How often do you catch yourself thinking: if only there were more hours in a day?
Even on the best of days, you’ll agree that something could be done better, if not faster, and more efficiently to save you a few precious hours.
Switching from one gear to another on a daily basis, moving from one project to another, and handling entire teams of people working with you can truly be exhausting, not to mention time-consuming. But fear not, as you can still salvage some of your time every day with the help of the following productivity tips!
Multitask no more
Most of us have been guilty at one time or another of this very crime: doing several things at once, often at the expense of the quality of work that we deliver. However, we’re often not even aware of this lack of quality, or the sheer fact that multitasking is actually not an optimal way to do work. We delude ourselves into thinking that if we just respond to this surge of emails while we work on that proposal and simultaneously spend a few minutes on a phone call will save us at least half an hour that day.
In reality, you’ll most likely end up going back to at least two of those tasks to make adjustments, correct errors, and basically do everything you were supposed to do in the first place. Once you switch to one task at a time, you’ll see how you become more efficient, wrap up those tasks more quickly, and with fewer mistakes to go back to. Ultimately, multitasking is stressful, and if anything, you don’t need more stress in your life, so don’t shy away from taking it down a notch or two.
Rely on clever tech
Being a marketer in the modern era comes with its own perks. One such perk is the ability to utilize technology and various digital solutions to otherwise time-consuming and complex problems where human error can make a significant difference. A clear example is using digital marketing reporting tools to collect, analyze, and report on the given data from a multitude of sources you’d otherwise have to sift through manually.
While crafting a manual report would literally take you hours, from the moment you begin going through the collected online data, all the way to presenting it in a clear and concise manner, automation can save you those priceless hours. You can then use them to tweak your marketing campaigns using the received reports, and on other valuable tasks you have pending, instead of good-old marketing grunt work. Only when you gain greater control over such complex assignments can you move on to changing your own behavioral patterns that can help you increase productivity.
Monitor, track, change
It’s impossible to expect yourself to change if you have no clue what’s causing your productivity leaks to begin with. For starters, consider monitoring and tracking your daily behavior. Once again, tech swoops in to save the day as you can use different apps to take a closer, more unbiased look at how you allocate your time throughout a day. Some of their features are even designed to elevate your motivation to stick to habits that contribute to better productivity.
Once you recognize those time-wasters such as spending too much time on those Instagram feeds, haphazardly responding to emails, or micromanaging, you can begin to change those behaviors into more meaningful habits. For example, you can limit your social media use to a specific amount of time per day, while you can have a designated hour every morning in your schedule to respond to emails.
Lunch break is for lunch only
You might be wondering how not working can help you finish more in less time, but your mind needs a break in order to be truly productive. No matter how experienced you are at what you do, or how accustomed you are to making schedule changes on the go, your brain thrives on those rare moments of no work to refuel on energy and regroup for another slew of challenges ahead.
Make a promise to take your lunch break every day, and not use it to multitask or talk about work with your colleagues. By changing this single habit, you will improve your brainpower to handle your work more efficiently, which translates to having more available time at your disposal.
Curb social media usage
Most of us cannot resist the urge to check the latest ping from our phone, whether it’s a notification from your Facebook page, or one telling you that someone messaged you on Snapchat. These may seem harmless, after all, they only take seconds to check, right? Well, even though you can check and reply quickly, it takes time for your brain to once again switch gears from one task to another and continue the previously productive train of thought.
You’d be surprised, but research has shown that you likely spend a quarter of your office hours on social media, but for non-work related reasons. With that in mind, these moments apparently pile up into hours, plus they deprive you of the focus you need to stay productive on a task. Curb your social media use, and you’ll quickly see a boost in productivity!
In Closing
When it seems that time is simply slipping away, these hacks can help you retrace your steps and make the most of every hour you have at your disposal. What matters most is to stay consistent with building these habits, and you will be well on your way to get back on your productivity track.
My name is Raul, editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. You can reach me out on Twitter.
