Productivity Tips for When You Just Cant Make Yourself Work

Productivity Tips for When You Just Cant Make Yourself Work Do you ever feel like youre wasting too much time at work? Is it especially true when deadlines are looming or youre feeling particularly overwhelmed?Try behauptung nine productivity hacks. They may change your lifeor at least your ability to finish projects1. Write down your to-do list.Youll feel more organized if you know everything you need to do and have a list in one place. Youll also feel a sense of accomplishment when you can check things off, putting them out of sight, out of mind.Neatly check off tasks on your to-do list, or draw a big X through themwhatever makes you feel better. (Personally, I fall into the latter category.) And I do mean you should actually write out the items rather than throwing them in an app or Google calendar for me, drawing that X through the tasks has a lot more meaning than simply deleting them would.2. Break up larger tasks into small components.If your task list is several huge projects , rethink it. Its going to feel much more overwhelming to have long-term projects that you wont be able to finish anytime soon on your schedule than if you break up the overarching item into smaller pieces. That way, youll accomplish something every time you complete one step toward the end result.Say youre writing a book. Putting write book on your schedule is a little intimidating, isnt it? Instead, platzdeckchen goals for each day. For instance, one day you might have a goal of writing a set number of pages. At the end of the week, you might want to be finished with a certain chapter. This helps you focus and will make the project seem much less intimidating.3. Tackle the least desirable tasks first.Chances are, you find some items on your task list far more annoying than others. Rather than putting them off until later, try to get them done first thing. That way, youll have your less desirable tasks out of the way early on and will be able to focus on the things youd rather be d oing with your time.If the item requires a lot of time and attention, to the point where you wont be able to get anything else done if you try to accomplish it first, try to make some headway on it before turning your attention to something else. You dont want to completely throw away your morning on something frustrating that you just cant finish and not be able to accomplish anything else, of course. The point is, you dont want to have something youre dreading doing hanging over your head, so if you can do it early in the morning, make it happen.4. Schedule time for checking email and social media.How many times a day do you take a quick break to check Facebook? Do you have Gmail running in the background at all times?If youre like me, the answers are often and yes. But as much as it may seem like these arent big distractions, every time you check social media and get caught up in someones wedding or new baby post, youre not doing work and wasting time.Instead of allowing yourself to check Facebook and Instagram as often as youd like, schedule times to allow yourself to look at them. Be strict with yourself dont give yourself half an hour to go down the rabbit hole of your high school nemesiss wedding pictures. Once youve checked your notifications, return to your work.If you frequently get urgent business emails, you may need to keep your Outlook in the background at all times youre the best judge of that. But you certainly dont need to have your personal email open. Along with social media breaks, schedule times for checking email, so youre not overwhelmed by your inbox.Also, avoid check business email first thing in the morning. Its bound to make you feel cranky and start your day off on the wrong foot. Wait until you get to the office to sift through your inbox.5. Tune out music with lyrics.Some people like to listen to music while their working.It might help with concentration. However, if you do enjoy background noise, avoid music with lyrics it can be distracting while youre trying to think and work.By the saatkorn token, if you do find noise distracting, you might invest in noise-canceling headphones or a white noise machine (the latter only if you have a private office, of course). It can drown out chatter from other people and in turn help you be more productive.6. Listen to your body.People get tired and overwhelmed at different points and thresholds. For instance, you may find that you always hit a rut and run out of ideas at 4pm. Rather than wasting time, schedule more mundane tasks that dont require a lot of energy around this point. For instance, you might choose a certain point in your week to record data, if thats part of your job.You may not have control over when meetings are scheduled, but if you do, try to prevent them from happening around the point in your day or week when you know youll be tired and have low productivity and efficiency.7. Schedule breaks.One of the best productivity tools is giving yourself brea ks. That may sound counterintuitive, but taking breaks is a great way of keeping your energy up.Go for a short walk. Get coffee. Definitely take advantage of your lunch break. If youre overwhelmed with looming deadlines, even just stepping outside can help you recharge and boost your energy levels.Chances are, your manager wont mind if you take a quick breather just dont take advantage of a lenient bosstaking breaks every half hour isnt going to make you any more productive, either.8. Stop trying to multitask.If you have a lot on your plate, its natural to want to try to finish everything at once. Unfortunately, trying to do too many things at once will often result in everything taking much longer, since youre not giving individual tasks enough of your energy and attention youre dividing up your attention on multiple projects at once.Furthermore, trying to multitask often results in decreased quality of work. If youre trying to finish a report while taking phone calls, no one is ge tting your full attention, and chances are, the person on the other line and the recipient of the report are going to notice the lag in your response time and glaring errors in your work (respectively). If you devote your full mind to each task, youll not only improve the quality of your work, but youll likely find that your to-do list will take you less time to complete overall.9. Delegate.Some managers believe they can complete the work better than anyone else canand refuse to delegate for fear that a subordinate will mess up, or worse, the manager wont be necessary anymore. But refusing to delegate when youre overwhelmed is not only the marker of poor leadership, but also makes you less productive. After all, youre spending time on tasks that other people were probably hired to perform, while you should be devoting your time to other issues, such as overarching strategy.Delegating frees up your schedule to do the things you need to do. Plus, your employees will probably appreciat e having the opportunity to have more responsibility.By the same token, if a machine can do a certain task in your stead, by all means let it. There are, of course, many tasks you may be reluctant to leave to a machines capabilities, but for tasks like adding figures for an expense report, theres no reason whyExcel cant be doing it for you.