Nowadays it is important to keep productivity high at work. Usually, most of us have productivity peaks, but keeping it the same is next to impossible: productivity has ups and downs throughout our life.
However, these drops in productivity lead to a decrease in the quality of life. In fact, it is not only our careers that suffer from it but also our mental health and relationships that can lead to burnout.
So what to do?
Well, there are some dynamics involved when it comes to productivity. First, there are some obstacles that go against our productivity. These include things like procrastination, poor time management skills, and our lack or inability to focus.
What are productivity hacks?
We have all become familiar with the term hack. In the computer world, a hack is an alternative method that tests the limitations or possibilities of computer systems.
The important thing to keep in mind about productivity hacks is that they are not all original or new and can solve a problem in a much simpler and more intuitive way.
Here are the main ones:
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2 - Manage time effectively 3 - Make lists 4 - Establish micro-changes 5 - Work at 5 in the morning 6 - Voxloud |
1 - Set daily goals
To get to the end of the day and have achieved all the pre-established goals, it is essential to organize your work well at the beginning of the day. In life, our duties and responsibilities tend to play tricks on us.
However, setting daily goals helps relieve the stress and anxiety of having to juggle multiple activities in a single day. When setting daily goals for yourself, define what you want to do and how much energy you should affirm for each activity, providing you with a roadmap for the day.
You can make this task easier by creating a list of goals to be achieved day by day in the evening, before the work day, or as a routine every early morning. Then there are software or apps that can help you in this, such as A-Tracker and Doodle.
2 - Manage time effectively
Throughout our day, we tend to get interrupted repeatedly. Everything from family, to finances, to careers and health, can break our momentum. The constant influx of emails, phone calls and other interruptions contribute to the aggravation of daily frustrations. But, to overcome this and be highly productive, we need to manage our time effectively.
Managing time effectively is probably one of the most important productivity hacks you can put into practice. This has a lot to do with using the time management system. Now that you have written and visualized the micro objectives of the day, choose how much time to dedicate to each one and at what time of the day you want to complete it or work on it.
3 - Make lists
Keep a notepad near you and use the traditional method of writing short lists for the tasks you are trying to do. For example, if you are working, you should always have a list with you in advance so that you are prepared for the tasks you will need to do.
But the list helps with everything that needs to be done in life. Goals and time management might act as a compass and a path, but making lists is what helps connect the short term with the long term. Make lists for everything you do. If you're sitting down to start a business, make a list first. What do you think you get from that assignment? What are the most important goals? And so on.
4 - Establish micro-changes
Micro-changes are one of the best ways to increase your productivity because they allow you to assimilate good habits over time. So what exactly is a micro-change? It is a very small change within your routine that gradually consolidates and becomes a new and better routine.
For example, if your goal is to be fitter or eat healthier, you might want to commit to just 5 push-ups a day or eat just one apple a day, but don't mess up your day.
Over time, as you establish this little habit, your routine gets stronger; the micro-change slowly turns into a bigger habit. What you will notice is that if you don't break this habit and stick to a small micro-change, over time that change will morph into something much bigger. So, pick one little thing and do it every day.
This is an effective suggestion because small changes are simpler and more feasible for the human mind, since we are reluctant to change.
5 - Work at 5 in the morning
It might sound ridiculous to you, but working at this unusual hour is actually a great productivity trick. In the early morning, there are far fewer distractions and interruptions. It may be difficult initially to get up early to work at 5am, but once you start work, you will be surprised at how productive you can be.
This doesn't have to be something you do every single day. In fact, it doesn't have to be a constant commitment. Just get up very early in the morning once in a while and try to be up and running by 5am, in front of your desk and ready to go.
So, work as if it were 9 in the morning and see how much you did in those early hours when your office is quiet or your home if you work remotely thanks to a cloud phone system.
6 - Voxloud
One of the tools that has proved most useful and that packs a lot of features into a single object is the Voxloud cloud PBX.
Equipping your company with a cloud phone system let you to work even remotely allows your employees to manage their work anywhere thanks to a simple application to download on a tablet, smartphone or PC.
We have chosen to ease work both inside and outside the company: thanks to our cloud phone system communicating is easy, fast.
You can make sure that everyone knows about projects and deadlines thanks to the integration of our system with the most well-known and used corporate CRMs, but it doesn't stop there: Voxloud can be installed on Windows and Macintosh operating systems and is without activation costs.
Activating it is very easy: just 59 seconds and your cloud phone system is ready to be used.
Create a positive and productive work environment by improving the tools at your disposal to manage the workflows and phone calls of your company: you will make your employees happier, but above all more performing and you will never want to go back.
Here is the link where I will explain in detail why a phone system in Voxloud is the right choice to create a productive and peaceful remote working environment.
