Being more
productive is about working smarter, not harder, and making the most of each
day. While this is no easy feat, getting more done in less time is a much more
attainable goal if you're not sabotaging yourself with bad habits.
Following
are 13 things you should stop doing right now to become more productive.
1. Impulsive web
browsing
Since most
of us have access to the internet at work, it's easy to get sidetracked looking
up the answer to a random question that just popped into your head.
That's why
Quora user Suresh Rathinam recommends writing down these thoughts or questions on a notepad. This way, you can look
up the information you want later, when you're not trying to get work done.
2. Multitasking
While many
people believe they're great at doing two things at once, scientific research
has found that just 2% of the population is capable of effectively
multitasking.
For the rest
of us, multitasking is a bad habit that decreases our attention spans and makes us less productive in the long run.
3. Checking email throughout the day
Constant
internet access can also lead people to check email throughout the day. Sadly,
each time you do this, you lose up to 25 minutes of work time. What's more, the
constant checking of email makes you dumber.
Instead,
strategy consultant Ron Friedman suggests quitting Outlook, closing email tabs,
and turning off your phone for 30-minute chunks of deep-diving work.
4. Moral licensing
Whether it's
a new diet, workout routine, or work schedule, one of the most difficult things
about forming a new habit is the urge to cheat as a reward for sticking to a routine for a while.
This idea
that we "deserve" to splurge on fancy meal after being thrifty for a
week is called "moral licensing," and it undermines a lot of people's
plans for self-improvement.
Instead, try
making your goal part of your identity, such that you think of yourself as the
kind of person who saves money or works out regularly, rather than as someone
who is working against their own will to do something new.
5. Putting off your most important work
until later in the day
People often
start off their day by completing easy tasks to get themselves rolling and
leave their more difficult work for later. This is a bad idea, and one that
frequently leads to the important work not getting done at all.
As
researchers have found, people have a limited amount of willpower that decreases throughout the day.
That being the case, it's best to get your hardest, most important tasks done
at the beginning of the day.
6. Taking too many meetings
Nothing
disrupts the flow of productivity like an unnecessary meeting. And with tools
like email, instant messenger, and video chat at your fingertips, it's best to
use meetings for introductions and serious discussions that should only be
held in person.
BlueGrace
Logistics founder Bobby Harris recommends that people don't accept a meetingunless
the person who requested it has put forth a clear agenda and stated exactly how
much time they will need. And even then, Harris recommends giving the person
half of the time they initially requested.
7. Sitting all day
Nilofer
Merchant, a business consultant and the author of "The New How: Creating Business Solutions Through
Collaborative Strategy Paperback," shares with TED audiences how she's helped several major
companies develop successful new ideas: walking meetings.
She
recommends forgoing coffee or fluorescent-lighted conference-room meetings in
favor of walking and talking 20 to 30 miles a week.
"You'll
be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking, and in the way that you
do, you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas," she says.
8. Hitting the snooze button
It might
feel like pressing the snooze button in the morning gives you a little bit of
extra rest to start your day, but the truth is that it does more harm than good.
That's
because when you first wake up, your endocrine system begins to release
alertness hormones to get you ready for the day. By going back to sleep, you're
slowing down this process. Plus, nine minutes doesn't give your body time to
get the restorative, deep sleep it needs.
This isn't
to say you should cut back on sleep. As Arianna Huffington discusses in her TED talk, a good night's sleep has
the power to increase productivity, happiness, smarter decision-making, and
unlock bigger ideas. The trick for getting enough sleep is planning ahead and
powering down at a reasonable time.
9. Failing to prioritize
Some people think
having lots of goals is the best way to ensure success — if one idea fails, at
least there are plenty more in reserve to turn to. Unfortunately, this
sort of wavering can be extremely unproductive.
Warren
Buffett has the perfect antidote. Seeing that his
personal pilot was not accomplishing his life goals, Buffett asked him to make
a list of 25 things he wanted to get done before he died. But rather than
taking little steps toward completing every one of them, Buffett advised the
pilot to pick five things he thought were most important and ignore the rest.
10. Over-planning
Many
ambitious and organized people try to maximize their productivity by
meticulously planning out every hour of their day. Unfortunately, things don't
always go as planned, and a sick child or unexpected assignment can throw a
wrench into their entire day.
Instead, you
might want to try planning just four or five hours of real work each day,
that way you're able to be flexible later on.
11. Under-planning
With that
being said, you should take time to strategize before attempting to achieve any
long-term goals. Trying to come up with the endgame of a project you're doing
midway through the process can be extremely frustrating and waste a huge amount
of time.
Harvard
lecturer Robert Pozen recommends that you first determine what you want your
final outcome to be, then lay out a series of steps for yourself.
Once you're halfway through, you can review your work to make sure you're on
track and adjust accordingly.
12. Keeping your phone next to your bed
The LED
screens of our smartphones, tablets, and laptops give off what is called blue
light, which studies have shown can damage vision and suppress production of melatonin,
a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle.
Research
also suggests that people with lower melatonin levels are more prone to depression.
13. Perfectionism
More often
than laziness the root of procrastination is the fear of not doing a good job,
says British philosopher and author Alain de Botton on his website, The Book of Life.
"We
begin to work only when the fear of doing nothing at all exceeds the fear of
not doing it very well … And that can take time," he writes.
The only way
to overcome procrastination is to abandon perfectionism and not fuss over
details as you move forward. Pretending the task doesn't matter and that it's
OK to mess up could help you get started faster.
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