Productivity Tips

With restrictions easing, many people and businesses are expecting things to go back to the way things were before. However, this "new normal" will be very different to the "old normal". Working from home, for those organisations that can, will become part of business culture, and many businesses will struggle with the productivity of their team. Here are our tried and tested tips to help you and your team stay productive!

Routine & Ritual (Especially the Morning One)

Whether you are working from home or still in the office, having Routines and Rituals are important to anyone’s productivity. Routines allow us to complete small tasks with not a lot of brain power allowing us to use more later on. They also help save time as our body and mind knows what to do next instead of losing those precious few minutes figuring it out.

The most important routine of all to start your day right, get you into the right mind set and have the most productivity through the day is your morning routine. When working in the office, it’s a lot easier to establish a morning routine as there is commonly a set time you have to leave the house by to get to your desk on time. Working from home or working remotely can make it a little harder to establish one but that means it’s even more important. Go through a set of steps to get you from bed to your chair and be ready to start the day with a much brain fuel as possible.

To-Do Lists

Pick a medium that works for you. Whether it be a series of post it notes stuck to the wall, a list on a note pad or a web/phone app, find something that works for you. Don’t feel like once you’ve started using one you have to stick to it, keep tweaking until you find your rhythm whether it’s adding colours, grouping tasks or separate lists.

Don’t be afraid to have more than one to-do list! Take some time to do a brain dump and put everything you’ve got on in a list but when that lists turns out to be a mile-long, start to break it up. The longer the to-do list, the more daunting it is to complete and the more likely we are to not follow it. Break down the mile-long long list is to smaller lists, ideally with no more than 10 items a list.

• A Master list with your long-term goals

• A Weekly Project list with everything that needs to happen over the next 7 days

• A high-impact list for stuff that needs to be done today

From these you can then either specifically work on your High Impacts list or you can curate a daily to-do list, picking mostly from the high impact but also taking on one or two from the weekly and master list.

Break Down Larger Projects

Additional to setting up to-do lists that are manageable, do the same with your larger projects. Having one big project such as ‘Clean Out The Spare Room’ can seem achievable when you write it down but when you go to start cleaning, it can be rather daunting and cause us to put off the task even longer. Break the task down into smaller tasks i.e. clear out old boxes, recycle paper, pick up clothes, etc… so that you can see your progress as you go. We in particular use the KANBAN method to keep track of our tasks for projects and usual To-Dos.

Set-Up Your Space

You should first be looking at your space from an ergonomics point of view to reduce pain and discomfort. Your chair should allow your elbows to be at a 90 degree angle from your desk with your keyboard and mouse right where you hands land so you don’t need to reach. When you extend your arm directly forward, your fingertips should touch your screen. The top of you monitor should also be at your eye level. This will avoid your eyes straining to read and reduce craning in your neck. Feet don’t touch the floor? Get a foot stool or some reams of paper to prop up your feet as they should be relaxed.

Now that we are set up perfectly for physical health, take care of the mental side. Add some photos or motivational posters to your space, things that make you smile but aren’t too distracting.

Most Importantly - have everything you need for the day or that specific task ready to go around you so that you don’t need to get up and walk away from your desk as much. Fill up your drink bottle, make your morning brew, make sure your pen still works and get cracking.

Eat Well and Drink Water

You’ll never be productivity with low energy and an empty stomach. Make sure you have a good breakfast and a good lunch. Ideally not too many carbs because they can make you feel sluggish and less productive. Small snacks through out the day can help keep up energy levels but not too many! Alongside this, you should keep up your water intake throughout the day to stay energised, hydrated and clear headed. A 3% - 4% drop in hydration can lead to a 25% - 50% drop in productivity.

Unfortunately, those cups of tea or coffee you have throughout the day don’t count towards your water intake.

Take Breaks

Always take breaks through out the day, especially for Lunch. Smashing out a task in a 4 hour block of time can work for some but most people need to get up and move around every hour. It’s recommended you do this as well for your health as well! Find a rhythm that works for you that includes 5 to 10 minute breaks every not and then. It is especially helpful when you are getting bogged down on a task and ‘hitting a brick wall’. Stand up and walk away from your desk. Get a snack, have an extra glass of water or make a cup of tea/coffee and then sit back down again to give it another go. Sometimes that little refresher is enough to see something you had been missing the last 2 hours.

Use Your Calendar BUT Remain Flexible

If it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done.

While not a tip for everyone as some people do well keeping everything pretty casual, those who need a bit more structure or are feeling flustered with how much work they have to do during the day should start to break their time up into blocks. This gives you a chance to assess your day as well as the meetings already scheduled and give yourself a game plan to make it through to home time. Scheduling can be done in the morning when you get in or the day before giving you a chance to hit the ground running the next day.

Don’t get discouraged when it doesn’t work out on day one because a million and one things interrupted! All of these tips take time to implement and perfect. The key is to remain flexible. Don’t plan out every minute of every day. Leave 15 - 30min gaps between it task to allow for a task running over or you receiving a call.

And Never Forget To Have Lunch!

Eat the Frog

While an odd saying, Eat The Frog is about doing things you don’t want to do first because then you can go about your day doing the things you do want to do without that task hanging around. If you are following our last tip about scheduling your day into your calendar, put it as your first or second task of the day. To spot the frog, you can use the Eisenhower Box Technique to divide up your to-do list for the day into 4 categories.

• Things you don’t want to do, but actually need to do.

• Things you want to do and actually need to do.

• Things you want to do, but actually don’t need to do.

• Things you don’t want to do, and actually don’t need to do.

The frog is Things you don’t want to do, but actually need to do.

Write It Down, Even The Little Things

Our brain will always wander while we are working and come up with random ideas on the go as we have conversations with colleagues, read articles on line or simply remember something someone said three days ago. So that you don’t forget the good ones or get distracted by them swirling around your mind, keep a notepad and pen nearby to write everything down, even the little things so that you can get back to what you were doing but not forget the idea. Some people have the tendency to jump between tasks as they get new ideas and then at the end of the week they have too many things started and not enough finished.

Pomodoro Technique

A tried and tested technique to boost productivity is the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique involves breaking your time up into chunks to feel like you’re getting something done. When completing a task, you set a 25min timer 4 times with 5-minute breaks in between and then have a slightly longer break at the end. The technique aims to instil urgency in getting the task done in the 25 minutes before moving onto the next. You can also use the technique to do a larger task that you are struggling to find motivation to do. The breaks in between mean that time doesn’t drone on, especially towards the end of the day.

Not every tip will work for everyone but everything is worth a try once right? Let us know what tips helped you the most or that you already make sure to include in your day?