Top 7 Key Ways to Improve Your Work Performance
Did you know that the unemployment rate around the world is at 5.2 percent? That’s sadly going to grow due to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down.
Whether you’re an employee or an employer, you should always look for ways to improve work performance. It could determine whether you keep the job or get fired.
You can accomplish this in various ways, but the problem is where to start. If you aren’t careful, you could end up losing work.
The good news is that we gathered the top ways of improving your work performance. These tips will ensure that you stay employed while increasing your productivity. Here are ways how:
1. Focus On The Most Important Tasks First
Regardless of your work, you’ll always have tasks that take more priority than other items on your to-do list. When you only focus on ticking off your to-do list items, you’ll likely get a mix of important and non-important tasks done.
This also opens you to procrastination. It’s always easier for you to spend the entire workday finishing the easier, less important to-do tasks. To maximise your productivity, you need to do the opposite and face difficult tasks head-on.
To do this, take a few minutes off while starting your day to pick one to three tasks with utmost importance. These should be things that you should finish by the end of the day, no matter what. This renews your focus on the important task, making the to-do list more meaningful.
2. Nurture Deep Work
Some tasks are difficult, and there’s no substitute for the deep work involved. But in your to-do tasks, certain tasks are so easy that you can do it while sleeping. The problem is that you’ll often lack the motivation to finish them off since they’re probably the most boring.
If you do the difficult tasks first, you don’t have the luxury of multitasking to accomplish them. It means devoting some serious time and tremendous mental effort to knock them off the list. These tasks are deep work.
To cultivate deep work, plan tasks that involve this into your schedule. Ensure that it’s for a similar time each day, especially during the morning. If you develop a regular time for doing deep work, it becomes a valuable habit in the long run.
It also pays to think about your work habits. Ask yourself whether working in isolation with regular breaks brings out the best in you. Take note, you need not remake your entire schedule since setting aside some time for deep work is often enough.
3. Keep A Distraction List To Keep Your Focus
If you want to improve work performance, it’s important to maintain a zen-like environment. Get rid of all the distractions that stop you from working but still have something to break the monotony.
With over 2.4 billion users across the globe, Facebook can be a powerful distraction. Whether you deal with small tasks or focusing on deep work, distractions like this are your Kryptonite. You’ll find it difficult to maintain efficient work habits when these distractions are around.
To reduce distractions, make a distraction list. Whether it’s in a Google doc or a physical paper, keep it with you while doing your tasks. Whenever something distracting pops up, write it down and return to your task.
Always remember that those thoughts deserve attention, but not now. Once you take a break, come back to the list. It’s up to you whether you want to tackle them or make them part of your expanding to-do list.
4. Use The 80/20 Rule
Also known as the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule states that 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of your efforts. That means highly productive people should first think about the most important 20 percent of their work. After that, they will look for means of cutting down the other 80 percent of their schedule to make more time for the bigger-impacting tasks.
For example, if you aim to learn new skills, you must take professional certifications. Check what skills you need for a palpable improvement at work. Whether it’s SAP training or SPHRi, as long as you focus on the most important 20 percent, you’ll finish them with flying colours.
5. Break Tasks Into Smaller, Manageable Pieces
Most people procrastinate since they find the current task too daunting. If your to-do list has tasks that aren’t too specific, doing them might be a challenge. To start, break these large to-dos into smaller to-dos, setting small goals for every task.
For example, writing a blog post as a task can be too general. To break it into smaller tasks, you can list all the steps you intend to take to finish it. Sure, it makes your to-do list longer, but it gives you a strong starting point.
6. Take Breaks
Even highly productive people can’t focus on the entire work duration. No matter how efficient you are, your distraction-free focus won’t last that long. That’s why take a break, even if it’s just a few minutes since it can help you come up with new ideas.
When you take breaks, be proactive about it. Make it deliberate and structured since you could end up lumping distractions with breaks. Without a scheduled break time, you’ll get distracted by anything.
A good scheduling method is the Pomodoro Technique. Take 25 minutes of work and take five-minute breaks. It means doing intense work for a specific duration, then taking a short break.
7. Make Fewer Decisions
When working, some decisions are vital to your improvement. But most won’t matter. If you’re looking to increase productivity, eliminate some trivial decisions, or at least outsource them.
Sometimes, the day isn’t long enough for you to debate over things that don’t carry a lot of weight. It will only take out precious time from other important things you should mull over. For example, choosing what you wear shouldn’t take too long compared to the task you should prioritize first.
Improve Work Performance Today
Here are some easy ways if you want to improve work performance. Use these tips to ensure that you work efficiently and get more things done. Don’t be complacent and look for other ways of improving yourself.
Do you need new skills to improve your work productivity? If so, sign up for our online courses and learn more.