I find myself distracted with emails every time I get into the office. For me, it starts as soon as I’m logged onto my computer and checking what’s new in there- especially if a specific task is awaiting completion! With so many distractions at our fingertips from social media to articles about things unrelated to work or personal life, sometimes before you know it 20 minutes have gone by without producing any progress on your current project that requires attention.
Here are three things that I’ve learned to do to increase my productivity and keep me on track. Since distraction is one of my biggest stumbling blocks in achieving productivity success, here’s something that I’ve learned to do by my computer. I keep a notebook, and these are the three steps that I’ve learned to follow;
#1
I will create a list of everything that I need to complete, and I will do this away from the computer. I do not want to be distracted writing this list, or what I will also do is write this list from the night before. This is so beneficial as you tend to have a clearer mind space at night, you are more relaxed. This then results in your remembering all the minor and essential things you need to accomplish the next day. It also helps to reduce morning stress. So first thing in the morning, before I even turn on my computer, I will run through my list again to see the list of tasks I am to complete for that day.
# 2
Prioritize! Prioritize! Prioritize! Prioritizing tasks is crucial to being organized and staying productive throughout the day. If we do not prioritize our tasks, then we do not have a structure to follow. We might get started on low priority tasks and then get distracted from the fact that we have a high priority task to complete. When we realize there is a top priority task that is to be done in the next 20 minutes, we get flustered and may become thrown off for the entire day. Prioritizing also helps with distractions; if you know that you have a few high priorities tasks to get done right away, you will try to complete these tasks before moving on to anything else.
#3
Time management is my final step for productivity success. I assign all my tasks a time limit; I will say 30 minutes for this task, 30 minutes for that, 15 minutes for this,15 minutes for that. I will also place all my tasks into my calendar to be aware of a time that is blocked off for a specific task. I usually have a time blocked off in general terms on my calendar anyway, but now I make it more specific to the tasks that I must accomplish.
To recap, I write everything down. I write the three top priorities, and then I block them into three short task-driven times. I try to do this first thing in the morning before I sit down in front of my computer. Let’s go ahead and make sure you are achieving productivity success in your daily life.
You can also find this post on https://robertkennedy3.medium.com/3-steps-to-productivity-success-bb805d16fca4
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