5 HABITS THAT HAMPER DAILY PRODUCTIVITY

When we talk about habits that hamper daily productivity, we are not focused on extreme distractions, but on the little things we do that just need a slight adjustment. Take for instance Ada’s case.

It’s a Monday morning, and Ada is off to work. She feels pumped for the day, she can’t wait to get to her desk and get some work done. At the end of the day, she realises she barely ticked a task or two off her to-do list. It unsettles her because she spent over 7 hours busy at work, but it turned out she hadn’t been productive.

Are you like Ada?

You spend your days and weekends being active and busy with one thing or the other, only to discover that you barely achieved anything. You may have heard this before, but I will say it again; being busy is not the same as being productive.

What is productivity? 

Productivity in terms of goals/work (professional and personal), refers to how efficient you are in getting things done. Productivity isn’t about how many hours you spend at work but how much you can do with your time. If Ada and her colleague, Rita, have to do the same tasks with the same amount of time, whoever gets them done faster and with the right results is more productive. 

We all struggle with productivity. There are underlying habits that hamper daily productivity. Whether it’s getting easily distracted, or feeling lethargic, we imbibe habits that hamper our productivity and slow us down. Five of these habits have been highlighted below.

Multitasking

You might think multitasking helps you to get more done, but that’s just you doing everything at once and doing nothing at the end of the day. Research has shown that multitasking makes you less effective, which is true. You will only end up with several unfinished tasks, and if you are not careful, mistakes and errors too. Moving from one activity to the next without completing the first makes it difficult for you to concentrate. The most productive people focus on one task, get it done and move on to the next. Don’t be a jack of all trades or, in this context, tasks.

Checking and Replying to Messages in the Morning

One deadly way to start your day is to pick up your smartphone as soon as you wake up and check messages or reply to chats. The problem is that it conditions your mind and forces you to think about those things you saw instead of mentally preparing yourself for the day. The best way to break this habit is to keep your smartphone far from your bedside and get an alarm clock. It may be difficult to resist the urge to check social media notifications when your phone is the first thing you see in the morning. It is better to keep your phone at a reasonable distance before sleeping. Even while at work, do the same thing to avoid distractions.

If your social media pages are connected to your laptop or desktop, turn off the notifications or completely remove them from your toolbar. As for your emails, don’t spend all morning attending to them if you want to get work done. If your inbox is constantly flowing with mails, turn off your notifications and set specific times for checking your mail. 

Tip: To turn off notifications in your Gmail, do the following:

• Click the gear icon and click on ‘Settings’. 
• Under the ‘Settings’ tab, click on ‘see more settings’, and click on the option ‘General’. 
• Scroll down the tab to ‘Desktop Notifications’ and click ‘Mail notifications off’.
• Select ‘important mail notification on’ to avoid missing important mails. That way, you will get notified about important emails based on your past activities on Gmail.

Procrastinating

It all starts with hitting the snooze button on the alarm, telling yourself you need just 5 minutes, and then going back to bed. Even when you justify this by saying you are not sleeping, hesitating for extra minutes before doing anything can make you start your day in a tired state. You lose the alertness of your mind and body even before the day begins, and it may take hours to get into your routine. It doesn’t matter how tired you believe you are; make a conscious effort to push yourself out of bed if you want to have a productive morning. Snoozing your alarm can cost you time, and you know what they say: time is precious. So, get into the habit of starting your day without procrastinating.

Sleeping Late

Are you guilty of responding to WhatsApp chats, checking Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, or Instagram posts right before you go to bed? You tell yourself you will only spend 10 minutes but end up losing 30 minutes or even an hour from your sleep time. Yes, it’s not about how long you sleep but the quality of your sleep. Getting quality sleep enhances your productivity. You will wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on your tasks. 

The light from your phone screen affects the quality of your sleep. The blue light from your screen is an artificial colour that can condition the brain into believing it’s daytime. The absence or presence of light determines whether or not the brain produces the sleep hormone – melatonin. Though most smartphones have the night mode feature, which helps reduce the impact of the blue light, it is better to avoid gazing at your phone’s screen for too long – it is bad for your vision and sleep. I’m still dealing with this one!

Tackling Easy Tasks First

In Brian Tracy’s book, ‘Eat That Frog!’, he talked about the habits of highly productive people, and one of them was, doing the most difficult task first. Crossing off the toughest work early enough makes it easier to get other things done. When you take advantage of the period when your energy level is at its peak, usually in the morning, you tend to achieve more at the end of the day. Getting all the easy tasks out of the way first can be tempting, especially when you dread the tougher ones, but the chunk of work is what you need to do first. Utilise your time! This can be debatable as it works differently for some people, but I will always suggest the tougher tasks be done first.

I am sure you can resonate with one or more of the above mentioned habits. Most people are especially guilty of sleeping late with their smartphones in hand and starting their day the same way. Thankfully, these habits that hamper daily productivity can be unlearnt and replaced with habits that increase productivity. Here are a few things you can try in the quest to boost your productivity.

• Get quality sleep (sleep earlier)
• Daily exercise and meditation (to keep the body and mind active; also works as a stress-coping mechanism)
• Set a time for each task/activity
• Eliminate distractions 
• Outsource and seek help when needed
• Talk to people about your tasks/goals
• Be accountable for your tasks (evaluate your productivity daily)

I could go on and on about what you can do, but productivity should be personalised. Find what works for you and stick to it!

I hope you found this post helpful, and if you have more tips to share on boosting productivity, please do in the comment section.