We all know the feeling. You walk into work thinking it’s going to be a great day. You get caught in a conversation with a co-worker and check your email. Before you know it, half your day is gone with project deadlines right around the corner.

It can be challenging to increase productivity at work. From personal cell phones, to social media and office news, there are so many things demanding your attention. If you’re thinking about improving work productivity but don’t know where to get started, we’ve got you covered.

If you’re ready to learn some tricks to be more productive and stay motivated, keep reading. In this post, we’re going to break down 5 productivity tips for work that will have you getting more done in no time.

1. Avoid the Email Trap

It’s easy to come into work and spend too much time sending and replying to emails. But improving work productivity can come from setting a few simple guidelines. Set up two to three email appointments in your calendar. Try to limit the amount of time for each of these appointments to 10 minutes. As you get in the habit, you’ll find yourself becoming more efficient at sorting through emails.

2. Take Time to Classify Your Tasks

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s natural to become less productive. Take the time to classify all your projects and tasks to help chip away at your to-do list. A simple task classification system to increase productivity at work looks like this:

• Need to haves: These are tasks that have to get done ASAP and take top priority.
• Nice to haves: Tasks that could help you in the long-term, but aren’t the highest priority.
• Not needed: Tasks that can be pushed to a later date with ease.

3. Set Small Goals

If you’re facing a massive project, you might put off getting started to avoid a mountain of work. But sometimes improving productivity at work means breaking things down into smaller pieces. Take your big project and divide it up into bite size tasks. As you complete each one, you’ll gain confidence and momentum that will keep you moving forward.

4. Delegate Some of Your Tasks

There’s that old saying, “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” The problem is there’s not always enough time in the workday to make that possible. You should learn how to delegate and collaborate with others. The first step is creating a list of all the tasks you’re responsible for. Highlight the tasks that are the most time consuming for you. From there, you can talk with your team or boss to see what can be delegated to give you more breathing room. Make sure you’re delegating tasks that are causing a bottleneck with your time.

5. Pay Attention to the Patterns

Looking for patterns is one of the most underrated productivity tip for work. What we mean by this is look at certain aspects of your day to identify items that drain your time. For example, if the hour after lunch is the hardest time for you to get work done, rearrange your schedule to complete your easiest tasks during that time. Once you track your time for a couple weeks, you’ll be able to pick out patterns like this and make productive changes.

Make Your Job Search More Productive with Labor Systems

Labor Systems is a full-service staffing agency ready to help you find the next step in your career. Our team will work to match your unique skills and experience to one of client companies.

If you’re ready to add a little productivity to your job search, contact us today to get started.