Top 5 Factors To Increase Productivity – Productivity Improvement Techniques

The question “How can I increase my productivity?” is age-old. We all have the same amount of time, but can’t really increase the time at our disposal beyond minimising time waste and distractions. However, there is a pretty thick silver lining – you can definitely increase the impact you can make in your limited time.

Here are top 5 factors productivity improvement techniques to increase 5x your results in the same amount of time:

1. Prioritise and plan your schedule around your priorities: 

Prioritise! 

Pick 3 (or less) top priorities for the day and try to get these done as early in your workday as possible.  

If you struggle with prioritising, here are 5 powerful frameworks that can help you figure out what’s truly important.

Schedule time in your calendar to work on these priorities and treat this calendar entry as an important meeting you wouldn’t miss.

2. Consolidate and batch similar tasks together:

Working on a set of similar tasks that require similar resources minimises time lost in switching contexts.

Working on similar tasks or even better, just one single task at any time increases your productivity, focus and creativity, consequently reducing the chances of errors as well.

In fact, you should even batch your email and social media time so you don’t spend the entire day switching between reacting to email and browsing social media.  

3. Significantly increase your productivity by delegating ruthlessly:

Can someone else do this task about 70% as well as you can? 

Your time should be spent on tasks that only you can do really well in your organisation.  Delegate any task that others can do, so you can spend more time in your areas of strength and competence.  One of the best investments of time you can make is training others to do repetitive work that is outside your core area of competence.  

Spending most of your time on tasks that you have unique skills and talent for can substantially increase the quality and quantity of your output.  

If you find yourself doing the same tasks over and over again, you’re in the wrong job!  Figure out how to outsource or delegate any repetitive tasks.

4. Increasing your energy levels = Increasing your productivity: 

Negative physical and emotional states are a huge drain on productivity.  Increase the energy and focus you bring to your time by making sure you’re well-rested, exercised and in a positive frame of mind. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night and at least 3 workouts a week. Just these 2 habits will improve your energy levels and ability to focus on complex, high-quality work.

5. Minimise distractions to increase your productivity:  

Pings and notifications from email and chat apps drain your productivity way more than you realise. 

“Every time we become distracted; it takes an average of 15 minutes to regain complete focus.”

– Micheal Hyatt

One recent study found that interruptions even as brief as 2.8 seconds were enough to more than double the number of errors study participants made on a given task.

Make sure you spend at least an hour a day working in offline ‘airplane mode’.  After about 10-15 mins into a fairly complex task, you can get into ‘flow’. Research shows people working in a state of flow are five times more productive than they’d otherwise be.

These 5 habits are simple, but not easy. However if you can build these into your workday, rest assured, you’re guaranteed to increase your productivity by 5 times!