Do you ever feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done?

Do you get to the end of the day feeling like you haven’t achieved what you set out to do?

So, how can you be more productive and get lots more done each day? 

Follow these top tips and you will be swiftly ticking those tasks off your to do list in no time at all:

1. When do you work best?

Do you sometimes find that you lose all track of time whilst working? This is a clear sign that you are ‘in the flow’. Or perhaps, you sometimes find that you are are just not feeling it and find it harder to concentrate. 

Perhaps you are an early bird and feel really productive first thing in the morning. Or maybe you find that you do your best work later in the day. 

It is really useful to figure out when you work best, you can then make the most effective use of your time. Set specific times for different activities that work for you, e.g. checking your emails, making phone calls, engaging with social media – this will help you to develop good habits for effective working. 

2. Plan your day

Once you know when you work best, you can then use that information to plan out your day – and remember, each day will look different. 

Firstly, prioritise and know what you would like to get done by the end of the day. Secondly, pull together a plan for the day with a schedule of what you will do when. Allocate start and end times for different tasks. It’s amazing how focussed you get when you give yourself a certain amount of time to do something. 

Also, be realistic about what you can achieve in a day. It’s all about ticking certain tasks off your to do list and celebrating those achievements – it is not about completing them all. 

3. Streamline your approaches

Carefully consider the most effective ways of carrying out tasks, so that you are then making the best possible use of your time. It is important to develop systems and processes that work for you. 

This could be having a CRM system to record and keep track of customer interactions so the information is always at hand. It may be having email templates for commonly sent emails. An approach which will certainly ensure a streamlined approach is doing tasks in batches, e.g. responding to emails at a scheduled time or making your phone calls at the same time each day. 

Investing the time to develop streamlined processes will make your life so much easier in the long run.

4. Avoid distractions

Distractions will always prevent you from getting things done, so take measures to avoid them at all costs.

A big distraction is having notifications pinging every 5 minutes. Luckily this distraction is easily sorted out – just turn them off. If you are constantly being distracted by these notifications, you are not the one in control. Take the control back and you will get so much more done. 

If you can, you may want to keep your phone out of sight – that will help keep you focussed on your work. Don’t feel like you have to answer every call, let your voicemail kick in; you can then return the call when it is a good time for you. 

Other distractions may be interruptions from colleagues. Just be open with people if you are busy. Why not schedule specific times when ‘your door is open’?

5. Have purposeful meetings

You need to make sure that meetings that you are having are purposeful. So, how can you do this? It is quite simple – you need to know why the meeting is taking place and get clear on what you and colleagues want to have achieved by the end of it.

It is good to have meetings that last between 45 minutes to an hour. This was allow everyone to focus and people’s attention won’t start to drift. A great way in which you can ensure that your meetings are effective is by sharing information beforehand to allow people time to digest it before the meeting. Why not set people thinking points before the meeting so that people come to the meeting well prepared?

Ensure that all of your meetings are a good use of your time. 

6. Be in control

It is important to be proactive rather than reactive – this ensures that you are always in control of your actions. If you are not in control, you can find yourself fire fighting each day which is not an effective use of your time. Ultimately, this means that you are not achieving as much as you could be.

Knowing exactly what you need to achieve each day and planning how you will do that is essential.  

At the end of the day, ensure that you have cleared your inbox and updated your CRM system. Also, why not get a head start by thinking what your goals and priorities will be for the following day?

7. Look after yourself 

To make sure that you are working as productively as possible, you have to look after yourself. 

Make time to do the activities that you enjoy whether that’s reading a good book, going out for a lovely meal or perhaps catching up with friends and family. It can’t be underestimated just how much these activities can have on a positive impact on your ability to concentrate on your work. Also exercise regularly, meditate, write in a reflective journal – do whatever you need to do to ensure that you feel on top form. You will always be at your most productive when you feel good.

So why not try out these straightforward tips and see just how much more productive you can be. Why not focus on one per day – in just one week, you will find that you are working much more productively.

Author : Mary Mason