There are bound to be tons of different tips, tricks and techniques about this topic, but I believe below are six highly cornerstone points...
· Believe in what you’re doing
Have you ever found yourself halfway through a task but no longer particularly motivated to finish it? This happens to us all, and if we actually end up finishing the task what normally urges us to finish is that we want to finish something that we’ve started. That’s not the way to go. It is so much better to have a clear belief all the way till the end that what you’re doing is worthwhile – this is what’s truly motivating, and will help us to complete the task well and properly.
It is a not so invalid belief that if someone feels not motivated anymore to do something, then they intrinsically don’t think it is worthwhile; however this is usually not the truth. Sometimes, yes, people genuinely deep-down no longer think something’s worth accomplishing, but most of the time the lack of motivation comes from when they lose sight of the rewards accomplishing the task will bring – unlike when they started, where they saw them crisp and clear. So if you find yourself in this position, lay or sit down, and visualise the rewards, reinforce your motivation and come back to your work with the desire as when you first started it.
Not only is belief in what you’re doing important, belief in yourself is. We have to believe that we possess the ability to accomplish the task at hand. If a person thinks something is impossible, what will make them go for it? It’s like some English person liking the idea of being president of the United States, but trying to do that (since you have to be American) would seem kind of pointless - why be motivated to try to do something you know isn't possible? But the same goes for just something you think you can't possibly do (but you might be able to do); for example, you not believing you can do an A-grade piece of work for university, this won't make you motivated to try for one.You might want to try positive visualisation to help aid the belief you can accomplish the task. I’m not saying be delusional and keep trying to do something regardless of the bleak possibility of a triumph. It is up to you when you give up, but I think it’s fair to say a lot of things are worth a good attempt, and you might be more capable than you think, so give it a go. This tip basically comes down to your level of motivation to accomplish the task. The more your motivation, the harder you will work, hence the better your productivity.
Remember, have a good belief in the work and yourself.
· Have a focus
When working it’s sometimes easy to get lost in the task and head off on a tangent. As an example, I’ve found myself whilst working on a website, playing about with the way the logo looks for a long time, not realising that if I took an astute think about it and regained some perspective, what I would really want to be doing is working on the website layout. How well you’re doing a part of a task is an aspect of productivity, but also is working on the part of the task that’s best to do. I use what I like to call directional meditation if I find that I’ve lost my ‘bearing’ so to speak, or if I’m about to start a task and don’t know where’s best to begin.
· Try to be stress-free
If someone’s stressed out, they’ll perform worse at lots of things.
Being stressed makes you more susceptible to lacking belief in the work you’re doing and also losing your focus. For this reason, try to be fairly stress-free when working. If you find yourself a bit too stressed-out, take a break, check out the next tip below...
· If you’re in a bad state, round the work off and take a break
Are you feeling low? Angry? Stressed? Frustrated? We are only human, and it’s sometimes very hard indeed to quickly flip yourself into another mood, in this case, a mood more conducive to high-productivity. If you think you’re in an inappropriate mood, round the work off and take a break. What I sort of mean by ‘round the work off’ is finish all the remaining tasks that are left, which require little thinking, and take a break from the work. When you feel better come back to it later and continue from a refreshed state of mind.I feel it’s a fine idea to round-off a piece of work before taking a break, because this gives you an increased sense of achievement come the end of the work session. Leave the heavily analytical or creative jobs for when you feel good, but while you aren’t in a great state you may as well do the necessary leftover monotonous tasks you can complete without thinking much.
· Keep improving your technique
When it comes to doing a routine job, such as something you’ll have to do again and again, it’s pretty beneficial to consider, even whilst you’re actually working, ways you can carry it out more efficiently. For example, whilst working in Microsoft word, why not learn a few short-cut keys at each visit; pressing ctrl + s to save, ctrl + o to open a file. These kinds of advancements in the way you work will undoubtedly boost your efficiency. I know it’s a fairly obvious point to make - “Find faster ways of working.” But really, what I want to emphasise here is to keep making a conscious effort to do this.
To begin with, you’ll be working slower and getting less done, because you’ll be trying to learn new ways of working as well as actually having to do the work, but by investing this way, you’re playing the smart-game and your constant improving efficiency will pay-off greatly in the long-run.
Better working techniques aren’t necessarily obvious to discover (obvious as like I mentioned, short-cut keys for microsoft word), and so sometimes it’s not easy to derive them as you’re working. In this case, it’s worth just setting aside a little time specifically to find ways to advance your efficiency.
It’s very easily done to ignore the prospects of thinking up new ways of working, by going with the attitude of ‘just getting on with the job to get it done’. But think of it as like investing your money for good returns later, instead of spending it all to satisfy yourself at the present.
· Cut out distractions
Is your hair bothering you? Is the sun in your eyes? Is it noisy around you? Keeping away from these types of distractions can be very beneficial to your productivity. Even cutting out fairly small distractions will help you work better; the sort of distractions that it’s easy to let niggle at your concentration while you work, such as your hair flapping down in front of your forehead, or the room you’re working in being uncomfortably hot.
Like the last pointer I made (keep improving your technique) this pointer is a rather obvious one too, but also like the last pointer, I am trying to emphasise that you should make a conscious effort to get rid of the kind of distractions that you’d otherwise just put up with. If it’s a little hot in the room and you have to occasionally wipe sweat from your forehead, at these moments you are a little bit distracted and your thoughts won’t be as directed on the work; so in this case, make the conscious decision to later buy a fan.
What I am not instigating is that people should go all obsessive compulsive and try to make their work environment perfect, in such a manner that they actually start paying more attention to this than the work they’re doing. Just get rid of the distractions that are small and up, ignore the really minute ones, because there will be plenty of those.
So there we are (yay!)...
· Believe in what you’re doing
· Have a focus
· Try to be stress-free
· If you’re in a bad state round the work off and take a break
· Keep improving your technique
· Cut out distractions
I believe the above are six very crucial pointers for high-productivity.
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