3 (little) Things on Productivity *2 minute read*

Have you ever felt like there isn’t enough time in the day? Maybe you work in a super fast paced environment and time zombie’s come and eat up your work time? Are you bringing your work home wayyy too much?

I’ve had all of those scenario’s plague my work day more times than not. Here are 3 things that I have done that have magically given me my work-day back.

1) Not every email needs a reply.

This was a massive concept for me and make no mistake…I am not saying to ignore emails. However, simple emails that close out the conversation do not need an additional “thank you” email…informative emails that you receive that have all the information in them can be left alone, etc. The next time you sit down and pour in to your inbox, ask yourself “do I need to reply to this?” and start to learn what emails can be filed away.

These emails are time zombie’s and can be laid to rest. Swipe, delete, and move on to something that needs a reply.

2) The last thing you do at work today, is make a list of the first thing(s) to do tomorrow.

Ever get home only to have your brain wired for what you have to do the next day?

Yeah, me too.

This tactic has helped me ‘turn off’ at the end of the day and has helped boost my productivity for the next day. Next time you go on a vacation or long weekend, write out a mega-to-do list and prioritize it so the most immediate things get done when you return to work…this may help you actually be able to rest your brain!

3) Schedule times to reply to emails

My second favorite productivity “hack”. On an average day I schedule two 60 minute blocks to return and send emails. In a perfect work it would be 30 minutes of replying and 30 minutes of sending new emails, but ya never know.

What scheduling email time has done for me is 1) minimize interruptions from the email pop up 2) allowed me to prioritize who and what needs a reply first and 3) better block out my day because I am not ‘held captive’ by Microsoft Outlook.

For context- I work largely in sales (training) and receive approximately 15 emails per day. I schedule two 1 hour blocks…typically one in the morning before 8am and the second is somewhere around 4pm. Depending on your job and email flow you may need to scale this a little bit and add a third or maybe a fourth time slot.

Productivity bonus 1: keep your email closed until its your designated check time.

Productivity bonus 2: turn off notification icons on your phone so you don’t get distracted by them.

Give these tactics a try- if you have any questions drop them below in the comments!