Institute of Management Services News

Habits to improve productivity

As professionals, trying to instil good habits for our teams, and even ourselves, can be difficult. But if the right habits can be adopted, then productivity can, and will, skyrocket.

Making specific time for deep focus working for just two hours a day, can see your output improve. To be able to be disciplined enough to commit to a level of high intensity work will pay dividends in the future.

In your personal life, having a good morning and night routine is the best way to staying on track, and the same applies to your work routine. Incorporating productive morning and evening routines into your work flow can help keep everything in order and make sure things don’t fall through the cracks or get neglected. The system of “plan, do, review, repeat” allows you to be more organised and deliberate with your time.

With busy schedules and working on multiple projects simultaneously, just having a daily ‘to do’ list might not be enough to unlock your productivity potential. By adding tasks and deadlines to your calendar, it can be easier to focus and help you manage your time more efficiently. Of course, you will need to maintain a certain degree of flexibility, and change your calendar accordingly based on importance.

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Posted on: 2 Aug 2022@13:25:09, updated on: 2 Aug 2022@13:26:52.

Different Productivity techniques

.... and how they might work for you

There are a lot of buzzwords thrown around discussing productivity, with lots of ‘blue sky’ language and talk of ‘hacks’, without any real world effectiveness. But recently there has been a lot of hype around the following techniques making the rounds on TikTok, of all places.

One of the most popular is known as the Pomodoro technique. Originally devised in the 80’s it has seen a revival thanks to the social media platform. In essence, you dedicate intensive working for a short amount of time, followed by five minutes of rest. This breaks up longer tasks whilst keeping your brain active. Most people suggest 25/30 minutes of work and then five for rest. In that time, it is recommended to go for a walk to stretch your legs or have a cup of tea or coffee.

Another technique that has come to the fore is called Time blocking. This is where you consciously block out each hour of the working day and allocate it to a task. It is essentially a tight schedule and is the most rigid and regimented of the techniques. You can make the plan on Excel and colour code each task for easy reference and can schedule in breaks where you need, whist working to the level that you need to.

The third technique that has gained popularity in recent months is the ‘Four Quarters’ method. You break your working day into four equal parts and make a ‘to do’ list within each section. This is good as it sets short term goals which are easier to achieve. And, by compartmentalising work this way, makes it easier to mover onto other tasks and reduces the chance of running over.

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Posted on: 2 Aug 2022@13:24:27, updated on: 2 Aug 2022@13:24:27.