7 Ways to Boost Productivity in Your Organization

Do you want to be more productive? Sure, who wouldn’t? It’s not just a nice goal either. It’s a matter of survival. Like many small businesses owners, you don’t have the luxury of unlimited resources, so you have to maximize what assets you do have if you want to stay competitive.

You have to be willing to put in the work, of course. Boosts in productivity don’t come without a little sweat. But you have to work smarter, not just harder. Here are 7 ways to get more for your efforts.

Set mini-deadlines. You have a big job ahead of you and naturally you have a deadline. That’s nothing new. One effective way to tackle a big job is to break it up into smaller pieces. Go a step beyond that and create mini-deadlines for each of these steps. It’ll help keep you on track towards your end goal.

Get enough sleep. Study after study has shown that Americans don’t get the proper amount of rest. Be the exception. You’re going to be a lot more productive when you’ve had a good night’s sleep. You’ll be sharper and less irritable. It’s amazing how an extra hour of sleep can make even insurmountable problems seem manageable.

Take breaks. Much as we’d like it to be so, the human mind wasn’t made to stay laser-focused on one thing for hours at a time. Don’t be afraid to step away and refresh. While it may seem like you won’t accomplish anything except wasting time, you’ll be surprised how much more effective you’ll be when you give yourself a break.

Don’t spread yourself too thinly. Ever try to doing everything and end up with nothing to show for it? Sadly, it’s a common occurrence. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Prioritize the things that are most important or that you’re best at and then delegate the rest.

Declutter and organize. Have you ever spent 20 minutes looking for a tool to do a 10 minute job? If you have, you’re not alone. Every day countless hours are wasted looking for a particular tool or a particular file. Get organized and save yourself some headaches. Your work area doesn’t have to pass a military inspection. The important thing is that you can find what you need when you need it.

Remove distractions from your work space. Everything in your work area should enhance your ability to work. That includes your phone, tablet and especially your social media apps. Social media is wonderful tool, but it’s also sucks up a huge amount of otherwise useful time. Unless it’s part of your job, put Facebook, Pinterest and all your other favorites out of sight.

Make the work area more pleasant. No one wants to work in a dungeon. There are tons of studies that show we’re all a lot more productive in a pleasant environment, preferably one with plenty of fresh air and sunshine. A pleasant work environment can lift the mood of the entire office. Yes, it’s entirely worth it to make some strategic investments in a new coat of paint, better lighting and a nice picture or two.

Minimize your meetings. If there’s one gripe that seems to be universal throughout every office, it’s meetings. They’re one of the leading causes of wasted time. Of course, you do need meetings, and not every meeting results in lost productivity. There are two keys to making meetings work. The first is to only have them when you have a legitimate need, and the second is to come prepared with an agenda. Doing these two things ensures a rare thing in business: a smooth meeting that’s actually productive.

Time is your most important asset in business. Don’t try to squeeze more work into your already tight schedule. Instead, try these ways to maximize the time you do have. You’ll be surprised how much more productive you are.