There is a lot of information and advice available on how to be more productive, both at an individual level, and at a team level.
This post, found on Marc and Angel Hack Life, is a really great summary of all of the best tips for being highly productive and efficient. Here’s the gist:
1. Have a “to-don’t” list – to prevent you from doing things you know are counterproductive before you can even consider them.
2. Organise your space – when you can find something quickly, you’ll get to the real work more quickly too.
3. Eliminate distractions – you could go as far as temporarily turning off your phone and locking your door when you really want to give a task 110% attention.
4. Make your goals SMART
5. Break down goals into realistic tasks – ideally, each ‘section’ (or task) of the goal should be able to be completed within a few hours.
6. Put first things first – do the most important things in the morning, when your mind is fresh.
7. Do one thing at a time – multitasking does not make you more productive!
8. Work in 90 minute intervals, then take a break – as Tony Schwartz says, ‘the more continuously we work, the less productive we become’.
9. Have set times for replying to email, voicemail, etc – try to do this for 30 minutes, 3 times a day. Sticking to this is another way to eliminate distractions and make sure you do one thing at a time.
10. Sometimes, just say ‘no’ – if you’ve got too much on your plate, don’t take on extra responsibilities or projects. When you try to do too many things, your overall productivity and quality of output will suffer.
Related reading:
5 tasks: Train your brain to be more positive (and productive!)
5 ways to fuel productivity