Turn Up Your Productivity Dial

Turn Up Your Productivity Dial

Productivity in the workplace is becoming increasingly more important to discuss as the workplace becomes more and more flexible. Moreover, as we continue to lean into work-life integration in lieu of work-life balance, it’s important to work smarter – not harder.

We know the basics of productivity: make and manage a to-do list, delegate your work, stray away from micromanaging and trust your employees. But, what if you need another level of productivity because those tried and true tactics just aren’t enough?

Here are our most utilized (and most successful) easy-to-implement productivity hacks at Poka-Yoke Solutions:

• Differentiate between meeting only days and deep work days (and make sure your team knows!)

  • Popping in and out between meetings not only leads to exhaustion, but also forces you to deprioritize your own to-do list… and pushes things further and further down the list.
  • Depending on your typical meeting cadence, we recommend scheduling 2 days you’re open for meetings, 2 no meeting days where you solely work and manage your to-do list, and 1 flex day for a mix of both.

• During meeting and work days, put your phone in another room. Yes – another room. Having your phone near you only increases the chance you instinctively pull up your phone without even noticing. 

  • This can be a sliding scale. Maybe the first day, you put your phone face down behind your computer screen. Next, put it in your bag that you bring to work or in another room if you’re remote. Notice the key difference in how you feel, and the increase in your focus on the task at hand.

• Consider your work day like a sprint. Yes, an actual running sprint.

  • Finishing up one project and then immediately starting another sounds pretty standard, right? But, would you recommend that an athlete sprint 400m, stop for 10 seconds, and then sprint another 400m? Of course not! Apply the same methodology to yourself and give yourself meaningful rest between work sprints.
  • Meaningful rest looks like: Taking a walk outside, taking a walk around the room, or grabbing a snack…not scrolling on LinkedIn on your phone.

If you’re looking for more productivity hacks, time savers, and tips and tricks as a professional leader, sign up for our email list.