day. With time, the mind becomes clogged up and mental fatigue sets in. When it’s time for breaks, don’t pass any! In fact, short interludes from office work, such as 10 minutes of stretching, talking to a colleague, or taking a water or coffee break has its perks. As you stretch and move around, blood flows as required keeping you alert and fresh all day.