Let’s set the scene, you’re at your desk, the days tasks in front of you, coffee in hand and you’re ready to go, but your mind begins to wonder. I’ll just check Facebook quickly or have a scan of today’s news … heads to terrible tabloid newspaper to read celebrity headlines. It’s all too easy to find distractions and quickly find you’ve procrastinated the morning away.
We often come across and share articles concerning productivity in the work place from some of the best to-do list apps to making sure you leave work ‘on time, every time’. With this in mind we wanted to find out what helps you get the most out of the working day and asked via social media and at our last networking event for your favourite and most effective productivity tips and advice. Let’s find out some of the feedback we received:
- Start your day by writing a list of achievable tasks
- Exercise first thing in the morning and clear your head for the day
- Schedule frequent breaks and time away from your screen
- Give yourself less time than you need and switch off notifications
- Plan for just 60% of your day – leaving extra time for phone calls, replying to emails, last-minute meetings etc
- Use automation software such as Zapier to automate routine tasks
- Start! If your feel stuck make S.W.O.T (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
- Understand your main challenge and acknowledge it – use asana for task management
Of course, we had lots of ‘strong coffee’ suggestions and we can’t argue with that, but our favourite goes to our director who swears by his daily afternoon walk and snack break.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed and offered an insight into their working routine. Here’s to a productive week!
– The Strathmore Team.