With so many distractions stealing our attention, most of us are looking for ways to be more efficient at work. Some entrepreneurs want higher work efficiency because they want to make time for more projects and additional opportunities. Others may want to leave work at a decent hour while still fulfilling their responsibilities. No matter which side we fall on this scale, increasing work efficiency will help us reach our goals!
NFIB.com created a graphic that lays out key points for productivity. The idea is to shorten the “to-do” list to better manage our time at work!
Here’s a break-down explanation of the graphic below:
1. The Promodoro Technique
Set a timer to figure out the amount of time it takes to accomplish each task. Sometimes we imagine difficult tasks taking an unreasonable amount of time. When, in reality, if we focus our full attention, they may not take long at all. We need to allow ourselves short spurts of focused time to fulfill each responsibility. Anyone can do anything for 15-20 minutes!
2. Eat That Frog
Doing the hardest thing first makes the rest of our day feel like a piece of cake! Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Getting our weak tasks out of the way will free our minds to focus on our strengths. After we’ve eaten that not-so-delicious frog, we can reward ourselves before we tackle the rest of the day!
3. Getting Things Done
David Allen wrote a bestselling book called Getting Things Done. In it, he explained his methods for productivity. Bouncing around from one task to another slows us down. Gathering our “to-do” list items and batching them according to similarities is a sure way to get things done.
4. The Action Method
Forgetting tasks or not meeting deadlines is unacceptable. The action method helps by organizing tasks in such a way that they are easy to manage.
5. The Seinfeld Method
Seinfeld shared that he became a better comedian by writing better jokes, and he could only do that through writing every day. Putting effort into consistency helps us go from simply completing tasks to actually excelling at our work.
See action items for each step in the graphic below.
