Contact us today!
866-348-2602

Total Tech Care Blog

Total Tech Care has been serving Florida since 2001, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Three Ways to Be More Productive

Three Ways to Be More Productive

Many people can find it challenging to constantly remain productive, which is only understandable. Nobody can be firing on all cylinders all the time. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways that you can optimize your productivity. Here, we’ll review three general approaches to improve your productivity, with examples describing how to enact each.

1. Prioritization

One of the keys to productive work is to work smarter, not harder. By identifying what is most pressing to accomplish or otherwise needs to happen first, you can inherently increase your productivity.

Ignore Inspiration

For instance, one of the biggest causes of procrastination is taking in a project in its entirety. Seeing the entire scope of an undertaking can be intimidating, which often makes people feel as though they need to be “inspired” before they will be able to accomplish anything.

This is untrue, but can be a difficult impulse to resist. If you catch yourself falling back on this excuse, try focusing specifically on a certain aspect or piece of your greater responsibility. Once this portion is completed, you’ll most likely be motivated to continue. In essence, don’t wait to be inspired… inspire yourself through what you accomplish.

Leverage Prioritization Strategies

Another common cause of procrastination is indecision as to what aspect of a project to tackle first. Again, identifying the most important or pressing activity makes it much easier to make this decision, and there are a few ways that you can do so.

One way is to leverage something called the Eisenhower Matrix. It can be used to sort tasks based on their urgency and importance, advising you on how a task should be approached - if it should be done now, planned for, delegated to someone else, or eliminated. This tool can help you avoid spending time on activities that ultimately don’t matter as much as others, optimizing how you spend the time you have. The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 Rule, is another means of spending your time more intelligently. By identifying the most important 20 percent of their tasks and minimizing the remaining 80 percent, many people use this principle to spend the most time on their most impactful activities.

Save Distractions for Later

We’ve all experienced that moment where, in the middle of one task, we suddenly have an idea for another. While this new task may be valuable or important, it can also hurt your operations by interrupting the one you’re engaged in at the moment… but again, this thought also needs to be addressed. Many people resolve this dilemma by creating a distraction list. Rather than suspending what they are working on, these people simply take a moment to jot down this idea for further consideration after their task is done. This means that they aren’t jumping between unfinished tasks each time a new idea pops up.

2. Preparation

Once you have your tasks organized properly, you need to ensure that you have properly made preparations to attend to them. Some of these preparations may sound counter-intuitive, but are no less crucial to your efforts.

Make Sure You’re in Order

If you aren’t ready to be productive, you aren’t going to be no matter what you try. Therefore, you need to be taking care of yourself, as well as your technology. You need to be healthy and rested to reach your potential, which means that self-care is a must. This also means that you should be strategic in how you approach your responsibilities. If you know that you tend to have a period of low energy in the late morning, it’s probably beneficial to avoid scheduling intensive tasks for that time. In addition, you need to be sure that you’re up-to-date on how things are done. The more knowledgeable you are, the more efficiently you’ll be able to make decisions, and the faster processes will move along.

Expect to Be Interrupted

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, as they say. This means that you should anticipate other things to interfere with your established work schedule. What if another task pops up, or a task takes longer than anticipated? Taking these kinds of challenges into account will allow you to figure out a solution preemptively, or at least a plan that allows you to adjust and adapt.

Learn from Everything

We’ve all been taught the value of learning from our mistakes - examining situations in which things went wrong, identifying why, and avoiding those circumstances in the future. However, this is only half of what you should do to optimize your productivity. You also need to identify why your successes were successful.

Once you have completed a project or process, take some time to examine it. What about it worked well, and how could that be made better? Was every aspect necessary, or could some of it be eliminated or streamlined? Doing so will allow you to further optimize your procedure to be even more productive the next time.

3. Cheating!

In fairness, these strategies aren’t “cheating” so much as they are methods of working smarter. This way, you can make sure that your tasks are accomplished without expending more resources than they need - including your energy.

Subdivide Your Tasks

Remember the prioritization strategies we discussed above? This is a similar activity, in that you take a larger concept and divvy it up into each step that needs to be completed. Instead of putting them into a matrix or focusing on a specific set of them, the idea here is to simply make your tasks appear more achievable.

Let’s say you have to plan a work event. This alone is a significant responsibility, and can be overwhelming to approach as a whole - where to start? However, you can make your process much more comprehensible by going about it piece-by-piece, effectively expanding your task into a complete to-do list. While this does give you more tasks, they will be much easier to attain and progress with. So, instead of “Plan Party for Greg’s Retirement”, your list might include:

  • Buy decorations
  • Buy card
  • Buy ice cream cake
  • Hide cake in freezer
  • Have team sign card
  • Put up decorations
  • Take out cake
  • Send email to team to gather

More tasks, but much easier to follow nevertheless.

Leverage Shortcuts

There are a great many ways that your technology can offer an easier way of doing things. Naturally, keyboard shortcuts are one example of this, but so is automation. Let’s face it, any time you can save by having your technology handle something is time that you can then spend being productive elsewhere.

Eliminate Inefficiencies

How much time do you spend debating your options for truly inconsequential decisions during the day? Chances are, it’s more than you’d like to admit. The fact of the matter is that many of the choices that we are faced with aren’t all that impactful. Eliminating as many of these choices as possible will allow you to reserve your decision-making skills for the times that you really need them.

Email is another notorious source of lost productivity, simply because people don’t use it as efficiently as they could. It is too common for what should be a very brief and simple correspondence to take far longer than anticipated. Ironically, this is often because the people involved are trying to be brief.

Instead of cutting corners on your next email, invest a few minutes into including more specifics. Don’t just say you want to meet - identify the topics to be discussed. Don’t leave the time of the meeting open-ended, offer a few availabilities. While it takes longer to write, one email written this way will keep you from having to read, write, and send a few more.

Finding Your Groove

Clearly, there are many aspects to consider when you’re trying to be more productive, and some may be more effective for one person over another. A bit of experimentation will help you to land on the approach that works for you.

Total Tech Care can help by providing the solutions that enable some of these methods. Reach out by calling 866-348-2602 to learn more about these solutions.

 

Comments

No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment
Already Registered? Login Here
Guest
Thursday, 28 March 2024
If you'd like to register, please fill in the username, password and name fields.

Blog Archive

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

  • First Name *
  • Last Name *

      Free Consultation

      Sign up today for a
      FREE Network Consultation

      How secure is your IT infrastructure?
      Let us evaluate it for free!

      Sign up Now!

      Free Consultation
       

      Tag Cloud

      Security Tip of the Week Technology Best Practices Business Computing Cloud Privacy Hackers Productivity Hosted Solutions Efficiency Software Google Business Network Security Microsoft Internet Email Malware Backup Workplace Tips Innovation User Tips Data Computer Mobile Devices Hardware IT Services Disaster Recovery Android VoIP communications IT Support Business Continuity Smartphones Communication Smartphone Miscellaneous Mobile Device Small Business Network Browser Collaboration Productivity Cybersecurity Quick Tips Business Management Users Managed IT Services Windows Upgrade Phishing Data Backup Outsourced IT Ransomware Windows 10 Data Recovery Office Server Save Money Cloud Computing Windows 10 Passwords Social Media Gadgets Saving Money Holiday Tech Term Chrome Virtualization Managed Service Microsoft Office Managed IT Services Automation Computers Artificial Intelligence Cybercrime Operating System Facebook BYOD Wi-Fi Health Mobile Device Management Networking IT Support Hacking Internet of Things Alert Remote Information Spam Covid-19 Managed Service Provider Office 365 Telephone Systems Information Technology Recovery Employer-Employee Relationship Bandwidth Social Engineering Mobility Router BDR Mobile Computing Data Breach Application Human Resources Password Money Remote Monitoring Encryption Applications Big Data App History Law Enforcement Blockchain VPN Paperless Office Managed IT Apps Remote Computing Mobile Office How To Government Office Tips Training Data Storage Patch Management Private Cloud Gmail Vulnerability WiFi Windows 7 IT solutions Settings Word Entertainment Website Budget Bring Your Own Device Data Management Servers Work/Life Balance Two-factor Authentication Infrastructure Voice over Internet Protocol Mouse HaaS Data Security Google Drive Avoiding Downtime Wireless Flexibility Marketing Save Time Scam Software as a Service Telephone System Staff Machine Learning Firewall USB Connectivity Remote Work Cleaning Virtual Reality Vendor Management Apple Vendor Social Managed Services End of Support Display Education User Error Physical Security Meetings Safety Sports HIPAA Data Protection Redundancy Employee/Employer Relationship RMM Keyboard Risk Management Hacker The Internet of Things Lithium-ion battery Conferencing Wireless Technology Virtual Assistant Solid State Drive Authentication How to Downtime Business Intelligence Customer Service Printer Bluetooth Environment Procurement Audit Worker Net Neutrality Data storage Workplace Strategy IT Management Automobile Fax Server Update Botnet Help Desk Printing IT Plan SaaS Computing Infrastructure IT Consultant Google Docs Going Green Identity Theft Unsupported Software Managed Services Provider Network Congestion Humor Charger Database Battery eWaste Shadow IT Compliance Legal Remote Workers Augmented Reality OneNote Computer Care Current Events Fraud Internet Exlporer Telephony Processor Samsung Remote Worker Wearable Technology Retail Hard Drives Hard Drive Cryptocurrency PDF Value Instant Messaging Excel Robot Proactive IT Spam Blocking Electronic Medical Records Comparison Biometrics Computing Virtual Desktop Best Practice Virus YouTube CES Hiring/Firing Black Market Unified Threat Management DDoS Computer Accessories Business Technology Content Management Access Control SharePoint Digital Signage Document Management Procedure Tools Analyitcs Saving Time Google Search Television Workforce dark theme Programming Shopping Virtual Private Network AI IT Infrastructure Cables Files Chromecast FinTech Bing Nanotechnology Public Computer Telecommuting Antivirus Social Network Project Management Uninterrupted Power Supply Printer Server Regulations Windows 8 Investment Cortana Transportation Colocation IT service Employees Employee/Employer Relationships Computer Fan Digital Signature Rootkit ISP Monitor Windows 365 Warranty Video Conferencing Tablet ROI HVAC Workers Google Apps Benefits Domains Sales Bitcoin FENG Shortcuts Analysis Cryptomining Devices IBM Reputation Point of Sale Streaming Media Personal Administrator Tech Support Supply Chain Management Flash Enterprise Content Management Content Smart Technology IaaS Maintenance Techology Laptop Monitoring Bloatware Batteries MSP Accountants Thought Leadership Supercomputer Credit Cards Customers Windows 8.1 Digitize Microchip Software Tips Sync Tablets Windows Server 2008 R2 Password Management Emails Audiobook Password Manager Multi-Factor Security Touchpad Customer relationships Entrepreneur Manufacturing Twitter Consultant Email Best Practices IT Assessment Search Engine Shortcut Analytics NIST Netflix Politics Business Mangement Two Factor Authentication Advertising Trending Computer Tips Cost Management Managed IT Service Root Cause Analysis Security Cameras Smart Tech HBO Biometric Security Addiction Knowledge Amazon Music Best Available Virtual CIO Social Networking Notifications OneDrive Peripheral Skype Recycling WIndows 7 Digital Security Cameras Using Data Wiring Data loss Practices Outlook 5G Cache Leadership Amazon Web Services Troubleshooting Running Cable Relocation Copiers Quick Tip Start Menu Memory Safe Mode Criminal Hosted Computing Loyalty Video Games Ergonomics GDPR Screen Mirroring Smartwatch Frequently Asked Questions OLED Wireless Internet Worker Commute Online Shopping Books Development PowerPoint PCI DSS Mobile Windows Media Player Virtual Machine File Sharing Windows 10s Experience User Inventory Scalability Specifications 2FA Fiber Optics Camera Cast Employee Tip of the week Science Cabling Wire webinar Business Owner Evernote Emergency Messaging Travel NarrowBand Policy Professional Services Hypervisor Public Cloud Employer Employee Relationship Managing Stress Assessment Search Millennials Dark mode Trend Micro Printers SMS Windows Server 2008 Default App Smart Office Wireless Charging Distributed Denial of Service iPhone Customer Relationship Management Cameras

      Top Blog

      The reasoning for this is simple: you want to make sure that operations are proceeding as intended, even if you’re not there. If you completely check out from the workplace every time you leave, you could return from your vacation to a complete and total disaster that may have been prevented with y...
      QR-Code