You may know that all hours of your days are created equal. But how can you optimise each part of your days to make sure you are being productive?
In a panel about productivity in work and life hosted by experts of Evernote and General Assembly, Lora Schellenberg, Co-Founder of Circleco and Marketing Lead at General Assembly London said: “you may feel hyperfocused, collaborative, or tired and unmotivated at different points in your day, so think about what type of work that makes the most sense to do during those times”.
A good way to start is stopping being a slave to your digital devices. Yes, we have to start controlling our ever-increasing dependence on our smartphones, which tend to cause constant disruption. What about turning off notifications for everything? 99% of the time it is not an emergency, especially when it comes to social media.
When at work, try to break down projects into manageable tasks… I personally like to do this, I have a to-do short list for every day and a long one for the week (yeah, maniac). I´m also all school, I do prefer papers and pens, but if you are more technological, you can try using Evernote or Nozbe. The word project could be overwhelming, so it’s important to divide your work into smaller tasks, which helps to avoid procrastination. There are apps like Tomato Timer, that help you to focus on one and only one task or activity for some time with no distractions.Once you complete the first round, you’ll feel a sense of satisfaction and achievement.
Lora Schellenberg also mentioned and encourage us to “be careful of the projects you’re committing to, and learn to say ‘no’ early and often.” She said in her article “Yes is good for learning, no is good for productivity.” In an age with an astronomical amount of notifications, information, tasks, and so much more competing for our attention, we need to be judicious about our decisions when it comes to which projects we’re choosing.
“Being productive at work could benefit your career in a huge way. You get tasks done faster, work smarter, and ultimately prove you’re a valuable asset to your team”. Easy, right? Then let´s start!