5 Ways to Effectively Gauge Your Productivity

Do you run a small business? Are you as productive as you should be? Do you work very long and hard? I have good news for you my friend. Productivity is not all about working longer and harder. It is about working better and smarter. You must routinely do these 5 things if you want to be sufficiently productive.

01. Avoid Multitasking

Always eliminate any distractions in your work place. Avoid Multitasking because it is a myth even though a much-hyped one by projects managers. Juggling tasks clearly reduces efficiency and productivity. Switching from task to task requires refocusing, and it takes quite some time. What works is to focus on doing one thing at a time. It is always better to move to other things only when you are through with what you have at hand.

  

02. Improve on your Strengths

Yes indeed! Everyone has their area of strengths where they excel very well. That said, not everyone can do everything equally well. It pays therefore to know your strengths and your weaknesses. While working to improve on your strengths, you can as well get someone else to complement you on your weaknesses. That is one great way to be more productive.

03. Document things on Paper

No matter how good your memory is, it can’t be perfect because a perfect memory is only a myth. For that reason, trying to recall things from your memory is a much bigger and difficult task than just picking up a piece of paper and reading them up. Putting more things on paper for later recall and reference better enhances productivity because productive people don’t waste brainpower on remembering stuff.

04. Eliminate Bottlenecks

The bottom-line is to always explore any and every way to avoid frustration when working on your business. When you’re feeling frustrated by your difficulty in accomplishing as much as you’d like, sometimes it helps to take a step back to review your workflow. If there are bottlenecks slowing down your workflow, you must quickly eliminate them or smoothen them out. Once these bottlenecks are out of the way, your productivity will be enhanced. 

05. Don’t Get Bogged Down with Perfection

Attaining perfection is another myth in running a business. Granted, there are times when only flawless work will do, but in most cases, doing a really good job is sufficient. Clearly you will be wasting a lot of time and energy if you insist on polishing absolutely everything to perfection all the time. That time and effort you are wasting could be better spent elsewhere getting other good things done. What matters here is to know exactly when good enough is really good enough. That is what enhances productivity.

Top 4 Tips to Cure Chronic Procrastination

I have heard it said that procrastination is the thief of time. These days, time is such a precious commodity that wasting it can actually harm your business. Many entrepreneurs are victims of chronic procrastination. They keep putting off till a later date what they ordinarily are expected to accomplish expeditiously. That lethargy could at times be very costly in terms of late delivery of goods and loss of credibility. Once customers become aware that you can not deliver products and or services on time, they quickly switch to your competitors. Finding a way around chronic procrastination is one sure way to avoid such pitfalls. These four tips can help a great deal in your quest to cure chronic procrastination.

01. Always maintain your work momentum. The trick is to take the easiest task on your schedule then push yourself to start. Once you have started, you can maintain momentum by keeping strictly to the time frame allotted each task. Getting started is usually where the problem lies with people who procrastinate. Once the task is started, you are more likely to keep working until the task is completed. 

02. Devise a reward system for yourself when you meet set goals. This may seem of little value but it helps a great deal against procrastination. You can set targets for yourself then fix some rewards for yourself at each stage. Because of this reward system, there is always a tendency to push ahead with what has to be done. A sumptuous dinner in your favorite restaurant, a good movie and some such like rewards are very good incentives for a job accomplished on time. You may also choose to connect activities you dislike with ones you love to do. The incentives from the ones you like will help you to stay on task and to accomplish your goals. 

03. Break down your tasks to manageable bits. The primary reason why people who procrastinate seem to always procrastinate is that they usually spend too much time looking at the big picture. A look at the big picture of any project makes it to appear overwhelming. It is the overwhelming picture that usually cripples most people thereby preventing them from making much progress. No matter how big a project may appear, if you break it down to manageable bits, it can be tackled bit by bit. It helps to write out each step with an exact time schedule to accomplish it. When you commence with the task that seems easiest, you can quickly accomplish it before moving on to the next. That way, you can always take one small task at a time and before you realize it, you have completed the entire project. 

04. Hold yourself to a high level of accountability. You can let your friends and family members know about the tasks you have to accomplish and allow them to urge you on if you appear to be slacking. When people you value and hold in very high esteem are the ones who are watching and monitoring you, it could prevent you from making poor excuses that may disappoint them. It may be fairly easy to disappoint yourself, but disappointing people you hold dear is a different kettle of fish. That level of accountability is largely what could keep you going until the task is completed.

No responsible business owner can afford any form of lethargy in this age and time when people now want services delivered so fast as if their whole lives depended on such services. Getting things done as quickly as possible is very good for customer satisfaction and the bottom-line of any business. Doing away with chronic procrastination therefore is very good for business. It is also highly satisfying as a major personal achievement on the part of the entrepreneur.