Productivity Hacks: Simple Tips to Work Smarter
You may think of productivity as checking things off a to-do list or working through a project, but true productivity is much more complex than that. In reality, productivity involves a host of factors including efficiency, quality, and output quantity. By maximizing productivity, businesses can experience consistent growth and individuals can progress to their full potential. There are a few ways you can maximize your personal productivity on a daily basis, so let’s dive into it.
Understanding Productivity: Key Concepts and Challenges
As defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, productivity is “a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) to the amount of inputs used to produce those goods and services”.[1] Not only does productivity involve the relationship between outputs and inputs, but it is also about the optimal balance between quantity of outputs, quality of outputs, and efficiency of output production. When thinking about your personal productivity, you can think about finding that sweet spot – finish a few projects each day, while making sure your work is high quality and the effort expended isn’t extreme.
By staying conscious of your personal productivity, you can ensure you are performing to your maximum abilities, both in your personal life and your work life. Productivity in work life can also ensure maximum personal contribution to your team, which is always helpful when pushing towards career growth goals.
While maximizing productivity is important, it can be difficult to do. Whether you work at home or in an office space, daily distractors like kids, family, socializing, house work, and your phone can pose a threat to your productivity. Apart from general distractors, factors including your work environment, manager feedback, access to appropriate tools, and growth opportunities can affect your motivation level and productivity.[1] By staying aware of these factors and any shifts in productivity that you experience, you can work to manage time accordingly, improve certain work factors, or clear your mind from outside distractions.
Proven Productivity Hacks From Industry Experts
Now that we have solidified the importance of productivity, let’s discuss how to improve it. By becoming aware of the factors impacting your productivity, you can work specifically to improve those factors through some effective productivity hacks.
1. Streamlining Workflows for Efficiency
It might seem simple, but organizing daily tasks in simple to-do lists or daily planners is one of the most effective ways to efficiently work through the day. By writing down individual tasks and planning for completion dates, an overwhelming day or week can suddenly feel extremely manageable. If you manage a team, implementing project management tools can also increase collaboration, help with tracking tasks, align on prioritization, and ease progression to overall team goals by taking things one step at a time.
While to-do lists and project management tools are effective ways to organize tasks and track progress, time management is also an important aspect of project work.[2] Whether you want to work alone or with peers, implementing time blocking can help guarantee project completion according to a defined schedule. Try blocking times in your calendar for each project on your to-do list and see how effective this technique can be!
2. Leveraging Technology to Boost Productivity
With apps on the market for just about anything, there are plenty of opportunities to use technology to improve productivity. First and foremost, identify repetitive tasks and replace them with automation tools. This could be as simple as using formulas in Excel to automate a weekly report or finding new automation tools to monitor social media comments. With AI, automation opportunities are endless, so take advantage of them and don’t fall into the trap of getting discouraged by the setup time because you will reap the benefits of time saved in the long run.
As you work through multiple projects, it is important to keep your digital workspace organized and clutter-free. Whether you are using Google Drive, desktop folders, Dropbox, or any other file storage tools, make sure to name folders with effective naming conventions and organize in a way that makes sense. Always keep important tabs bookmarked as well. This will help you gain quick and easy access to everything you might need during the work day.
Goal-setting and progress-tracking apps are another productivity hack that will work regardless of the size of the organization you work in. If you work on a team, these apps can help create a solid feedback loop with managers and peers, track progress towards set goals, and organize your day-to-day.
3. Cultivating Mindfulness and Mental Clarity
Mental clarity is another major aspect of productivity that shouldn’t be forgotten. You can have every tool for the job, the perfect workspace, and management support, but if your own mind isn't in the right place, overall maximizing productivity will be difficult. Even though it can be hard to find time for yourself during a busy workday, often it is that personal time that will end up increasing productivity.
Whether you start the day with mindful breathing exercises, use your lunch break for a workout, or spend 30 minutes on a meditative walk, taking time to pause your mind can be an extremely effective productivity hack. Practicing mindfulness exercises can increase focus and concentration, allowing you to get work done more efficiently. If meditation is difficult amidst the many distractions of a busy life, try adding adaptogenic supplements such as kava, rhodiola, or lion’s mane, which have been known to enhance meditation through their calming and mind opening effects.
Discover 10 ways to reduce stress at work in our guide.
Personalized Productivity Strategies for Success
While there are generalized productivity hacks that typically work to support work life and personal success, the key to maximizing productivity is also finding specific things that work best for you.
4. Finding Your Peak Productivity Hours
Energy levels vary at different times of day, and peak energy levels are different for everyone. By identifying when you feel the most energized, you can start to structure daily tasks around your individual productivity patterns. If you find the morning hours are your most productive, there is no harm in working your schedule to allow yourself 3-5 early morning working hours.
5. Setting Realistic Goals and Milestones
Goal setting is one of the most effective ways to promote productivity, but the goals have to feel like the perfect balance between challenging and attainable. The best goals are SMART, meaning they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.[3] By following this structure, you can ensure that your goals will be effective in maximizing productivity.
When working towards specific goals, it is important to break down larger projects into smaller tasks. This can help the larger goals seem more achievable and allows you to celebrate the smaller wins along the way!
Elevate Your Efficiency with Botanic Tonics
In work and personal life, finding ways to improve productivity is key to finding the maximum potential for success. Enhancing productivity not only ensures you are working to your full potential, but it can also help you to improve work-life balance and minimize stress during a busy week.
To maximize productivity, try using automation technology for repetitive tasks, project organization apps, desktop organization techniques, and mindfulness exercises that can bring mental clarity. If mental clarity is hard to find during a busy day, don’t ignore the need for mindfulness altogether, but rather try an herbal supplement that could help support it. Adaptogenic tonics like feel free kava kratom tonic are made to provide you with a helping hand on your busiest days. With noble kava and leaf kratom, feel free CLASSIC tonic can boost your energy while still calming your mind, allowing you to dive deeper into your quest for productivity.
Elevate your productivity with Botanic Tonics.
Sources:
- What is productivity? Definition and ways to improve. Better Up 2023 https://www.betterup.com/blog/what-is-productivity
- The Complete Guide to Timeblocking Todoist https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/time-blocking
- SMART Goals: A How To Guide University of Caifornia https://www.ucop.edu/local-human-resources/_files/performance-appraisal/How%20to%20write%20SMART%20Goals%20v2.pdf
About The Author
Jamal Bouie is an accomplished professional with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD in Biomedicine at Salus University. Jamal has worked in several industries; he began his career in pharmaceutical manufacturing and transitioned to the cannabis industry, where he specialized in analytical testing and manufacturing, playing a vital role in ensuring product safety and compliance. Now, Jamal has turned his attention to the dietary supplement field, combining his scientific acumen with his passion for health and wellness.
