Following every productivity hack you can find? That might be why you’re failing.
By Kayla Matthews (Productivity Writer)
The internet is chock-full of common productivity tips that, at first glance, seem easy to follow. They instruct you to organize your inbox by creating folders to keep messages about certain subjects separate. Or they might praise the worthiness of creating to-do lists where you prioritize which tasks to complete first.
The problem is, many businesses find the advice within those tips isnât as effective as theyâd hoped. The information below might shed light on whatâs wrong.
1. Youâre Trying to Do Too Much at Once
People often think the more they do to improve productivity, the more progress theyâll see. This belief is especially prevalent if businesses become tired of a prolonged lack of productivity from employees or processes and decide to do a massive overhaul to change things.
Itâs not hard to see why this is a common approach. But it may actually stifle productivity instead of propelling it. If you and your colleagues are expected to adopt several productivity boosters at once, itâll likely lead to confusion and discouragement.
Instead, each productivity measure should be introduced gradually so no one feels overwhelmed.
2. You Donât Have a Long-Term Plan
Productivity pointers are nearly useless if you donât have your sights set on the future and have a long-term plan to help you get there. This task alone can seem daunting, especially if your business is new.
You can choose from all kinds of planning and business intelligence tools, which can help you face whatâs ahead with confidence. Such tools often feature built-in data about trends, time management and market expectations, so you have a better idea about what the future of your industry will look like.v
3. Youâre Hiring the Wrong People
Finding employees with the skillsets you need is important. But those workers should also be highly motivated and willing to act as self-starters.
Encouraging employees to implement methods to improve their productivity is a good start, but that suggestion wonât stick unless those workers are willing to accept feedback. They must be accustomed to getting things done at an efficient pace.
4. Â Youâre Not Familiar With the Latest Technology
Many common productivity tips found online or in business magazines revolve around technology, such as apps and browser extensions.
If you donât have a basic familiarity of the suggested technology, or a working knowledge of how to install it on your device, youâll probably wrestle with a learning curve that could leave you feeling rather unproductive. Itâs even possible to become so frustrated that you curse the technology and abandon it before youâre able to reap the benefits.
To avoid this scenario, spend time choosing a few technology-based solutions to help your business. If you have an IT staff, ask those employees for personal recommendations for safe and easy-to-use apps and browser extensions.
Once youâve created that short list, conduct in-depth research. Read the relevant installation and usage instructions. Remind yourself that the time you spend learning will translate to time saved later.
With the proper research, you minimize the chance of spending countless minutes anxiously reading support pages and trying to determine why a feature that was supposed to improve productivity isnât working like you expected.
The business problems you may be facing arenât necessarily related to the effectiveness â or perceived lack thereof â of the productivity tips you find. Perhaps theyâre more closely related to issues that are present, and theyâre relatively easy to solve with the right mindset.
What helps you work most productively?
Photo credit: Robert Kyllo via Shutterstock.
About the guest blogger: Kayla Matthews is a workplace productivity writer who relishes organization and a positive attitude. Follow her on Google+ and Twitter to check out her latest posts, or find her at ProductivityBytes.com.
