What is the difference between an employee who works and one who doesn’t?
The answer lies in productivity, which can be defined as the ratio of successful output to input, or simply producing the desired result efficiently.
A highly productive employee makes your company more successful. An unproductive employee costs time and money and saps motivation from those around them.
According to studies, workers are only 60% as productive in their jobs. As a result, companies are unable to fulfil the needs of their clients, losing billions of dollars each year.
Now you may have a question-Why is this happening?
It turns out that there are a few common mistakes that kill your productivity. You just need to find suitable solutions as per your concerns to take your productivity to the next level.
Let’s take a look at those mistakes.
Procrastination
Procrastination is linked to stress, lack of motivation, poor time management skills, uncertainty about outcomes, and bad habits.
We often procrastinate because we believe we don’t have enough information or the task will take more time than we have. But deep down, there are other reasons why you might be procrastinating. It can be fear of failure, a need for perfection, an unwillingness to ask for help or a resistance to change.
Also keep in mind that your emotions play a big role in your productivity. If something is negatively affecting your mood, it will definitely affect your performance at work.
But the good news is that even though procrastination can feel like an insurmountable problem if you break it down into pieces, it becomes easier to solve.
Unorganized To-Do Lists
Being unorganized means not having a physical or digital space where you can quickly write down things you need to get done. It also means not keeping track of your tasks, projects, and appointments in a precise manner.
After all, it’s hard to be productive if you’re constantly mixing up your to-do list.
It’s not just about being more on top of things. Tasks that aren’t scheduled in advance tend to fall out. Inaccurate calendars lead you astray, causing you to miss deadlines or rush at the last minute makes it harder for you to stay abreast of what you are doing.
This contributes to higher stress levels both for employees and organizations as a whole.
Multitasking
Multitasking is an illusion. Studies have shown that people who think they’re good at multitasking are actually just better at shifting their attention between tasks quickly.
This means that while your mind may be telling you that you’re staying super productive, what you’re really doing is fragmenting your workday, making it more difficult to tackle tasks in a timely manner and lowering your overall productivity level.
Every time you switch between different tasks, it takes your brain a significant amount of time to adjust.It may seem like you’re saving time by multitasking, but in reality, multitasking is killing your productivity.
In other words, our ability to truly multitask is severely limited. It’s far more effective for us if we get off of that hamster wheel and focus on completing one task before moving on to another.
Not following different productivity strategies
The goal of productivity is to do more with less time as often as feasible, but while working, we don’t live in a single situation. Every instant of every day, we encounter new events, so limiting oneself to one single approach for productivity may result in ineffectiveness.
No matter what kind of job you’re doing, there are always drawbacks of not following different productivity strategies. Without any sort of strategy in place not only your work-life will become chaotic, but also your valuable time is being wasted.
Companies need employees who can get things done quickly, efficiently, and effectively. An employee who doesn’t follow new strategies to enhance their productivity isn’t going to help boost morale or produce more successful campaigns for clients.
Not measuring your progress
Lack of productivity is a major reason for business failure. If you don’t measure your own productivity, it’s easy to fall into a hole of procrastination.
Sometimes, when employees think they’re being productive, they may not actually be as productive as they think. There’s nothing worse than believing you’re getting ahead at work, only to find out later on that your hours weren’t up to par, especially when work quality suffers.
This can be one of those mistakes that seems like it takes years to surface until suddenly you realize things aren’t going quite right just because of not measuring your productivity. To get rid of this you can use productivity monitoring software to ensure that all your hard work is recorded and taken care of.
So, as of now, you guys are familiar with the mistake that can affect your productivity.
Now it is time to take a look at some steps that can help you to fix these mistakes.
Deal with Procrastination
There are some techniques that can help you avoid procrastination.
For example, it is a good idea to create a time-management schedule for yourself. You should include your daily tasks, weekly goals, and long-term plans in your planner.
By doing so, you’ll be able to see clearly how much time you need for each task. It will allow you to know when to start working on specific tasks. If you have free time now, start planning which task to do next or think about what else you could do instead of sitting around waiting for things to happen.
The ideal way to deal with Procrastination is to come up with small rewards for certain accomplishments. For instance, if you finish one part of your job before its deadline, celebrate with something such as going out to get coffee or taking a walk outside. Thus, you can learn how to deal with Procrastination by giving yourself the motivation to work hard and by monitoring yourself with work scheduling software.
Organize your to-do list
When it comes to enhancing your productivity, there is nothing more important than keeping a comprehensive list of your daily, weekly, monthly and annual tasks.
While some people prefer handwritten lists, there are a lot of options for creating digital To-Do Lists. Be sure you’re using one that allows you to easily organize items in order of priority.
A good way to do that is by using Gantt Chart software. It allows you to drag tasks based on their timelines and dependencies. You could even go as far as planning out weekly, monthly, or even quarterly goals with your team using team monitoring software which will keep everyone aware of what each person should be working on at any given time.
Take one task at a time.
People who focus on one task at a time see higher levels of efficiency and productivity, so try to set aside those constant interruptions.
Focus on single-tasking- Develop uninterrupted periods of time in which you tackle only one project at a time. This is an especially good option for repetitive tasks.
For example, instead of constantly switching from writing an email to checking your social media feed, block 30 minutes in which you can focus solely on emailing without any distractions.
It may sound counterproductive, but limiting your tasks will allow you to accomplish more while saving yourself from burnout.
Follow different strategies
There are tons of strategies that can help you increase your productivity. However, there are the ones that you should always be following, such as staying on top of the email so it doesn’t pile up or switching your iPhone to grayscale, so you don’t get distracted by bright colors when you’re trying to work.
It’s important to keep track of what works for you and what doesn’t. This way, you can try new things out! It might seem like a lot at first glance, but once they become second nature, they will free up time for more important tasks.
Remember: one strategy is not perfect, use multiple strategies if necessary!
Mix them up until you find something that works best for you.
Monitor your progress
Like an athlete tracking their weight or heart rate, you can stay on top of your productivity by using software to monitor your performance.
With more information about how your day is going, you’ll be able to identify where you’re losing time and do something about it. The software solution allows you to break down tasks into smaller steps so that you accomplish more with less effort.
As a result, they help you fix inefficiencies in your workflow. And when used properly, they also provide great feedback for helping you become better at what you do.
Well, these were some of the top suggestions you can take up to ensure that you are enhancing your productivity.
Finally, let’s get to the end of this discussion and address the most important question:
Which software is best in the market, and what makes it stand out of the crowd?
Nowadays, many people are using at least a few productivity apps in order to track their work performance. However, there’s an excellent app that can make it even easier for you. It’s called Workstatus.
It has earned its place as one of today’s top software solutions by turning a clunky process into a single step. By using the best employee productivity tracker WorkStatus employees are more productive than ever before.
With WorkStatus productivity monitor software employees know exactly how much time they spent on each project they completed, which makes it easy to know whether they have actually completed enough tasks during each day or not.
What’s more, with just a click of a button, you can produce weekly reports that display all your results in an easy-to-read format. Most importantly, you get all these benefits without having to learn any complicated new computer skills!
If you want to boost your employee productivity but aren’t sure where to start, we recommend you to try out our productivity software free 14 days trial by signing up. You’ll be astonished at how quickly everything becomes simpler!
Conclusion
Being productive is a major part of most jobs these days. If you don’t keep yourself in check, it can be easy to get lost in small tasks that are unimportant and will not only make you less productive, but your work may also suffer.
Being productive isn’t just about keeping your nose down on one task until it’s done. It is also about understanding what tasks need to be completed first.
The tips above should help you be more productive by allowing you to focus on what matters most. Try them out, and watch your productivity go up!
That’s all for today. We will catch you soon with new tips to improve your productivity.
Thank you!!
