15 Ways To Be More Productive In 2020
There is no magic method for how to be more productive, but structuring your days better and lowering your stress levels is fundamental. There are a few easy rules that everyone can adopt to enhance their work-life and become more productive.
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Consider the Following Tips on How to Be More Productive
Create Your Own Routine
Create your own habits and find your own routine. What works for the best entrepreneur in the world may not be what works for you. Being more productive will make you doubt yourself less and deliver more – there is a perpetual cycle.
Lower Your Stress Levels
Increased productivity will reduce stress and allow you to be in control. Stress will often be relieved, and productivity will increase through strategic planning. Having little uncertainty as to what your day will look like and prioritizing tasks is an excellent place to start.
Reflect on Your Day and Week
Try to spend at least 10 minutes at the end of the day, or a week, to reflect on what you have achieved. If you feel satisfied that you have accomplished something or can review what you think could have been improved, your future tasks can be modified and carried out more productively.
Take a Break
Stay well-rested and take breaks. Working through your lunch break to catch up will often have more adverse effects. Studies show that regular breaks will make you more productive.
Add Value
Consider whether the task adds value to your day. I’m not suggesting you should avoid the team meeting because you’d rather be selling but consider whether you can delegate tasks or have colleagues report back on your behalf.
Factor in Essential Tasks
Add in all your essential tasks such as meeting, appointments, training sessions, etc. If specific repetitive duties need completing daily or weekly, these can also be scheduled at the best times. For example, any development plans, HR documents, health, and safety forms. Although these types of tasks don’t add value to sales, they do add value to the organization and the department or person requiring your assistance.
If you are a supervisor or manager, succession planning often gets forgotten about until notice periods are being served. As soon as a successor or choice of a few
You have limited time at work, so you must get organized.
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Work Around Peak Times
Organize meetings for times when customers’ calls are low or when phone lines are close, where possible.
Consider whether you or your organization is more productive when you have whole days selling or if you are more productive in shorter bursts up to 90 minutes. A combination of both can also be successful. Consider having ‘sales days’ or competitions that span at least a day to drive sales.
Make the Most of Mornings
Most people are more energetic in the morning, which can be a great time to complete the most critical tasks, the ones that require the most brainpower, or to get the sales calls complete. Your added energy and enthusiasm will likely be heard in your tone.
Plan Realistic Timeframes
Be realistic about how long tasks take. There’s no point scheduling to complete a task when it won’t get done or have to cancel other essential duties from overrunning. On the flip side, sometimes unforeseen circumstances mean a job may take longer than planned. Try to factor in free time throughout the day, so any tasks that overrun won’t impact the whole day’s schedule.
Don’t Get Interrupted
Dedicate your time to important tasks and set aside time to support others. Saying no to colleagues is difficult, especially when they are your senior. Having this ability to complete tasks in a timely way will no doubt make you more productive, be aware that if you can’t support others immediately, their productivity may go down as a result. Regaining focus, once interrupted, can set you back.
Prioritize Tasks
There are different models to follow to prioritize tasks. Some people prefer to plan the night before, some when they arrive at work, and some for the following week on a Friday.
Do what suits you and your organization best and try different methods occasionally to see if you have changed your viewpoint.
The Eisenhower Matrix (based on Dwight D Eisenhower’s remarkable capability to organize his schedule) follows two fundamental principles: – how urgent the nature of the task is and the importance of the task. Another factor to consider is how difficult the given assignment is or how long it’s likely to take.
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Automate become more productive
Many sales tasks can be made easier by removing the mundane tasks and activities that take away from a salesperson’s goal of closing business and driving organizational revenue. Systemize as much of your sales process as possible.
Template become more productive
According to experts, salespeople spend around 20% of their day sending emails.
Salespeople will often write the same emails over and over. If you don’t have a CRM which templates emails for you, ensure you have your own folder which you can refer to. Copy, paste, and simply adjust each email to fit your specific client.
You could go one step further, though, and use software to template emails for you. Much of the email, content, signature, organization names, etc. will be prepopulated, reducing the time it takes to compose an email by several minutes each time. Multiply the number of emails you send in a day or week, and that’s a lot of time saved.
Snippets become more productive
If you frequently send emails or letters but have specific phrases that aren’t so common in a template, consider capturing the blurb as snippets. They can be a few sentences or a paragraph that can be formatted to suit the situation.
You could even have a few versions or add in a link. Examples can include greeting you use, frequently asked questions (and answers), alternative email closing statements, holiday time changes, etc.
Embrace Change
Regardless of how much you plan, improve techniques, or automate, there will be days when you will feel overwhelmed. But by embracing change and adopting a few tried and tested skills, you can increase productivity, and essentially perform better in your job.
Share your success on how you became more productive in the comments section below.
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