25 Tips to Become More Productive and Happy at Work
25 Tips to Become More Productive and Happy at Work
Have you gotten into a rut at work? Would you like to be more engaged, satisfied, and fulfilled in your work? Would you like to be more productive and feel a greater sense of accomplishment at the end of each day? Well you can. It just takes a desire and commitment to renew your habits and routines. Follow these tips and you’ll see your work life improve. And that improvement will trickle into the rest of your life too.
- Power Question. Keep a question like this at your desk to help you stay focused: “Am I making the most of my time right now?” or “Is this the most productive use of my time?”
- Accept That You’ll Never Finish Your Task List. For perfectionists and overachievers this is as frustrating as a greyhound forever chasing the mechanical bunny around the track. Get off that track. Just make sure you work on your most important stuff first. Let the fluff slide, not your priorities.
- Turn off Your Computer. “What?!” you say. “Everything is done on my computer!” Well is it really? What percentage truly is? Plan to have your computer on only for that amount of time each day. Plan out blocks of time for different computer tasks and work from a checklist to keep you focused. Giving your eyes a rest from the screen will give you more energy for creating. Even if you just close your eyes as you think of a response to an email can help too.
- Don’t Check Email First Thing. Unless this is required in your job, then let it go until after you’ve completed your top priority of the day. And then process email in batches, say two or three times a day.
- Take Breaks. It’s a fact that taking breaks will increase productivity. It’s been proven in studies. If you need to, find someone to help ensure you take a morning and afternoon break.
- Make the Most of Your Commute. How do you spend your commute? Make it positive time. Use it for reading, writing, creative thinking, creative projects, listen to audio books, or, heck, write your own book! If you enjoy your commute, that happiness will spill over into how you feel at work.
- Planning. Establish a routine of planning your week and your day. This will allow you to have your most productive week all the time. Start your day an extra 15 minutes early to do this planning everyday. Write down the top 1-3 important things you must do that day. Plan your upcoming week on Sunday evening. The weekly plan doesn’t have to be extremely detailed. Just include the major items.
- Drop Unimportant Tasks. Delegate or delete the non-essential items from your to-do list. The best way to do this is to always do your most important things first. Somehow, miraculously, extraneous things will fall away.
- Transitions. Make sure you plan in enough time between activities and appointments, and find ways to fail proof being on time.
- Choose Happiness, Humor, Enthusiasm, Gratitude, Kindness, and a Positive Outlook. Being productive and competitive in business doesn’t mean that you have to be serious all the time. Smiling doesn’t mean you’re not working hard. Enthusiasm doesn’t mean you’re not competitive. Being positive doesn’t mean you’re blind to challenges. Choose to enjoy your time at work. Find others who are like this and spread good cheer. It’s contagious and it grows. Try to avoid gossip and negative chat. It can be tempting, but it doesn’t serve anyone well, including yourself.
- Cultivate Compassion for Negative Coworkers. People who are negative are that way for a reason. They may have difficulties you don’t know about. Try to be compassionate and non-judging. If you’re a manager, people still need to meet benchmarks, but you don’t have to dislike them if they are not cutting it. When you encounter a negative person, you have the choice to either be affected by the negativity or to be the one who influences the other person. It’s a decision. Choose to stay positive. Instead of saying (in your head or out loud) “Oh, that Suzy-Q! Her negativity always ruins my day,” try thinking “Poor Suzy-Q. She must have some difficulties. I wish her peace. In spite of her negativity I will try to be a positive influence around her.”
- Pace Yourself, Especially on Bad Days. Go slow. Don’t be in a hurry. Just take one thing at a time and keep moving forward. If you’re having a really low day, you might even want to take care of yourself by playing hooky !
- Take Everything in Stride. Deadlines, tough bosses, rude clients, slow computers. Don’t make them into large dramas. Don’t lament the challenges of the world. Simply accept that they are there, and just keep moving forward.
- Conflicts with Others. Let your goal be “to make progress.” Don’t get caught up in trying to “be right” or to “win” the argument. That will just slow you down. In your mind ask yourself, “what will move this conflict forward right now?” And then get busy doing that.
- Take Your Vacation Time. Try doing something different. If you always go on a trip, try taking a more local vacation, and really get some good rest time. Or if you always stay local, try visiting a new place. Variety is one of the keys to happiness.
- Pick Your Battles. Cliche, but true. It’s kind of like “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” When you complain or fight on everything, then your power to ask for things is diminished. Save it up for when you really need it.
- Share Your Results. This is not about bragging, but about ensuring that you get credit for the hard work you do. Don’t keep quiet thinking that the right people know what you are doing. Speak up and find ways to let the right people know how you are contributing to the success of the company.
- Ask for Help. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with others. Don’t wait for your company to tell you what to do. Think creatively about how you can work with others to generate a greater result than if you had each worked on this alone.
- Face the Tough Stuff Head On. If there is something difficult that you must do, just bite the bullet and do it. Don’t put it off. Do it first thing in the day. It’s like jumping into a cold pool. Just count to three and do it!
- Ask for More Time. If you are asked a question that stumps you or surprises you, never feel like you have to answer it right away. (unless you absolutely must) Seek more time to think about or research your answer. Simple as this, “I’ll have to get back to you with an answer later.” This will save you from giveing an answer you will regret.
- Breaking Negative Habits. For one day, observe yourself. Where do you face difficulties? With people? Certain people? Certain circumstances? Take notice and then later on during some quiet time, think about one or two things you would like to work on. Set up some kind of reminder system to fail proof it, such as a simple yellow sticky note next to your computer.
- Learn from Criticism. Don’t immediately reject critiques from others, even if you don’t like or respect them. Sometimes people you don’t like may be giving you more honest feedback than you can get from others. Don’t take it personally. Even if it is personal, who cares? Listen, process, and then decide what positive action you might want to take.
- Adapt. Adaptation is the number one survival skill of living organisms. Those that don’t adapt, become extinct. In the work world, the same is true for companies, whole groups, and for individuals. Be open to change. Give it a chance. Adapt to new things while using your experience to guide you, and you will have great success.
- Learning and Improving. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to learn and improve your skills. Look for good seminars and training. Then ask work if you can attend and will they pay for your admission. If your company pays for education, use it! Borrow books from your local library, the company library, or even from your boss. Borrow some motivational audio tapes from your local library. Keep learning to continually renew your enthusiasm.
- Creative Thinking. Is your job boring? If so, take some responsibility in changing that. How can you make it more fun, more creative, more varied, etc.? What can you do that no one has done before? How could you grow enthusiasm at work? What is a new way that you could do old things? What processes could you alter to save time, work and money?
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Dennis | Aug 24, 2007 | Reply
Agree with most EXCEPT the email tip. I process email all the time (not batches:
- 10 to 30 emails at a time is too daunting
- 1 or 2 at a time in that moment (after 7 minutes or so?) that your mind wanders from the task at hand anyway is a great way to change pace/ focus whilst actually churning through stuff.
almost vegetarian | Aug 24, 2007 | Reply
Those are good tips, but that is a long list. Too long to remember. I prefer to keep it simple: Do work that is satisfying with people that are stimulating.
Cheers!
agentsully | Aug 24, 2007 | Reply
@Dennis - that’s great. Sounds like you are able to process and then move on. For some email steals them away from things that need to be done sooner. But your way can definitely work too.
@ Almost Vegetarian - it is a long list. I like your simple motto! You could always bookmark this or print it out to review every once in a while.
Thanks!
Lyman Reed | Aug 24, 2007 | Reply
Great stuff, Sully. I was going to head back up the post and type which one’s meant the most to me… but they are all fantastic (although the commute one is something I love to do anyway.)
ru4real | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
This is a very good list - very well thought out. No. 2 is the thing I have struggled with. Before I realized that I am a goal oriented person, I just couldn’t every feel accomplished because there was ALWAYS something else on my list. When I began to understand the goal oriented personality, I started striving to celebrate (privately - not a big public “look-at-me production”) the completion of each goal individually. Making a list not only helps me stay on track, but it helps me to see that I’ve accomplished a lot - even if my “list” is not completed.
Peggy Collins | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
I particularly like your list item about asking for help because our culture makes us feel asking is a weakness and corporate cultures often support this.
And for women it becomes an even bigger problem because they don’t want to show what they don’t know - to keep up with the guys.
I’ve found all this to be near epidemic and have written a book about it called Help is Not a Four-Letter Word-Why Doing It All Is Doing You In published by McGraw Hill.
Encourage those in leadership to lay down guidelines for asking for help. “If you don’t understand something in 45 minutes, ask!” Etc.
The morale, creativity, productivity and bottom line numbers would definitely go up!
Peggy Collins
http://www.helpisnotafourletterword.com
agentsully | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
Thanks Lyman!
Peggy - Asking is so important! I love when people aren’t afraid to ask. When I hear that I see confidence and willingness to learn…not weakness. Wishing you good luck with your book.
Helen | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
Great list. We should learn to set aside our pride and ask for help. We don’t have to show everybody how strong we are. Every one of us has a weakness and we will not be able to overcome it if we don’t accept it.
Mike St. Pierre | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
Really good stuff- I especially like the suggestion about posting a question for the day.
Mike
siblog | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
“Am I making the most of my time right now?â€? or “Is this the most productive use of my time?â€?…Oh crap, I am surfing the web
TJ | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
Do you have a printer-friendly version of this article.
Thanks.
TJ
agentsully | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
@TJ - I am still looking for a good “Print” plugin for wordpress. Anyone know of one? In the meantime, what I usually do is copy/paste text into either a Word document or text file and print that out.
@siblog - funny!
@ Helen & Mike - Thank you for your support!
Pamela | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
These are helpful tips.
I often ask for more time, not as an excuse, but a way of preparing my answers to be more specific and clear. Thanks for sharing this.
Bloggrrl | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
I especially like #11. It keeps me from hitting them.
Red Jello | Aug 29, 2007 | Reply
It’s so hard to spend time planning the week. Sometimes the best laid plans go right out the window on Mondays, leaving the rest of the week for “seat of the pants” game plans. My motto: “Stay calm.”
Allie | Sep 6, 2007 | Reply
25 Tips…Number 15 - yikes, once again I neglected to book vacation time - so critical. Thanks for the thump on the head.
Bob | Sep 7, 2007 | Reply
I don’t think the tips really help when the idiots in management are backstabbing their employees and treating them like dirt. If that wasn’t the case the tips would be very helpful.
Gadget Link | Oct 29, 2007 | Reply
Interesting tips. I agree with them. I think it’s time I got more organized. First on my list : stop wasting time with my 10 email accounts.
(Cheers)
Girish | Nov 8, 2007 | Reply
Agree with tip 3. Often times switching off your PC would make you time to plan and think your strategies.
Mike | Nov 21, 2007 | Reply
I like your tips, I’m going to try to add them to my daily life.
Auto Loan Guy | Nov 28, 2007 | Reply
I’m going to print this out and have all of my employees read it and/or put it up on their wall.
Little Tykes | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
A great list that I am now going to print out and keep next to my desk. Sometimes you need to be reminded about the simple things to can do to make life happier.
Las Vegas Homes Guy | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
I don’t agree with #2 at all. I think sometimes you have to accept that, but with proper time management you can accomplish a lot. 15 is fine and good, if you can afford a vacation. Quite a lot of people these days can’t afford a vacation, so they simply cash the time in (they should come to Vegas instead!). I think its a must to have time off, even if you just sit around your own house. Pretty good list, all things considered.
pe-file Car Loans | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
What works best for me is to category my tasks into three priorities: A, B, and C. If I’m not able to accomplish all of my B’s and C’s task then the next day I will include them with new tasks and re categorize them. Most likely my C’s may either move to a B or even an A task. It’s possible that a B task could become a C task. This system assures me of knowing what my daily priorities are. And most cases I am able to accomplish my A tasks in a timely matter.
janet j | Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
I should say this is a great list put up. Hope it helps others like me.
Jon | Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
I agree to these tips. I have applied some of them in my work. They are realistic.
P.S.
please include facebook in your bookmark so i can post it on my account.
Thanx
agentsully | Feb 13, 2008 | Reply
@Jon. Glad you liked the tips. And I will add Facebook to the book marks section. Thanks for the reminder!
lower ab exercises | Feb 15, 2008 | Reply
These are great tips. Thank you very much for such a great article.
yunus ye?ilmen | Feb 18, 2008 | Reply
great post. Thnks agentsully….
Dina | Feb 27, 2008 | Reply
Hi there,
I am Dina Gerdeman, a reporter with The Patriot Ledger newspaper in Massachusetts. I am working on a story about tips people can use to be happier.
Could you please shoot me an e-mail, and perhaps we can set up a time to chat?
Thank you,
Dina Gerdeman
The Patriot Ledger
dgerdeman@ledger.com
agentsully | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply
@Dina - I emailed you. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Leo | Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
I was very impressed with your list. Thank you for assembling it.
Jess | Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
One of the best systems I have implemented is breaking my TO DO list into 4 quadrants:
1. Important & Due Soon
2. Important & Not Due Soon
3. Not Important & Due Soon
4. Not Important & Not Due Soon
Most people mix up #2 and #3, so a lot of important stuff creeps into #1 status, which causes stress. If it’s not important, I do important stuff first! Hope this helps some of you out.
Genie | Apr 15, 2008 | Reply
hi, the tips were useful! I just saw them last week, and this week i can feel that i am more productively at work already! yeay!!!!
Thanks alot!
-Genie
Tory Burch | Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Wonderful list, but you left off an important one: Make sure you’re doing something you (relatively) enjoy or have an interest in! I worked for 3 years at companies that I had no interest in, purely for the paycheck. They paid the bills, but I have recently transitioned to a work situation where I don’t make as much, but I have more passion and interest in what I’m doing. It has made a huge difference in my productivity and happiness level.