Inspire Success

Getting organized and being productive are often on our New Year’s resolution lists. Productive people ensure their time is spent working towards their goals. They prioritize what must be done to reach them, recognizing when an activity ultimately delays their success. Being productive means steering clear of distractions and not succumbing to procrastination. Here are some tips to help you get 2012 off to a productive start and make the most of your time every day at work.

1. Set goals – setting goals at the start of the year is important and tracking the progress you make towards your goal ensures you keep on track. Setting goals keeps you focused and motivated. By considering whether the things you do are carrying you closer to meeting your goals, you’ll be able to focus on genuine productivity.
2. Manage time and improve your time management skills. Time management requires discipline but gives you a greater degree of control over what you do during the day.  Good time management makes you more efficient and can make improvements to your life at work and at home.
3. Get organised – make a to do list, keep track of due dates and long term reminders, manage interruptions and work on one task at a time are some ways to help get your organised. Being overwhelmed by a lack of time, space or energy won’t allow you to set goals. Breaking the process down and being organised at every step will see you setting goals in next to no time.
4. Keep meetings to the set time – schedule meetings for a set time, ensure the meetings start on time and don’t go over the time allocated 
5. Manage your inbox – email is essential for businesses but managing your inbox can be hugely time consuming.  It is important to think about how you organize, reply to and even think about your emails. Some tips include setting a time frame on how long you spend on email every day, act upon an email with a response, save it or delete it, prioritise/use folders for emails, have a separate account for personal and work email and unsubscribe from excess email subscriptions. Email is a fantastic tool when managed well but does take some work to get them under control
6. Manage time on mobile phone –The use of smartphones is on the rise and this means we can now use our phones for a lot more than calls and text messages. We can now check emails, use the internet, open documents, work on different software etc. On the plus their usage can help increase your productivity, you are accessible 24/7, you never miss emails, messages or updates. The downside of this is the risk of burnout and constant distraction. It’s important to manage the time spent on them and not be completely dependent on it.
7. Stamp out stress – stress has many causes including long hours, heavy workload, job insecurity and work conflicts. If stress is excessive and going on for some time it can lead to physical and mental ill health. Learn about methods to prevent and reduce your  job stress
8. Go paperless - Get things done efficiently (and save the environment) by going paperless in 2012. Going paperless can save money, reduce clutter, save space, keep your data safe and allow documentation and information sharing. Just ensure you back up the information and documents!
9. Be productive while working on your PC – are your systems out of date, slow or problematic – improve your PC systems to increase your productivity. Upgrading your systems (when required) enhances security and helps increase productivity and decrease costs
10. Have fun - finally, all the above mentioned tips are meant to make you productive enough to take time out now and then, and enjoy time away from your desk.  Getting to know your team/colleagues and enjoying social events with them can help to make people more motivated. And what better way than the upcoming Christmas parties...Have fun!