It is a well-known thing that being organized and productive at work can lead to a lot of positive professional outcomes. Productivity is all about being efficient – doing more things faster and in less time. In today’s connected, fast-moving and a little bit hectic workplace, productivity and efficiency have never been more important.
Being organized and productive can make you feel greater satisfaction and can also help you feel less stressed about your work. Better communication and increased efficiency are only two out of the many positive outcomes of applying organization skills in your workplace. Every person is different as well as the system they use in order to stay organized. You should find a system that suits you the most and there are also some well-known strategies that will help you get started.
We have put together a list of 5 tips you should follow in order to increase your efficiency and productivity, improve your work-life balance and maximize your workplace.
Use daily commute to prepare for work
A lot of time is lost while commuting to work, in some cases it can go up to a few hours a day. Instead of playing games on your phone or scrolling through your social media feeds, why not use that time to prepare yourself for work? By doing that you will be all set and running when you come to the office. Your smartphone is your best companion and there are some useful apps that can help you work on your daily commute. For example, you could convert your PDF files to Word on the go with PDF to Word Converter app so your documents would be ready for editing when you come to the office. You could also use MS PowerPoint to create a presentation for that meeting you are having later in the day or you could use Google Drive to prepare important documents for the day.
Configure your workplace
What we mean by that is arranging and cleaning up your desk and everything around it. Take a piece of paper and draw your desk. Now think about your work routines. Do you use your phone a lot? Are you regularly going from one part of your office to the other? These little things can be big time wasters. Take everything from your desk, sit in the chair and visualize your workday. What are the things you regularly use? Place those items on the paper first. Only after everything has been put on the paper you can start arranging actual items on your desk and around it. This process only you can perform since nobody knows your daily routines better than you.
Write things down
Smart people write things down, not so smart people tend to memorize everything. Writing and keeping track of your notes is one of the best ways to stay organized and be productive. According to some studies, writing things down positively affects your brain and creates a lasting effect on your memory because it requires processing and rephrasing of information. This will result in an enhanced ability to recall information you wrote earlier which will ultimately result in you being more productive. We recommend using a planer, notebook, post-it notes or mobile apps like Evernote for note-taking purposes. The next time something important is required from you, you will have what you need to record it. Notes you take should be short, clear and should consist all the necessary information.
Put your phone on silent
This only refers to the people that don’t use smartphones for work. Replying to text messages, making phone calls, going through social media feeds and replying to emails is one of the biggest distractions at work, right behind food and bathroom breaks and talking to other coworkers. It can notably affect your productivity in situations when you are focused on your work and your phone suddenly rings. It will instantly get you distracted and you will start thinking about who is calling you. We know you all experienced that. So put your phone on vibration and put it away for some time, it will really help you focus.
Make deadlines and stick to them
First of all, you need to set some deadlines in order to stick to them later. Even for the smallest tasks, you should make deadlines for when they have to be completed. By setting up deadlines, you are creating goals for yourself and are also putting something measurable to your tasks. This will allow you to better manage your time since you will know exactly when specific tasks need to be finished. And by finishing tasks within deadlines you will feel good about yourself which is great for your mental health. All of this wouldn’t matter unless you stick to them, so the most important thing of all is keeping yourself within deadlines and on track.
To conclude:
Use one tip or try them all, it is up to you. The effort you put into organizing your work life will affect your productivity and efficiency in a big way. We would like to hear your experience with maintaining an organized, and stress-free work life in the comment section below.
