Everyone love some productivity tips, especially free ones! Here are 4 of my favorites:
1. Clean your desk
A messy desk tells other people that you don’t care about the appearance of things. These people will conclude that you should not be trusted with important items that need to “look” great when they are done. This could be a big presentation or just an important email. A clean work surface will also let you spread out when working on tasks. Even if your desk gets messy during the day make sure to clean it off every evening or every morning to get a fresh start.
2. Adjust your monitor and office chair height
Posture is very important to your overall health and can dramatically effect your productivity. Take a look at the OSHA recommendations for chair height and monitor setup. You will be surprised at how much better you feel during the day if you aren’t hunched over.
3. Plan your productivity
You can’t be superman/superwoman all day every day, so don’t try to be. Schedule time in your day to be super focused and super productive and don’t let anyone stop you during that time. The rest of the time can be used for meetings, emails, and phone calls. Start by taking 1-2 hours, block them off on your calendar, and really plan to be very productive. Just the act of planning on it will help make it so.
4. Take time to just “Think”
I know, this sounds ridiculous, you think all the time! But, I mean really think. Pick a topic – like your next big client demo – and just think about it. You will be surprised by how many great ideas flood in when you don’t have an agenda. Quickly sift through those ideas and get back to work. You’ll find that the ideas you have when you do these sessions are the things that get you noticed. One warning: this sort of strategic thinking time can become addictive; don’t forget that you have a job to do!
What are some of your favorite ways to stay productive? Are you a list maker? A closed-door one-task-at-a-timer? Or an open-door multi-tasker? Let us know what works for you!
