10 Steps To Keep Up Your Productivity

3) Don’t underestimate the amount of time small jobs will take. For example, people often give little importance to the time it takes to check e-mails. But depending on the job you do, you can get an enormous number of e-mails every day. Reading and replying to them takes time. If you can, mark times in your calendar to deal with e-mails – at the start of the day, for instance, and again at the end. Rethink how much time it will take you to do other seemingly small tasks, too.

4) Give yourself a system to work to. In connection with the previous point, think about which tasks you’ll need to put more time and energy into and which ones you’ll be able to dash off. These will differ from one person to the next. One person might be able to cobble a report together in a few minutes, while for someone else it will take them a couple of hours. Be honest with yourself. This will give you a clearer idea of things and help you plan your time better – and you won’t overestimate your abilities.

5) Learn to manage your inbox. Your inbox is a catalogue of files like any other. While the other documents on your computer may be neatly sorted into different folders and drives, your inbox can be an information free-for-all. This can lead to important e-mails getting overlooked and unread messages piling up, causing headaches further down the line.

One way of dealing with this is to create separate folders to add e-mails to according to topic. This will help you manage your e-mails more effectively and find the information you need more quickly. For example, you could divide things up so that only e-mails that need to be answered ASAP remain in your inbox. If you get into trouble trying to adjust your inbox settings, ask your company’s IT specialist for help.

6) Choose the right communication channels. Picking the most effective way of communicating with others is a key part of smart work. Weigh up how urgent a message really is, and bear in mind that not all e-mails need to be answered in writing. For example, if some feedback you get doesn’t need to be acknowledged by return e-mail, call the person who sent it to you and deal with it more quickly that way.

If something’s really urgent, texting, messaging or calling are likely to be more useful. To make sure that no one’s left dangling and to avoid misunderstandings, it’s important in a team or company that rules and communication channels are put in place.

7) Block out anything that would otherwise bother or interrupt you. One of the biggest killers of productivity is the endless flow of notifications that pop up on phones and computer screens. If you know you need to focus on something for a certain amount of time, switch all notifications off.

Even the most innocent beep or buzz can break your concentration, and getting back into the zone can take time you don’t have. Remember that if you give everyone the green light in your chat window, you’re telling them you’re available – so don’t be annoyed with them if they take you up on it.