Shubham Kalamkar
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of the work of a person.
Productivity is not about getting more things done, it’s more about doing things with accuracy and consistency.
The way you plan and implement things creates a lot of difference in terms of productivity.
Some of The Ways to Improve Your Productivity
1. Time management
Time management is the most important thing when it comes to improving productivity.
Many moments we get frustrated due to a pile of workload and there the cycle of procrastination starts.
At such a moment you should write down each and every task you have to complete.
You can use the Eisenhower Box for planning your tasks.
As you can see, this activity is divided into 4 parts as per time availability and importance:
- Urgent and important (tasks that you should do immediately)
- Important, but not urgent (tasks you should schedule to do later)
- Urgent, but not important (tasks you should delegate to someone else)
- Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you should eliminate)
After categorizing activities, you can allocate time for a particular activity.
Divide activities into small steps. You should allocate less time than what is expected.
This would help to train your mind to complete the task within time and efficiently.
Also, you will get that extra time to chill out or for other activities.
If you can complete any task in 2 minutes then don’t plan for it just finish that same time. This would give you a sense of accomplishment.
Our brain releases some happy chemicals which will definitely encourage us for completing other tasks.
2. Break
Taking Small breaks between work hour is considered beneficial to boost productivity.
Our body, to be specifically the brain is not evolved to work continuously for a long time.
Hence it is necessary to take some small breaks. You may use the “Pomodoro” technique to plan a break.
Generally, it involves 25 minutes of work and then 5 minutes of break.
You can modify this technique as per your focus, for example, you can work for 45 minutes and then take a break of 15 minutes.
There are many apps that would help you to work according to this technique.
3. Sleep
Yes, you read it right. Adequate sleep is necessary for focus.
Scientific studies also showed that optimal sleep boosts mood as well as energy which leads to better productivity.
Sleep improves the ability to make quick and accurate decisions. Deprived sleep can greatly affect our memory too.
Whenever you feel drowsy then just stop all the work and take a small nap of 10-15 minutes.
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Sleep deprivation can make you more hungry by producing appetite-stimulating hormones.
The study also shows that people who sleep less than 6 hours a day are more likely to become obsessed than people who sleep more than 7 hours.
4. Music
Music elevates mood by stimulating different parts of the brain. And happy chemicals i.e. dopamine releases in the reward center of the brain.
Dopamine is the same chemical released when you eat your favorite food. This can improve your focus.
It reduces stress, decreases pain, and improves immune function.
Music therapy has also proven beneficial for dementia patients, as it helps them recall memories and emotions.
Some quick statistics
- Ambient music: improves the accuracy of data entry in 92% of people
- Dance music: improves proofreading speed by 20%
- Classical music: improves accuracy by 12%
- Pop music: reduces mistakes by 14%
In addition, 58% of people completed tasks more quickly when listening to pop music. So if you need to do something quickly, play your favorite pop tune.
5. Avoiding Multitask
You may think that completing many tasks simultaneously can save time but it also reduces efficiency.
Our brain has a limited amount of cognitive bandwidth i.e. it can process a limited amount of information at a particular time.
Science also proved that when you multitask, you tend to make more mistakes.
When you toggle back and forth between tasks, the neural networks of your brain must backtrack to figure out where they left off and then reconfigure.
Those extra activities slowdowns the speed and there is a more likely chance of mistakes.
Related | What Is Overthinking & How to Stop It?
Miscellaneous
Write down do and don’t things on paper. This habit will help you to be on the right track to the target.
Decluttering your workplace can avoid unnecessary confusion and disturbances.
Also, you should turn off all the notifications from all the digital distractions during work (mobile, tablet, smartwatch, and PCs).
