14 HABITS THAT WILL TOTALLY TRANSFORM YOUR PRODUCTIVITY
FROM
DECLUTTERING YOUR DESK TO LETTING YOURSELF COMPLAIN, THESE EASY BEHAVIOR
CHANGES CAN CHANGE HOW MUCH YOU ACCOMPLISH EACH DAY.
People who manage to
get a lot accomplished each day aren't super human, they've just mastered a few
simple habits. Some may be easy to guess: Keep your desk organized and aim for
around eight hours of sleep a night. But others, like taking a mid-day nap or
complaining, might surprise you.
Here are easy ways
to make every day more productive:
Creativity may arise
from chaos, but a litter-strewn office probably isn’t helping you get stuff
done. "Attention is programmed to pick up what’s novel," says Josh
Davis, director of research at the NeuroLeadership Institute and author ofTwo
Awesome Hours. Visible files remind you of unfinished tasks. An unread book
is temptation for procrastination. Even if you don’t think you’re noticing the
disorder, it hurts your ability to focus.
People with neat
offices are more persistent and less frustrated and weary, according to a
recent study in Harvard Business Review, which found that a clean
desk helps you stick with a task more than one and a half times longer.
"While it can be comforting to relax in your mess, a disorganized
environment can be a real obstacle," says Grace Chae, a professor at Fox
School of Business at Temple University and coauthor of the study.
No matter how crazy
your days get, make sure you carve out and ruthlessly protect just 90
minutes—20% of an eight-hour day—for the most important tasks. "Even if
you squander the remaining 80% of the day, you can still make great progress if
you have spent 90 minutes on your goals or priorities," says Charlotte,
North Carolina–based productivity coach Kimberly Medlock.
Think you can get more
done by tacking on extra hours? According to a 2014 study by Stanford professor
John Pencavel, who examined data from laborers during World War I, output was
proportionate to time worked—up to 49 hours. Beyond that, it rose at a
decreasing rate, and those who put in 70 hours had the same productivity as
someone who worked 56 hours.
You might believe
you’re ignoring your iPhone, but unless it’s fully turned off, it’s a major
distraction. In a report published this year in the Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, researchers from
Florida State University found that even if you don’t look at your phone when
it buzzes, the sound makes your mind wander.
How Alexandra Samuel,
author of Work Smarter With Social Media, avoids getting distracted
when she’s waiting for an important message:
1. Find the email-to-text format for your
cell-phone provider with a quick Google search. Verizon, for example, is
@vtext.com, so if your mobile number is 555-123-4567, your address is 5551234567@vtext.com.
2. Using that address, set up your email so
it forwards messages from a specific sender to your cell phone via text (in
Outlook, find "Rules" in the "Tools" task bar).
3. Shut down your inbox and ignore your
emails while focusing on more pressing tasks, knowing you’ll be alerted when
the important message comes in.
People are more
efficient at things that come naturally, while tasks that feel like a struggle
are likely to impede progress. If you can, delegate the duties that feel like
an effort, and instead focus on "high value activities." "HVAs
are within your mission, leverage your strengths, and create impact or
change," says Hillary Rettig, author ofThe Seven Secrets of the
Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism,
and Writer’s Block. "They also create clarity and open your
schedule." Delegating your non–HVA activities also helps create community.
After all, they could very well be someone else’s HVAs.
Three ways to get the
most out of your group sessions:
a.
MAKE A PLAN
Many meetings don’t
have a particular agenda, but it’s important to know what you want to
accomplish going in. "Keep meetings short by limiting the agenda to three
items or less," says Alan Eisner, professor of management at Pace
University’s Lubin School of Business. "Afterward, send out minutes using
your agenda so everyone knows what to work on."
b.
BANISH DISTRACTIONS
Put nonagenda thoughts
into an "idea parking lot." "People bring up ideas that are
important to them but not on-topic," says Cary Greene, coauthor of Simple
Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting & Rooting Out Everyday
Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace. "Instead of losing them,
write them down." Don’t let the parking lot be a black hole: Assign
follow-up steps right at the end of the meeting.
c. PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS
Walking meetings are
gaining popularity, but you can get a similar benefit without hitting the
hallway. Set a timer for 30 to 45 minutes. When it goes off, have everyone get
up and move. "You can stand and shake it out a bit as a group, which
lightens everyone up," says workplace psychologist Karissa Thacker.
"Moving regularly is good for us in all kinds of ways, including improving
our ability to focus."
It might be tough to
convince your boss, but researchers from the University of Michigan found that
taking a daytime nap counteracts impulsive behavior and boosts tolerance for
frustration. The findings also suggest that workplace dozers could be more
productive.
Identifying
distractions is the first step to avoiding them. Here are the top five
workplace attention destroyers, according to a 2015 survey by CareerBuilder:
1. Cell phones/texting
2. Internet
3. Gossip
4. Social media
5. Email
To get more done, be
mindful of everyday choices, suggests Lisa Zaslow, founder of the New
York–based Gotham Organizers:
a.
FOLLOW YOUR BRAIN
"We can’t operate
at peak performance all day long," says Zaslow. "When I’m feeling my
best, I concentrate on important activities like writing. When I’m feeling
tired and foggy, I do relatively mindless tasks like dealing with routine
emails."
b. PRACTICE STRATEGIC PROCRASTINATION
"In order to
focus on urgent or meaningful activities, let some other things slide,"
she says. For example, open your mail just once a week; these days, nothing
urgent arrives with a postage stamp on it. And while some organizers will tell
you to touch any piece of paper just once, Zaslow is more forgiving. It’s okay
to toss less-pressing work in a pile for later, she says.
It’s not surprising
that getting more done starts with a good night’s sleep, but it turns out
getting too many hours is as bad as too few. Analyzing the sleep and work
habits of 3,760 people over seven years, researchers at the Finnish Institute
of Occupational Health found that under-sleepers and oversleepers were both
more likely to take extra sick days.
An office with a view
sounds like a recipe for mind wandering. Actually, access to sunlight boosts
productivity. In a study by the California Energy Commission, workers who sat
near a window performed better, processing calls 6% to 12% faster and
performing 10% to 25% better on tests that involved mental function and memory
recall.
Energize staff by
clearly defining expectations and routinely offering positive feedback.
According to a recent study by Gallup, companies that engage their workforce
see a 65% decrease in turnover, a 21% bump in productivity, and a 10% increase
in customer ratings.
But do it the right
way. Present your beef with an idea for improvement. "Framing things in
terms of solutions lessens the focus on the problem and who might be at
fault," says management professor Russell Johnson, coauthor of a study
published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. "It evokes
pleasant emotions instead of negative ones that cause mental fatigue."
BY STEPHANIE
VOZZA
http://www.fastcompany.com/3051540/secrets-of-the-most-productive-people/15-habits-that-will-totally-transform-your-productivit?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-newsletter&position=1&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=10132015
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