What can you do to bolster your productivity? If you’re an entrepreneur or self-employed, that can be an incredibly important question because you’re usually trying to manage a zillion things at once. Here are four secrets to productivity:
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Know when to delegate.
Ideally, you will delegate the tasks that lie in your areas of weakness to other people. Sometimes, though, it can also be good to delegate tasks that are not necessarily in your area of weakness, but simply fall into the category of not needing your personal touch to be accomplished adequately. It is better to delegate tasks and allow yourself time to focus on the important managerial, directive, and creative tasks that specifically need your personal touch. Even if you run an online business without a lot of office space, you can hire a virtual assistant to help you with the daily running of your business so that you can focus on the more important matters.
Don’t multitask.
Although we are taught to multitask and although many people brag about their efficiency in multitasking, in fact the brain is actually only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. So when you think you are being super-productive by multitasking, all you’re really doing is jumping from task to task and losing time as your mind refocuses from one thing to another. Determine what task you are going to accomplish, break it down into steps, and finish them in order. Then move on to the next task.
Use planning and productivity apps.
In this day and age, when people can contact you pretty much anytime and anywhere through your smartphone and email, it’s good to have a portable to-do list and calendar. To-do lists are incredibly helpful for focusing your energies and tackling tasks in the appropriate order. There are plenty of free apps to bolster productivity, like Wunderlist, Tempo, and Sunrise. Sometimes, just feeling more organized can make you more productive.
Do what you’re passionate about.
If you focus on doing the things that you’re most passionate about and delegate the other tasks whenever possible, you will find that your overall productivity will increase because generally we tend to be more productive with the tasks that we’re most passionate about. Richard Branson says, “I don’t think of work as work and play as play. It’s all living.” If you can feel that way about your work, you’ll be more productive in your work – and thus end up with more time for play.
