Three Psychological Strategies to Boost Your Productivity
We all experience a lull in our productivity levels from time to time. While it’s normal to feel
a little less efficient in your day-to-day work every now and then, this can become
problematic if it becomes a regular occurrence or starts to feel particularly stressful.
The good news is that you don’t have to wait it out if you’re having a bad day or two – with
the help of these three psychological strategies, you can learn to boost your productivity
levels in a way that’ll make your everyday tasks much more enjoyable.
Understand Your Productivity Type
Each one of us has a different way of working. While some people do their best work
under pressure, others need plenty of time to plan for a big project. Likewise, some people
find that collaborating as part of a team can be helpful to inspire new ideas and expand
their vision – while others feel this can derail their productivity entirely.
Most people find that they fit into one of these four productivity styles: the prioritizer, the
planner, the arranger or the visualizer. Understanding how each of these styles works is
key to developing a plan that will keep you feeling focused and productive. Take a little
time to discover the way your mind works, and you’ll begin to recognise the habits that
deliver results for you – whether that means splitting your tasks into smaller increments,
collaborating with other team members, or only working at certain times of the day.
Exercise Mindfulness
It can be hard to stay focused on the task at hand if you’re feeling particularly burnt out.
While a little stress can work to boost productivity for some people, there’s a fine line
between stress that feels useful and stress that becomes overwhelming. If we get too
caught up and flustered in trying to be productive, our brains can tire out, ultimately leading
us to experience a decline in creativity and information retention.
Mindfulness is all about becoming more consciously aware of your inner world – to be fully
present and understand exactly what your thoughts, feelings and behaviors are, as well as
why they’re happening. By exercising mindfulness, we can start to feel more in control of
our actions and may find it easier to pull back if we find ourselves going off track. In turn,
this helps us to better engage in our work, and boost our productivity.
Be Inspired
Completing important tasks becomes much easier when you’re interested and invested in
the work that you’re undertaking. Unfortunately, tight deadlines and heavy workloads can
make it hard to feel inspired and decrease our desire and motivation to get things done.
To avoid boredom setting in when you’re feeling less than enthusiastic about your work, it’s
best to find a few small ways to spark your attention. This might mean setting yourself
regular goals, and then rewarding yourself as each one is completed. It can even be
helpful to take on a little more work (so long as you feel you can) in order to spend some of
your personal time researching the task at hand, to learn a little bit more and hopefully get
inspired.
A Method That Feels Right For You
Productivity looks a little bit different for everyone, and what it means to you will often
depend on the task that you’re working on. Discovering the psychological strategies that
work for you can be a bit of a learning curve, so you’ll want to experiment with ways to
boost your productivity. Don’t be reluctant to work in a way that feels a little outside of the
cultural norm – each of us is unique, and there’s no right or wrong way to be productive.