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5 Small Productivity Tips that Have Big Impact

Small actions can have large results.  When it comes to increasing productivity through improved organization, small changes in behaviors and routine regularly create tremendous change.  Here are 5 small changes you can try today (choose 1 or more) to improve your productivity, reduce stress and overwhelm and save time.

  1. Start your day from your task list and calendar.  Make a change and start using your task list and calendar to steer your focus and drive your actions.  Before you start opening email or making calls.  Look at your to-do list and attend to your high priority tasks.  This assures you’ll be getting to the important things rather than spending time and energy on things that may not contribute to you reaching your goals.
  2. Change your mindset from checking to processing.  Processing is a way of taking something from one state to another.  It is a way of moving items from start to done.  When you process something you take action and action leads to results.  Consider the positive impact of changing your thinking from checking your email or paper inbox to processing email and paper.  Checking merely results in looking to see that things are there.  Processing means making decisions about what needs to happen next and scheduling time to take that action.
  3. Answer this question each morning.  What is the one thing you can do today that will have the most positive impact to you life and business?  You likely already have a habit of brushing your teeth each morning.  Ask and answer this question while you brush.  Use your answer to help you focus on what’s important throughout the day.
  4. Ask this question after every event.  What are the next actions I need to take?  Life comes at you fast and as soon as you’re out of a meeting your taking a call related to something else.  In the first minutes after the meeting decide what are the next actions you need to take and capture them on your task list.  You can relax knowing you’ve captured the information and move on to the next event with a clearer head.
  5. Change the definition of done to include clean up.  Checking things off the to-do lists feels good.  Before you make that check be sure you’re truly done and that you’ve cleaned up from the work.  Say you have a to-do of wrapping a gift.  Augment your definition of done to include both a wrapped gift and the clean up of your supplies.  Changing the definition of done to include clean up means spending less time cleaning up in the future when doing so may mean addressing the remnants of several projects and could cost you the ability to effectively use your workspace.

Whether it’s changing the small things you do at the start of your day, asking yourself small and important questions throughout the day or changing the language you use to think about your work, all of these small shifts can result in big change to your organization and productivity.  Which small change will you try this week?

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