Let’s talk about productivity… Suggestions on productivity strategies and how a simple checklist can make your business flourish.
Stop telling yourself “Try Harder” or “work longer hours”. Is there a secret to being productive?
The first step should be as simple as “getting started” sounds easy but we all start to see the project or tasks for its largest complex parts, not the small steps it could be broken into.
Do you always remember uncompleted tasks or have it “playing on your mind” This is the Zeigarnik effect, which means we like to finish a task we have already started, and we feel great discomfort from not completing it. How every much we have already accomplished we only remember what we failed to complete.
So what is Productivity?
What Productivity means to me is getting things done or should I say getting the right things done within the allocated time frame in a successful way.
For this process to succeed you need to work out what you want to achieve. If you don’t set yourself realistic goals, strategically prioritising and breaking down into actionable tasks to execute tasks you don’t always achieve your end goals. In your mind understand why these steps need to be taken to reach your set goal.
How to become more productive?
Increasing productivity requires planning, time management and project management to increase workflow so ultimately get more done.
- Time Management – How much time can you allocate to this task, How do you work the best, Disciplined scheduling
- Planning – Action Plan, Create a checklist of the important tasks you want to achieve and set goals.
- Checklist – Breaking things into smaller bitesize tasks is less daunting and makes it easier to get started.
- Resources – This could mean financial resource, staff time
- Ambitions – What’s the Big picture? Set Goals. What do you want to do and understanding the path you need to follow. Prioritising and focusing to get the most important things completed.
- Collaboration – Stop multitasking instead understand your strengths and weaknesses so you can delegate. Selecting the best person to achieve the required results.
- Improvement – Why want to achieve and potentially exceeds the goal. Fulfil and achieve
- Accountability Chart – Document and track your progress, realistically evaluate your work instead of inaccurately assuming what you have achieved.
- Set Deadlines – Have a time scale to work to, set deadlines wisely as long deadline people can procrastinate or think an assignment is more difficult than it is.
Productivity Checklists Tasks
Boost your productivity but learning to Love checklists and see what power they offer to increase your business productivity.
Coming from a family who loves to write lists which enables you to cross off what you have accomplished and see great progress. That great sense of satisfaction when you tick an item off is just fantastic.
Delegation, delegation, delegation is anything that can be set out in standard operating procedures for other team members to be able to complete. Make sure even when delegating the task is always completed in the correct way every time.
Learn to prioritise. Set out tasks on your checklist in order that they must be completed and by whom. All business process management (BPM) can be easily managed within a checklist.
Did you achieve what you set out to do? Use productivity methods and checklists to work collaboratively with your team and if something didn’t work. Quickly adapt your business processes to incorporate what you have learnt to make it even more productive taking onboard comments, suggestions and findings.
Why not see how checklists can help your business and you guide your team to increase productivity.