How to Be More Productive Every Day
When office workers around the country were surveyed by Microsoft, they said about 16 hours of their work week were unproductive. Office workers say 5.5 hours each week are spent in meetings, and most of that time is not productive.
Some things to consider before setting up your next meeting:
* Invite only those who need to attend and are relevant to the purpose of the meeting.
* Have an agenda. Know what you are going to say. Put it in writing so attendees know the topics and how much time will be spent on each. Stick to business and avoid chit-chat.
* Don’t hold a meeting if it isn’t needed. Regular meetings without specific purpose are a waste of time.
Other ideas for becoming more productive:
- Have a real to-do list. Don’t rely on memory, because other matters will enter your mind and create stress.
- Avoid surfing the Internet during business hours. If you must search for non-business matters, do it on your lunch hour. Rest instead of surfing.
- Take notes. Write down ideas to consider at a later time. Always have a note pad handy. Stay organized. Keep material you are not presently working on off of your desk so you can concentrate on one thing at a time.
- Break a big task into smaller segments that can be worked on for part of each day.
- Write brief text messages and emails. If what you have to say doesn’t fit, pick up the telephone.
- Use the last 15 or 20 minutes of each day to set up work for tomorrow. Clean out the email in-box.