LinkedIn gives top tips for being productive at work
We all wish there were more than 24 hours a day, or that we had an extra pair of hands.
A thousand emails, a million phone calls, and even more follow-ups - we all know the struggle of an average stressful work day. Could this change, or rather, is there anything we could do to make the day more fruitful?
Nada Enan, Senior Manager Marketing & PR at LinkedIn MENA says yes! Here are her top tips on becoming a little more productive at work.
Nada says, "When it comes to productivity, we all face the same challenge – there is only one of us, but so many tasks to complete."
Here are some of her top tips. Don't forget to take our poll after reading these through.
Don’t multitask
While writing the guide up, I realised, isn't this exactly what our parents used to try and get us to do? "One thing at a time", I can almost hear my mum saying it 500 times a day; no one ever said "do all of this, do it right and don't you dare stop."
Nada: While many people pride themselves on multi-tasking, it can be a real productivity killer. Research conducted at Stanford University confirms that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. Researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
Only check email at certain times
When did it get so hard to stop doing something we hate doing anyway? A vibrate tone on the phone and there we are, flying off the treadmill because we stopped to check the mail.
Nada: A 2016 study by Adobe found that the average person spends 7.4 hours per weekday on email. Don’t allow e-mail to be a constant interruption and take advantage of features that prioritize messages by sender. Set alerts for your most important senders, and save the rest until you reach a stopping point. Some people even set up an autoresponder that lets senders know when they’ll be checking their e-mail again.
Listen to music
Does putting headphones on just so no one disturbs your line of thought count? We think so.
Nada: According to new research released by LinkedIn, in conjunction with Censuwide, many people in the UAE think listening to music at work helps make them better at their jobs. Almost half (48 per cent) of workers think music helps them to concentrate and stay focused, as well as motivated (48 per cent) while over half argues it helps them to keep calm (51 per cent).
Say no
Saying no might just be the hardest part of any job or formal relationship, even for day-to-day events. We are all programmed to say yes, but are we also saying yes to more stress?
Nada: Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout and even depression. Learn to use no, and it will lift your mood, as well as your productivity.
Get ready for tomorrow before you leave work
Nada: Try and end the day by preparing for the next. This practice accomplishes two things: it helps you solidify what you’ve accomplished today, and it ensures you’ll have a productive tomorrow. It only takes a few minutes and it’s a great way to end your workday. Meaning you can go home and enjoy whatever it is you like to do outside of your 9-5!
I need to get to Typo for that sparkly diary I had no reason to buy yesterday. That's going to my end-of-day diary.
