Whether you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or employee, you’re most likely struggling with maintaining high productivity. Many people find it hard to stay motivated and productive throughout the workday. Some entrepreneurs may even go weeks suffering from low productivity, which affects their work. Still, they don’t know how to fix it. First, you have to understand that staying motivated and being productive are two separate things. You can feel demotivated for a period of time and still be productive. The key is to know the right ways that allow you to reach your full potential without struggling. Here are 6 easy ways that will help increase your productivity without a herculean effort.
1. Prioritize and Delegate
When you have tons of work to do and no time to finish it, it’s time to start prioritizing. Finishing the most important project first is usually the ideal way to get your work done, but in some cases, it could be time-consuming. If your most important task or project will take days, you’ll need to finish some of the small ones first. You can follow the two-minute rule, which focuses on completing all the tasks that can be done in two minutes before anything else. By doing this, you will be able to complete more tasks in a short time and still get the important ones done. If you don’t have enough time to complete the small tasks, start delegating to other employees, co-workers, or an outsourcing agency.
2. Standing Meetings
Almost all small and medium companies suffer from lost hours due to unnecessary meetings, or meetings that last for hours while it could’ve been done in a few minutes. If you feel that productivity is being affected because of regular meetings, start implementing the standing meetings technique. Recent studies show that seated meetings last 35% longer than standing ones. However, when people are on their feet, they’re more likely to stay focused, and the meeting won’t last than 15 minutes. Implementing this technique will allow you to increase productivity, as employees will be able to exchange ideas and communicate better in a short time.
3. Folder Inserters
Boosting productivity means eliminating or reducing tasks that consume a lot of time. However, some tasks are hard to avoid, such as organizing, folding, inserting, sealing envelopes and files. Even if your office is organized, the process itself takes time that could’ve been spent on important work. To eliminate this wasted time, many entrepreneurs use a folder inserter machine to help them with these small tasks. Folder inserter machines eliminate folding, inserting, and sealing manually, and do it all automatically. In addition to that, you can use it from your desktop. This machine will save you a lot of time, money, and effort.
4. Say No To perfect
Many entrepreneurs find it hard to complete any project because they’re waiting for it to be perfect. This usually costs you a lot of time and reduces productivity. The need to make everything perfect can be the reason why you’re not able to be productive, it can also affect your employees. Understand that there’s no such thing as perfect. This illusion was the reason why many businesses fail. Instead, you can give each task your best until you complete it and adjust it later if needed.
5. Take Short Breaks
The human brain cannot stay focused for hours. That’s why you should reduce long breaks and replace them with several shorter breaks. Every hour, take 5 minutes to stand, stretch or walk. This will boost your blood circulation, allowing you to be more productive.
6. Decorate Your Workspace
Don’t underestimate the power of decoration. A plain office is not as productive as a decorated one. Get a plant or two on your desk along with some candles. You can also get personalized decorations to enhance your mood while working. Decorating your office will help improve your overall mood, which affects your productivity. Hanging awards and certificates in a place where you can see them will remind you of your accomplishments and will increase your productivity.
Staying productive is not easy, especially if there are many non-essential and time-consuming tasks that need to be done. Reducing these tasks as much as you can, will save you a lot of time that you can spend finishing important projects. There are many machines, tools, and apps that you can use to reduce time on some office-related tasks. This will automatically improve your employees’ productivity without struggling. Using techniques such as the two-minute rule and the standing meeting techniques will also enhance productivity as they focus on getting things done in a short time.
