6 Tips to Enhance your Productivity

Whether you’re a student who is wanting to overhaul your studying techniques at University, or a graphic designer who spends too much time twiddling your thumbs with 4 client deadlines due in 2 weeks, here are Hubflow’s top 5 tips to maximise your productivity.

Get a to-do list

Okay, so this one is a #1 priority for me.

Ask yourself, do you often set out for your day with just a rough understanding of what you need to do?

An example could be:

Here’s the problem, your goal is not specific, it is not time-bound, and it does not maximise the time available to you. One of the main pillars of productivity is being able to time-manage, and this is what to-do lists can achieve.

A better set of goals for the day could be:

Whether you use an app or a physical diary, there is no doubt that planning ahead the night before will not only allow you to better manage your time but will also leave you more motivated for the day with a clear vision of what to do.

A great app we found is Notion, which is an all-in-one productivity app that allows you to have a full workstation on your phone, Mac or PC.

However, if you’re looking for a sole to-do-list app, look no further than todoist.

If you’re old school like me, just pop to a stationary shop and get a diary. Sometimes pen and paper are all you need.

Eat the Frog

No, don’t actually go out and eat a frog…obviously. Mark Twain once claimed “eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

What this means is prioritise the most time consuming, most important, and most likely task you will procrastinate on (said task being the frog) for the very start of the day. Write it at the very top of your diary, ensure it is completed first.

Say, for example, you are more likely to procrastinate on said task when its 3pm and you are already kicking the b*tt of burnout. You’ve already sent 20 emails, cold called x clients, held 3 meetings and now you expect to finish your promotional poster on photoshop? Good luck.

Keep your workspace clean and organised

There is simply nothing worse than sitting down at your desk, whether it’s at home or in the office, and just being met with chaos. Books everywhere, paper on the floor, crumbs from your sandwich in the keys of the keyboard, and that dreaded coffee ring stain.

Who would want to work at a desk like that, let alone be PRODUCTIVE at a desk like that? It’ll be a no from me sadly.

Ask yourself (again), is this a familiar sight?

Instead, think about if you got the opportunity to sit down at a desk like this every day. Would you be more focused and productive?

You would almost be excited to sit down and work a full day, right?

Some tips I can personally offer, are to give everything a dedicated place, manage your cables with sleeves and cable ties, keep cleaning your desk, and NEVER eat at it…trust me.

Show your desk some love, and give it the organisation it’s been crying out for. If that’s not an option, you can always call down to Hubflow and we’ll take care of giving you a desk that is clean, spacious and aesthetic.

Follow the 50/10 rule

Have you ever been working for so long, that without even noticing, your head is in your palms and you’re struggling? Well, that’s likely because you aren’t giving your brain time to recharge.

We’ve all heard the fact that a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds. What if I told you a humans was even less? Well unfortunately that is true and it’s been declining steadily since 2000.

This doesn’t mean that you can study for no more than 8 seconds without taking a break. But if our attention span is that bad, then surely that must give us an indication as to how often our brains may need a break from studying or working.

Now the exact number may vary from person to person, however, the general consensus on how often to take a break from working is a 10-minute break for every 50 minutes working.

Do anything that isn’t working. Probably best not to look at a screen though as blue light certainly contributes to work fatigue.

Talk to a friend, cook up some lunch or even read a few pages of a book. Here’s a good one, try just sitting and focusing on your breathing. Meditation can be a gift in the daunting face of burnout!

Stop multitasking while you’re ahead

According to the American Psychological Association, multitasking reduces productivity by as much as 40%. This is because toggling between multiple tasks can limit your focus and substantially contribute to mental fatigue.

If you’ve ever heard someone say they’re amazing at multitasking, they’re more than likely not realising that one or both of the tasks they’re ‘multitasking’ is being reduced in quality. We as humans are not wired to multitask and are in fact more fine-tuned to dedicating all our effort and brain space to 1 task, taking a break, then following up with another task.

This ‘mind-juggling’ can quite rapidly and unexpectedly result in mental overload, thus hampering your mental fatigue and, making you burn out faster. If you haven’t realised by now, burnout will zap your productivity.

In conclusion, we recommend completely focusing on 1 particular task, and aim to segment all other tasks for another time, as not only will you likely spend more time than needed on the tasks, but both will be limited in quality.

Minimize your interruptions (to the best of your ability)

Okay, so this one isn’t completely in your control. There are times when maybe the kids are home, or you may live in a particularly boisterous home, that we have no option just to power through the noise. But limiting your distractions can sometimes be achieved. Whether this is taking up shared office space in a coworking space like Hubflow, or sticking a pair of noise cancelling headphones on, there is stuff we can do.

There are also distractions that are completely in our control. There is no one forcing your hand to pick up the TV remote and catch up on last night’s episode of love island at 2pm on a Wednesday, but changing your environment to a place where this is much less convenient may do the trick. Student libraries have capitalised on this impending habit and allows students, who are particularly prone to procrastinating, to come to a place that is mindful, calm and distractionless.

At Hubflow, much of our aim is to create an atmosphere that is creatively inspiring, ambient and has next to no distractions. You can see it when you walk through our doors; reams of people hyper focused on their goals and day-to-day tasks. It’s pretty outstanding how a new environment can radically change your motivation and efficiency.

We hope you enjoyed our top 6 tips to maimise your productivity. For more help with Burnout and how to avoid it, check out our blog; 6 tips to avoid burnout and sustain a happy work-life

To enquire about a Hubflow membership and make the most of your productivity, check out our membership page, or email info@hubflow.co.uk and our team will be in touch.