Improve your productivity: Become more productive in 20 steps

Improving our productivity and learning how to manage our time are key to keeping a good workflow which will help us become better professionals. Surely, you also wish the day had more than 24 hours. However, with good organization, you can have enough motivation to turn the challenge of being more efficient into a habit. Helping ourselves be productive is also the main objective of the time management simulator Triskelion. This course developed by Gamelearn offers a series of tips and techniques that we are summarizing in the following guide. Take note of these 20 essential steps to be more efficient:

• 1. Focus. To improve productivity, the first thing to do is to define the goals you want to achieve and focus on them.
• 2. Prioritize. Select what really matters and get to it. Focus on those important tasks and do not let anyone stop you with requests that would hinder your progress.
• 3. Decide. Don’t procrastinate and start working! Avoid procrastination in projects and tasks and, once you’ve identified what’s important, start working on it.
• 4. Delegate. Accept that you can’t do everything yourself and pass tasks to those that can be of help.
• 5. Say “no”. Set your own limits in order to meet your goals.
• 6. Plan. Set 10 minutes aside for you to plan the day.
• 7. Use Tasks Lists and To-Day lists. Make a list of the most important daily tasks which you must complete during the day no matter what. Mark them as you complete them.
• 8. Simplify. Mark only three important daily tasks, so you don’t lose your motivation and can concentrate your energies on the most essential and indispensable tasks to be done.
• 9. Stop Pre-Occupations. Make decisions about those things you have not decided yet. Whether you choose to forget the problem or do something about it, you’re making a decision that will help you eliminate stress.
• 10. Allocate time to tasks you don’t like.
• 11. Do only one thing at a time. We are not multitasking machines; focus on one thing at a time to avoid distractions.
• 12. Find out the hours of the day in which you are the most productive and do your most important tasks in that time.
• 13. Make the most of trips by doing pending tasks on them. Don’t let trips be a synonym of wasting time.
• 14. Sort and organize your space. It will help you stay focused.
• 15. Rest. When you feel your concentration decrease, take a break to recover and get the energy you need.
• 16. A 10 minutes nap will make you more productive.
• 17. Disconnect. Avoid distractions brought by technology (mail and mobile phone alerts, etc.)
• 18. Do exercise. Doing sport 45 minutes a day will improve your health and productivity.
• 19. Balance personal, family and work life.
• 20. Celebrate your achievements and gain confidence. When you reach your goals, reward yourself for it and increase your self-confidence.