5 Ways That Can Boost Your Productivity
There’s only so much time, patience, and energy anyone can handle on any given work day. Let’s face it, many times we allow our workload to grow into unfinished tasks, spiraling us out of control, and ultimately robbing us from a relaxing night at home. Each morning you tell yourself, “today will be a productive day,” but something you can’t quite put your mind to decides to take you on a different direction. It’s time to put an end to this.
First things First, what is Observational Behavioral Management?
Also known as OBM, it is a scientific discipline that analyses behaviors and performance management in various businesses and organizations. OBM aims to improve daily actions and change behavior for maximum positive outcomes. Employees can apply this if they feel they’ve hit a road block and lost track of their routine.
1: Focus on your Behavior
To break this dysfunctional loop, practice to self-monitor and observe yourself in action. Many times, we don’t realize we are the cause of the distractions we face by unconsciously spending time on unimportant things. Constantly checking our phones, letting fear get in the way of our performance, and overly complicating the way our work should get done only slows down our progress and productivity.
It is time to rewire your brain, find problems and weaknesses in your work habits, and force yourself to take control. Slightly tweaking and changing your behavior will improve performance significantly, leading you to focus better and pay more attention. Whenever possible, try to record how long it takes to complete each important task to further monitor your performance along the way. This will not only motivate and force you to manage your responsibilities head on, but also help you commit for longer periods of time. Practicing self-awareness is a powerful intervention as it increases your mental strength to balance your life and achieve your goals.
2: Explosive Productivity
Everyone works differently. This is the way humans are designed so we must work on finding strategies and habits that fit us individually, whilst keeping us in responsive and proactive modes. We need to pay attention to when we perform our best during the day. In other words, we should be aware of when our productivity reaches an all-time high, exploding with results, and then maintain this maximum energy cycle.
Take advantage of this peak time and harness your thought process to make the most out of your tasks. This is the time of total resilience to overcoming your most challenging responsibilities.
3: Overcome Procrastination with Time Management
Time is money and time is a critical factor in determining the success of both employees and businesses. When we hit a challenging project or plateau, we naturally want to hold it off and procrastinate until the ‘right time.’ The right time is now; begin the task and get a head start. Another important aspect to keep in mind is to work in block time. This means that you allocate your time accordingly between each task you should complete by the end of the day. Devote your time to smaller tasks first and then move on to the bigger and more challenging projects that need longer time and effort.
4: Have a Plan and Define your Goals
Keeping a journal or a schedule is a good way to start. It’ll give you a boost at the beginning of each day, preparing and improving your planning and productivity, while also providing you with a more realistic view of your challenging and creative workload ahead.
It’s a good idea to allocate time at the end of each day to go over the tasks you have accomplished and what you would like to achieve the following day. All this helps you stay on track, facilitating your short and long-term decisions.
5: Be Flexible
Take a systematic approach when handling different tasks but don’t be afraid to take a step back when you feel you should. At times we burn ourselves out, failing to recognize that this could wreak havoc on our motivation, cause stress, and exhaust our overall performance. Be mindful and recharge for 5-10 minutes to boost your energy levels back up. You could have a killer idea once you’re back, ultimately improving your agility for the rest of the day. This flexibility increases your long-term payoff as you effectively cross of tasks and encourage yourself to go further one step at a time.
