The improvement in productivity is the Basic objective that is the goal of any company. However, in order to achieve this, it is essential that the workers also pursue this goal, which will be an advantage for them themselves since it will allow them to perform their tasks much more quickly and they will be able to invest more time in other activities or advance other tasks. Consequently, maximizing productivity becomes a benefit for all.
But, what is productivity?
According to the Royal Spanish Academy (R.A.E.), we understand by Productivity a “the existing relationship between the produced product and the means employed, such as labor, materials, energy, etc.” Therefore, rather than associating the concept with effectiveness (achieving the set goals), we can do so with efficiency (achieving the goals set with the least amount of resources used).
How can we maximize our productivity?
Once we understand the concept of productivity, we move on to establishing the tips that will help us improve it:
Get to know yourself and plan accordingly
Planning your Work routine It can help you accomplish your goals much more efficiently. You don't need to organize everything you have to do in every minute, but you can set some general guidelines for what you have to do each day or week.
The most important thing here is to know which are those hours when you perform better, Both at a professional and personal level. Our advice is that for a few days, you should pay attention to which times of the day you can best use your time. It’s most likely that it won’t always be at the same time, but rather within a specific time slot: in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, and at the end of the evening or night.
For example, there are people who wake up very energized in the morning, who don't mind waking up early, and it's only throughout the day that they become increasingly tired. For them, it would be better to use the morning to perform tasks that require a higher degree of concentration or effort, and to leave leisure and free time activities for the afternoon.
Conversely, there are people who, until they spend a few hours in the morning, are not a person; as the day progresses, they become more energetic; in fact, many people claim that they have trouble sleeping or are tired all day long and it’s late afternoon or evening and they can’t even fall asleep. For this group of people, it will be more productive to leave those tasks that require greater concentration after midday.
Take care of the workspace
The environment in which you work is a fundamental element for productivity. Not only from a Physicist, which is also important, but from the perspective of philosophy and atmosphere of the environment.
You need to find a space where you feel comfortable, where you can work at your own pace, where you have the necessary resources to carry out your tasks, and where there are no excessive noises. In this sense, creating a work community like the one that naturally arises in open-source projects is a good way to do so. coworking spaces It is ideal.
CFocus on what you are doing
Having a defined work routine will make it much easier for you to prioritize the activity you have to perform at any given moment. Get to the heart of the matter and Focus your energy on achieving that goal What you have set yourself. We guarantee that if you manage to do it, the rest of the day will be downhill.
If you work in a coworking space and need more information about it, you can find it on our website. Previous publication.
Avoid distractions or entertainment elements
For better or for worse, we find ourselves in a moment where technology plays an increasingly important role. Currently, the internet and technological devices are fundamental tools in our daily lives; in fact, thanks to them, productivity has improved in virtually every sector.
However, this is a a double-edged weapon and, in the same way, it can provide you with important support in carrying out your tasks (searching for information on websites, books and pdf manuals uploaded to the internet, etc.), and in organizing your work and teams (thanks to applications like Trello), it can also be an unlimited source of distractions that can steal minutes, hours or even days from you sometimes even unconsciously (WhatsApp, social media, unnecessary phone calls, etc.). Therefore, we advise you to keep yourself away from these distractions during working hours.
Rest
If you don't take moments to rest and disconnect, it will be impossible for you to maintain a state of deep concentration for long periods of time. Straining at this point is important, especially in an increasingly digitalized work environment where the boundaries between personal and professional life are easily blurred.
Sleep Get enough hours at night, and do it one or several short breaks During the workday, we assure you that although at first you might think they are a waste of time, they will help you become much more productive.
For this type of person, an extraordinary technique is the Pomodoro method. Perhaps the technique you’ve heard the most about and that’s becoming increasingly popular is not because it’s simple or because it’s really very effective.
This technique consists of managing your time in such a way that you focus 100% on a task for 25 minutes without any distractions or interruptions. Once the 25 minutes are over, you take a 5-minute break, then you get back to our task for another 25 minutes and rest for another 5 minutes.
How do we know if we are really being more productive?
To apply these tips to your case, we propose two techniques, since it is true that each person is unique and what might help you may not help someone else. This way, you can choose the one that is most useful for you.
Seinfeld technique
This technique is very organized, and it is dedicated to those who have not yet completely digitized themselves and still prefer paper and pen.
It consists of setting a big goal and working towards it. To do this, you will mark each date you have made progress towards achieving your goal with a large X and in red. When you see several consecutive days without an X, you will feel like you are wasting time and you will not want to leave even a single blank space.
Jay Shirley's technique
The creator of this way of increasing productivity is the same person who gave it its name, Jay Shirley. It consists of making a list of tasks and dividing them into 3 parts:
- I need them, they are high priority tasks that need urgent attention.
- Debo, these are the tasks that aim to fulfill a long-term task.
- I want it, it's the tasks that you like, the things you really enjoy doing.
The idea is to do one task per column so that at the end of the day, it won't just be the stress of working that's left behind; there will also be time to do things you enjoy and that you enjoy doing.
Now you do! You now have all the tools to take your productivity to the next level.
