How to boost productivity at work?

Does your day look like all meetings and no work done?  Here are some tips to boost your productivity 

 Its 4 pm and you just got out of the last meeting of the day. You take a 5-minute break, grab that last coffee of the day! Just when you think you are about to be done for the day, you look at the to-do list, unanswered emails and due deliverables to realize you need another 8 hours to complete that work.

What did I do for the entire day? 

Let me answer that for you: “Effort to collaborate via meetings “

And what did you achieve through those endless meetings? : “nothing”

If you are going through one of these situations at work, keep reading.

You own your time, Reserve time for your work.

Easier said that done.

First step is to find the hours where you are productive.

For example: I find myself more productive in mornings as I am a morning person, so my brain is attentive, and I solve problems effortlessly in morning.

When you find your productive hours, book them in your calendar. So, no one can try to arrange another meeting with you during that hour.

Another meeting with no agenda?

If your colleagues care about the outcome of their meetings, they will have some agenda in the meeting invite. If not, it does not hurt to ask by just messaging them around their purpose of the meeting. 

Being a lead, I had the liberty of creating working agreement for my team. One of the agreements we had was “Meetings with no agenda will be cancelled”. This effectively reduced our meetings to almost 50%.

If your team does not have a working agreement create one or talk to your lead/manager on how your time can be more effectively used.

If there is an agenda, understand your role in the meeting, what value are you going to add in that meeting. If you don’t happen to know, ask the organizer. And if you are added as an FYI, skip that meeting and simply ask for meeting notes.

Organize your calendar

Plan your day either beforehand or first thing in the morning.

Sort those meetings where you are required. There are so many incidents where folks forget about a meeting because they either dismissed the reminder pop up or the organizer did not have any reminder set. 

This leads to waste of time for others and you don’t look really good when you use that excuse for skipping a meeting where you were required.

Technology is useful but when you rely entirely on these reminders, you are out of control of your own schedule. Always keep a small check on your calendar, when is your next meeting due and do you need to prepare for it.

Being a working parent, I like to plan my next day as the last activity before I sign off for the day.  

Respect ! Both your time and your colleague’s time.

Some people like to talk a lot and eventually it derails a meeting.

Typically, the organizer needs to ensure this does not happen, but it is helpful if one can interject and bring the meeting back on track. Again, this is another trick to learn and I can write another blog on this. But try not to be that person who derails the agenda.

You cannot buy back time but you can spend it wisely.

Reduce wasteful use of time and find ways to do it by experimenting. Leave a comment and share tips/ideas that worked for you to be more productive at work.