1. Set Milestones For Yourself
When you set milestones it can help you accomplish both professional and personal goals.
We naturally tend to shoot for the stars and set very challenging goals for ourselves.
When setting goals it is fine to be bold in order to make improvements to work performance. However, the problem is, it can result in big problems becoming overwhelming. When big professional and personal projects are broken up into small sections, it will help you say motivated with each victory you accomplish.
It can be very useful to set your own success metrics in order to analyze your goals to help keep your energy and morale levels up. Track your progress, and enjoy your successes (no matter how small they are) and share them with your team.
2. Prioritize, Plan, and Organize
You are absolutely right if it seems as if I have discussed this subject before. Actually, several times. To improve your work performance, it is essential to prioritize, plan and organize your daily schedule, use Tracktime24 to manage your time effectively.
Break down any big projects you have into smaller tasks, and set a priority status and due date for each of them. Combine the most essential and urgent tasks, and consider the amount of time it is going to take to finish each of them. Then establish your schedule for the following day.
Be reasonable when you make your to-do list. Make sure you will be able to complete everything you set out to achieve. It is a lot better to set realistic goals for yourself and end up overachieving than it is to do the opposite of that.
When you make a detailed plan ahead of time is also can be very helpful when it comes to identifying which tasks can be postponed (to free up some time for doing more valuable, urgent tasks) and the ones that can be delegated without the end result being affected. Keep in mind that you need to learn to say no if you want to have the ability to prioritize tasks.
3. Avoid Distractions and Stay Focused
The world’s most productive professionals say that the number one enemy of productivity is distraction. I wrote an entire article discussing how to avoid distractions a work. Therefore, I won’t be diving into this subject too deep.
Don’t ever lose track of your goals while on your journey. Each time you are tempted to waste time watching YouTube videos or checking your Facebook feed, remember what you have at stake.
Continuous, sustainable improvements are key to a slow evolutionary process. Consistent progress is what it feeds off. Be sure to keep that in mind. Focus on taking a single step at a time and do not start a new task until you complete the previous one.
4. Manage Interruptions
Are you aware of the number of times that you are interrupted throughout the day? There are various sizes and shapes of interruptions and to improve work performance it is critical to learn how you can avoid them.
It doesn’t matter if you are interrupted by a family member knocking on your home office door, your boss in a Slack chat, or by a colleague who comes up to your desk. Interruptions are costly. They cause you to lose your focus and also waste time that you had dedicated to a task, which increases the risk that you will not finish it on time.
5. Do not Multi-Task – Focus on doing one thing at a time
Most people claim to be multitasking experts. They might think they are but all multitasking does is compromise your work’s quality level.
I am guilty of that. I am constantly working on two to three tasks at the same time, and stop everything I am doing to help out a colleague. Although it might feel like multi-tasking makes it possible for you to get more accomplished, actually it does the exact opposite.
Whenever you try to work on multiple things at the same time, you should step make and figure out which is the most important task and then focus solely on it. When you work at just a single task at a time you will be less likely to make mistakes, feel less stress, and be able to work faster.
6. Do Not Leave Tasks Unfinished
There is another thing that I am guilty of that is most likely due to attempting to multi-task.
Are you aware of the number of projects that you start but then shortly after abandon them?
A new sport, diets, New Year’s resolutions, they are all great in the beginning, but then they begin slipping back onto your to-do list. Do not allow that to occur. Establish a habit of keeping a record of each project you complete and then give yourself a reward.
7. Read Something New Each Day
Change is all around us and happens all the time. Reading is the most effective way that you can learn about new technologies, trends, and tools within your company’s industry to remain competitive and stay updated at all times.
That is why reading is so essential in helping to improve work performance.
Bonus tip: trying reading one relevant article at least related to your industry every day.
