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What is productivity? What’s the difference between efficiency and productivity? Find out here, plus 5 ways to increase productivity to help you succeed in your business.
Most of us dream about living a more productive life, where we get everything on our to-do list done each day and enjoy having time to spend with our family.
If you struggle with productivity and knowing how to increase your efficiency, we’re here today to share with you everything you need to know about productivity.
Keep reading as we discover how productivity is measured and ways you can increase your productivity this year!
What is Productivity?
Productivity is getting the results that you desire with less effort and in a shorter time.
Productivity encourages you to achieve your goals while still allowing you to have time for the things that are really important in your life.
In business terms, productivity may be expressed as a figure and could refer to the production of services and goods over a certain period of time.
For business owners who are looking to enjoy a better work-life balance, measuring productivity and increasing it each day can help you to enjoy an improved quality of life.
How is Productivity Measured?
When it comes to measuring productivity in a work environment, this simple formula can be used:
Productivity = Output ÷ Input
Depending on the type of business you own or work for, productivity might refer to the number of products you make in a shift or the number of calls you manage to take in a day.
However, productivity can often be very hard to measure, as no two businesses or individuals are exactly the same.
In service industries, for example, it can be a lot more challenging to measure productivity, but for the most part, you’ll find that it’s about the number of tasks you are able to complete during your day.
It’s important to remember that quality shouldn’t be impacted when you become more productive, and it’s just about finding a way to make the most of the hours you have in the day.
Why is Productivity Important?
As an entrepreneur, productivity can help you to achieve more each day.
If you find you always struggle to get through your endless to-do list, you’ll find that by following our tips listed below to help you become more productive, you’ll achieve more each day.
Productivity can increase your value as a worker, as you’ll offer your company more each day for the same wage, which in turn could lead to promotions and pay rises.
For business owners, being productive often leads to a feeling of accomplishment and can be good for your mental health. If you find you are always stressed and anxious about your mounting to-do list, productivity can help you to gain more control over your life and give you extra free time to relax after work.
As parents, it can be almost impossible to find time for everything you want to do each day, but productivity is an excellent tool to help you retain this balance.
How is Productivity Different from Efficiency?
Two terms that are often used interchangeably but mean completely different things are productivity and efficiency.
Efficiency is a reactive term, which refers to the amount of effort and resources that are put into a certain task.
On the other hand, productivity is used to describe how much work is done in a set time. Productivity is considered to be proactive, and it’s about achieving the best you can regardless of the situation.
5 Ways to Increase Productivity
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Plan Your Day
The easiest way to become more productive is to plan out your day in advance. So many people still start their working day with no plan for what they will spend the next eight to ten hours doing.
Instead, create a list of the most important tasks you need to do that day and have a rough plan of how long each task will take.
Make sure your plan is realistic and achievable but still pushes you to get a good amount of work done in the day.
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Stop Multitasking
While you may think that you are more productive by doing multiple things at one time, this usually results in less getting done and lower quality work.
In fact, multitasking often results in you being distracted from the task at hand instead of completing one task to the highest standard.
Focus on one thing before crossing this off your to-do list and moving onto the next task.
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Take a Break
Most of us spend the whole of our working day sitting at our computers, which is incredibly draining.
Make sure you take a short break every hour to walk away from the computer and refresh your mind.
Set a timer to take a five-minute break each hour, and then try to take a longer break at lunchtime to rest your mind for a short while properly.
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Prioritize
Each day, there are usually a few tasks that need to be at the top of our priority list.
However, it’s so tempting to put off the more challenging tasks until later in the day, by which time you are usually too exhausted to do them.
Prioritize the most critical tasks for earlier in the day, when you are likely to have more energy.
You’ll feel a tremendous sense of relief finishing the least enjoyable items on your to-do list, and then you’ll continue to power through the rest of your list.
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Optimize Your Work Schedule
All of us have different times of day when we feel most energized and productive.
If you find you work best first thing in the morning, optimize your work schedule to add the tasks that need the most focus at this time.
For anyone who prefers working once their kids are asleep at night, save some tasks for later on in the day when you can enjoy some peace and quiet.
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By following these productivity tips listed above, you’ll be able to transform your days and find that you soon get much more done in the same amount of hours.
Productivity can be the key to unlocking a more balanced life and is something we should all strive to improve on in the future.
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