Our top tips to increase productivity at work

Do you ever finish your workday and feel like you’ve not quite accomplished everything in the day that you should have? Maybe it’s time to start thinking about how you can increase your productivity at work. There are only so many hours in a day, so ensuring that me maximise our output during our work hours is essential.

The reality is, there’s not massive secret to increase your productivity at work, however with our list of tips you can hopefully get that little extra out of your day and help you to manage your tasks better and achieve your goals quicker.

1. Start tracking your time

Ever been working on a task and before you know it it’s nearly the end of the day? Don’t feel bad, the reality is we’ve all been there! Try using a time tracking software to track exactly how long. your spending on each task. This will help you to minimise time wasting and allocate your time correctly for each task.

2. Take regular breaks

One of the biggest things that people avoid when they are trying to be productive is taking breaks. They think that if they spend as much time working as possible they’ll get more done – when in-fact this isn’t the truth. Research has shown that taking short breaks during long tasks helps you to maintain a constant level of performance; while working at a task without breaks leads to a steady decline in performance.

Take a five-minute walk around the office, or spend 15 minutes grabbing that mid-afternoon coffee.

3. Create a daily plan

At the start of each day, trying creating a plan of the tasks that you need to achieve for the day. As you go through the day tick the tasks off as you complete them. This will not only help you to complete everything required, but it’ll stop you becoming distracted by other tasks and it’ll also provide you with a sense of achievement throughout the day.

4. Stop trying to multi-task

While we tend to think of the ability to multitask as an important skill for increasing efficiency, the opposite may in fact be true. Psychologists have found attempting to do several tasks at once can result in lost time and productivity. Instead, make a habit of committing to a single task before moving on to your next project.

5. Turn off your mobile phone

Distractions are the biggest way to reduce your productivity. Let’s face it, we’ve all spent hours and hours scrolling through our phone with the distractions of social media. Turn off your phone to ensure you don’t get distracted by what’s happening on social media and that you stay focused on completing your tasks.

6. Don’t let people distract you

Having a colleague pop her head into your office to chat may seem innocuous, but even brief interruptions appear to produce a change in work pattern and a corresponding drop in productivity. Minimizing interruptions may mean setting office hours, keeping your door closed, or working from home for time-sensitive projects.

7. Keep meetings to a minimum

Meetings are one of the biggest time-sucks around, yet somehow we continue to unquestioningly book them, attend them and, inevitably, complain about them. According to Atlassian, the average office worker spends over 31 hours each month in unproductive meetings. Before booking your next meeting, ask yourself whether you can accomplish the same goals or tasks via email, phone, or Web-based meeting (which may be slightly more productive).

If you absolutely must have a meeting, there’s some evidence that standing meetings (they’re just what they sound like–everyone stands) can result in increased group arousal, decreased territoriality, and improved group performance. For those times when meetings are unavoidable, you may want to check out these 12 unusual ways to spur creativity during meetings.

8. Follow the “two-minute” rule

Entrepreneur Steve Olenski recommends implementing the “two-minute rule” to make the most of small windows of time that you have at work. The idea is this: If you see a task or action that you know can be done in two minutes or less, do it immediately. According to Olenski, completing the task right away actually takes less time than having to get back to it later. Implementing this has made him one of the most influential content strategists online.

9. Avoid junk food

Ever had that post-lunch slump in your chair where you’ve over eaten and now your too stuffed to focus on your work? Try avoiding eating junk food during the day which will lead to you crashing in the afternoon and loosing all productivity.

10. Try Organic Reliefs CBD Focus

Reawaken your focus with our unique combination of CBD and Ginkgo Biloba. Derived from the Ancient Chinese Ginkgo Biloba Tree, this ancient extract has been used to promote good health, blood circulation and cognitive performance, for centuries. When taken daily, Ginkgo Biloba extract helps to maintain normal cognitive function, mental performance and memory, achieving a greater level of concentration.