HOW TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY AT WORK

1. Daily goals. Without a clear focus, it’s too easy to succumb to distractions. Set targets for each day in advance. Decide what you’ll do; then do it.

2. Worst first. To defeat procrastination, learn to tackle your most unpleasant task first thing in the morning instead of delaying it until later in the day. This small victory will set the tone for a very productive day.

3. Peak times. Identify your peak cycles of productivity, and schedule your most important tasks for those times. Work on minor tasks during your non-peak times.


4. Mini-milestones. When you begin a task, identify the target you must reach before you can stop working. For example, when working on a report, you could decide not to get up until you’ve completed at least five heads. Hit your target no matter what.

5. Time boxing. Give yourself a fixed time period, like 30 minutes, to make a dent in a task. Don’t worry about how far you get. Just put in the time.

6. Early bird. Get up early in the morning, like at 5am, and go straight to work on your most important task. You can often get more done before 8 am than most people do in a day.

7. Cone of silence. Take a laptop with no network or WiFi access, and go to a place where you can work flat out without distractions, such as a library, park, coffee house, or your own backyard. Leave your communication gadgets behind.

8. Relax. Reduce stress by cultivating a relaxing, clutter-free workspace.

9. Agendas. Provide clear written agendas to meeting participants in advance. This greatly improves meeting focus and efficiency.

10. Pareto. The Pareto principle is the 80-20 rule, which states that 80% of the value of a task comes from 20% of the effort. Focus your energy on that critical 20%, and don’t over engineer the non-critical 80%.

11. Ready-fire-aim. Bust procrastination by taking action immediately after setting a goal, even if the action isn’t perfectly planned. You can always adjust course along the way.

12. Deadline. Set a deadline for task completion, and use it as a focal point to stay on track.

13. Promise. Tell others of your commitments, since they’ll help hold you accountable.
14. Punctuality. Whatever it takes, show up on time. Arrive early.

15. Slice and dice. Break complex projects into smaller, well-defined tasks. Focus on completing just one of those tasks.