11 Ways to Increase Your Productivity 

More often than not, we work for around 8 hours, 5 days a week. That requires a lot of focused attention for long periods. And all the distractions and packed to-do lists? Yes, that can interfere with your focus and overall productivity leaving you drained while still having a ton of work to do. 

The good news is, you can increase your productivity! And with that, transform your work game. By understanding what works best for you and introducing new habits into your work, you can develop your personal productivity-infused routine. Let’s have a look at 11 ways that can serve as your stepping stone.

1. Understand Your Productive Times

We often say that everyone has a different timing. In terms of productivity, it applies twice as much. Due to our circadian rhythm, every individual is more alert at different times of the day. Observing yourself can help you find your energy-fueled moments. For those times, try to plan tasks that require your full attention and sharp mind. Reserve more manual, habitual tasks for the times you identify as your low-energy moments. And – don’t forget to include your rest in these times as well.

How can AppBlock help?

Create regular schedules for your high-energy and low-energy times of the day and block all distractions.

For example, your low-energy work times will be from 8 to 9 am and from 1 to 2 pm. Create a schedule called something like “Soft work time 🌱” and set it up for previously identified times. Choose apps you want to block and you’re done. Perhaps you don’t mind your work chat notification popping up during this time but still want to block social media apps to help you focus. Go for it!

During your break time, let’s say between 12 to 1 pm, you might wanna check your social media but don’t want to get disturbed by work notifications and deal with work-related stuff. Create a “Lunch break 🍝” schedule, allow access to social media, and disable Slack, Teams, or your work email. 

And last but not least, your high-energy periods. The times, when you want to get the most important stuff done. Any guess? Yes, create a schedule for those too. For maximum focus, disable access to all apps that can be distracting and let the “Hustle time 🦸” begin. You got this!

2. Take Regular Breaks

We often believe that more time spent at our desks equals more work done. But most often, it is on the contrary. Not taking any breaks results in our attention decreasing, therefore the task on hand takes longer. And the quality of the work we produce is often lower too.

Getting to know your attention span, you can set up regular uninterrupted work periods followed by breaks. The common work period lasts 30, 60, or 90 minutes. Even a few-minute power-break can help you refocus and increase your productivity.

3. Enhance Your To-do List

To-do list is one of the most used work methods. It helps us keep track of our tasks and prioritize what is most important. But to-do lists can feel overwhelming. Especially if you reach the end of the day with half of the to-do list still waiting for you to start cracking on.

Try using the 1-3-5 rule. Choose 1 complex task you want to get done that day, 2 medium tasks, and 3 little tasks. If this method doesn’t work for you, simply observe what is the number of things you are usually able to accomplish in your workday and adjust your to-do list accordingly.

4. Minimize Distractions

There are a bunch of distractions around us. Our notifications, noises from around us, personal things creeping in, chatty co-workers, you name it. Some of these distractions are harder to influence while others are more in our control.

When working on a task, make sure you switch off your notifications. You can easily do that on your phone by switching on the “Focus” mode. But what about the work notifications that pop up on your laptop? Even work alerts, coming from your email or work chats are interrupting your workflow. If you jump into the chat while working on a task, you are prolonging the task. And not only by the time it takes you to answer but also by the time it takes you to refocus. Surprisingly, that can take up to around 20 minutes.

Some people like to block noises by listening to music while for some it doesn’t work. What kind of music you listen to while working can be also essential for your focus. Find what works for you. You can also try using earplugs if you work best in silence. 

When it comes to what other people do around you, be assertive in communicating what is important for you to be able to do your job well. Open communication and kind requests can go a long way.

How can AppBlock help?

AppBlock allows you to block all digital distractions that prevent you from deep and focused work. You can create Schedules, using a time or location condition. Those can be your work hours or your workplace, for which you block for example all of social media or allow only your productivity apps. 

Tried something similar before and just left the blocking? We know it can be hard to maintain the same motivation for blocking throughout your day. That’s why we created the Strict Mode. This feature allows you to set several steps that make it harder for you to leave the blocking. You can even choose the level of “strictness” you need. It can start with a pin code and go all the way to having the possibility to access blocked apps only after the chosen time expires. Together, let’s say no to bypassing and yes to increased productivity. 

5. Avoid Multitasking

Getting more done at once? Sounds tempting. But also, ineffective. Jumping from one task to another doesn’t allow us to deeply focus on either task at hand. And we are dealing here with extra time to refocus, again. There is also a higher chance of leaving something out or even not completing the task altogether while starting on another task. Rather, try time blocking. 

6. Time Block Your Tasks

Time blocking is a pretty common productivity method. Select the tasks you want to accomplish that day and add time boxes to each of them. It will help you get a better idea of what tasks you can complete in the day as well as prioritize the important tasks. You can choose longer time blocks for high-priority tasks, accomplish them first, or in the times you usually have more energy.

7. Delegate When Needed

It’s important to recognize when there is just too much work for you to accomplish. Even with all the best productivity techniques under the Sun, we have limits. One of the ways to deal with this is to delegate the tasks that can be done by someone else. Go through your work responsibilities and tasks and identify the ones that can be handled by some of your colleagues. 

8. Group Similar Tasks

Each task requires slightly different skills. While utilizing a specific skill, we are also using different parts of our brains. Switching for example between very analytical and very creative tasks requires quite a long adjustment period for our brain.

By grouping similar tasks, you make sure the task switching will be smoother. It will take a shorter amount of time for you to refocus on a new task if you stay in a group of similar tasks. This can result in you having a morning for one group of tasks, while the afternoon for another. You can also group tasks per day, if possible. 

9. Tackle The Biggest Tasks First

Eat the frog. In other words, complete the most important task first thing in the morning. Sometimes we tend to leave big tasks for later because well, they seem so big and difficult. If you do that, it’s completely normal. Once you become conscious of it, you can always pinpoint the most important task(s) of the day and get it done. While it can feel overwhelming at the beginning, it feels rewarding halfway through the day when your most important tasks are already behind. 

10. Set Small, Achievable Goals

Sometimes, we dream big. And we should. But when it comes to setting goals, we have to make sure that they’re approachable for us. If we have long-term objectives, it can seem hard and tiring to reach them. By breaking them down into smaller chunks, milestones if you will, you can track your progress on a daily and weekly basis. This can also help you prioritize what tasks are important to accomplish today for you to reach these short-term goals.

11. Tune Your Workspace

Our workspace is important as it highly influences our productivity level. This one takes a bit of knowing yourself to know where you (work)thrive. Let’s start by your desk. Having an appropriate desk, enough light, comfortable chair, and all work appliances running smoothly is an important start. Now, for some people, a clean, empty desk is the way to go. Some people like having all they might need at hand. 

If you aren’t sure how to optimize your workspace for productivity, try adding a green plant, a family picture, a pleasing scent, or maybe a stability ball for you to switch up your seating position while supporting your health at the same time.

If you find yourself unable to focus throughout the day, try changing something up. Take a quick walk, drink water, or change the surroundings if you can.

Bottom Line

You can increase your productivity by learning different strategies and incorporating them into your daily life. Start by choosing what resonates with you and see how it goes. Switch things up, if you need, and adjust it to what works best for you. And don’t forget to hydrate yourself on that path. Good luck!