The start of a new year is the perfect time to find alternative ways to be more efficient at work. With businesses ramping up operations, calendars becoming flooded with meetings, and to-do lists piling up, it’s easy to fall into a January slump. Here are a few ideas to help boost your productivity after returning from the holidays.
Manage Tasks
Being able to effectively manage your to-do list is key to transcending the new year madness. Project management applications like Trello and Basecamp allow for users to log, track and update their tasks in real time. The best part? You can share your to-do lists and notes with colleagues and external contacts, which helps cut down on email chains.
Having a digital application that you can access from anywhere ensures better consistency for tackling upcoming projects. By identifying objectives and deadlines in an organized manner, prioritizing is made easy, and in return, makes productivity that much more achievable.
Limit Distractions
Today’s world is digital, especially in the workplace. With so many opportunities for distraction via texts, Facebook notifications and Google Alerts, it can be easy to divert your attention to your cell phone every time the screen lights up, making it difficult to stay focused throughout the day.
The Pomodoro technique, a time-management method which breaks time into 25 minute intervals with a subsequent five minute break, is an easy way to combat digital drain. It creates a consistent period of time for work without distraction, followed by a few rewarding moments before beginning the next phase of uninterrupted work time. Learn more about the Pomodoro technique here.
Stay Motivated
Staying productive can be difficult, and finding refreshing ways to be motivated isn’t always easy. Identifying what keeps you focused during the work day is crucial to completing tasks. Is it an inspiring Spotify playlist? An interesting – but not too interesting – podcast? A secret out-of-office work spot?
Motivation and productivity go hand in hand. Spending your entire work day in the office can hinder motivation, especially in an open-concept space where distractions are endless. Take a few hours every week to work from a local coffee shop or coworking space — Columbus has a thriving community of unique spaces, including Chamber members Serendipity Labs, sparkspace and Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea — where you won’t be tempted to indulge in unnecessary conversations with coworkers.
The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to invest in some motivational methods to boost your productivity. Whether it be the Pomodoro technique, a new podcast or a project management application, finding ways to make your time more valuable is a great way to start a new year.
The Columbus Chamber works with its members to provide service-based resources to its members, including connections to coworking spaces in Columbus. To learn more about the Chamber, please visit Columbus.org.
