For many people the working day is often far too short for the amount of work that needs to be done.
With the following simple advice, you will get more done in your working time:
1. Start the working day earlier
It may sound banal, but by starting work earlier, you get a lot more done. Start before everyone else, gain quiet, undisturbed working hours and also be rested and full of energy.
2. Create a todo list
Although the good old todo list is often demonised, it still remains an important tool to know what needs to be done in a working day.
3. Do the most important things first
At the beginning of the working day you usually have the highest level of energy. Use this energy to complete your most important and challenging tasks instead of wasting this valuable time on trivialities.
4. Clean up your workplace
A tidy workplace helps you to focus and quickly find the important things. This makes your working day more efficient overall. So at least at the end of the working day, keep your desk tidy. It is even better if you tidy up your workplace after a task has been completed and thus create focus for your next project.
5. Stay fit
Sitting at your desk all day long is not healthy and also makes you tired. To stay fit, you should get up in between and do a small fitness programme. You can either do exercises or go for a short walk. If you have a little more time, you can of course go for a run or go to the gym for an hour.
6. Drink enough water
To keep you concentrated and fit, you should make sure that you drink enough fluids during a working day. The most effective solution is often to simply place a carafe of water on your desk.
7. Avoid multitasking
For many years, multitasking was praised – but wrongly so. Above all, multitasking leads to less effectiveness and more mistakes. Therefore, always concentrate on one task at a time and only start another one when it is done.
8. Sleep enough
Those who do not start the working day overtired have the necessary strength to complete many tasks in one day and to work with focus. So make sure that you get enough sleep every day.
9. Turn off social media
One of the biggest sources of distraction in the world today is social media. Every year a lot of money is wasted on manpower worldwide because social media is visited during working hours. So make it a habit to check social media maybe only 1-2 times a day and limit the time you spend there.
10. Do not constantly check your e-mails
To get more done in a day, you should avoid constantly checking your emails. This costs valuable time, takes you out of the work rhythm and in most cases is not really necessary. Instead, you should get into the habit of checking your emails only at defined times – for example, only every 2 hours. This is usually quite sufficient. If you expect a really important e-mail, you can of course make an exception. But do not let the exception become the rule.
11. Turn off push messages on your phone and computer
In the meantime, apps and programmes have in many cases automatically notified us when there is something new – whether it’s a new Facebook message from a friend, a new email in the letterbox or that a new cat video has been uploaded to Facebook. These notifications in the form of flashing LEDs, beeps or pop-up windows are distracting and unnecessarily disturb the workflow. You should therefore switch off these notifications. Don’t you know how this works? With a search on Google & Co you will quickly find a solution.
12. Limit the time for your tasks
Inefficiency often has its origin in the fact that we try to do everything as perfectly as possible. A simple trick for not wasting time is to simply limit the time it takes to complete a task. In this way you put yourself under a little pressure and at the same time force yourself to concentrate on the task at hand.
13. Take breaks
Nobody can work efficiently for a whole working day without taking breaks. Make sure you get up from your desk regularly and take a short break. With the new energy you can then get back to work.
14. Bundle similar tasks
In a normal working day, many tasks arise that are similar in nature. Classical examples are answering e-mails or handling telephone calls. By combining these similar tasks, you increase productivity.
15. Be unavailable at times
People who come to the office or constant phone calls can completely ruin productivity because they are constantly being pulled out of the work flow and cannot concentrate on their tasks. So if you are deliberately unavailable, close your office door and switch your phone to silent.
16. Eliminate unnecessary meetings
Many meetings in today’s working world are unnecessary, have no concrete result and cost many productive working hours. Therefore ask yourself if a meeting is really the most efficient solution to solve the task and cancel all meetings that are not necessary. If a meeting is useful, clearly limit the time, set a tight agenda and do not allow employees to come to the meeting unprepared.
