Famous American poet Robert Frost once said, “By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.”
However, the idea that working long hours will translate to success is age old, and like many time honoured myths, should be laid to rest. The more popular school of thought today, supported by research, reveals that the secret to retaining the highest level of productivity over the span of a workday is not working longer, but working smarter.
In that sense, you could say public sector enterprises in the Gulf are ahead of the curve following shorter work hours than the globally acceptable eight hours a day. Government jobs in the UAE, for instance, require employees to work only six hours a day, five days a week.
The work week may be shorter, but the work load remains the same and employees often find themselves struggling to complete projects and meet deadlines.
Here are a few tips that you can apply to increase your productivity and get a lot done in limited time.
Plan and prioritize
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” Benjamin Franklin said. The role of planning in enhancing productivity cannot be overemphasized. Maintain a diary or planner and make a to-do list, striking out those items that have been completed. Prioritize tasks into important, less important, urgent and less urgent so that there is no ambiguity about what to tackle first. Set a realistic timeline for each task and try and stick to the schedule.
Aim for ‘good enough’ instead of perfect
Don’t be an idealist. The link between perfectionism and procrastination is now universally recognized. If you have impossibly high standards which you know you may not be able to match up to, the tendency to delay starting the task is greater to avoid what will probably end in failure.
Take breaks
Working long stretches has the opposite effect of what is intended and makes you unproductive at work. Conversely, taking short, strategically timed breaks rejuvenates you and helps you focus better. Research by Cornell University scholars concluded that workers who were reminded to take a break at periodic intervals were 13% more accurate on an average compared to those workers who received no such reminders.
Don’t multi-task
According to experts, it is a myth that multi-tasking helps increase productivity. The brain has a limited capacity for productivity and switching from one task to another requires the brain to spend energy on the switching process, thus unnecessarily eating into its reserves. Furthermore, devoting short spans of time will never allow you to concentrate fully on one task, leading to the possibility of error.
Discourage interruptions
It is impossible to totally avoid disruptions in an office environment but try and minimize them to the extent possible. Closing your cabin door if you’re in the middle of a task, knowing what is important and keeping the less important tasks for later, avoiding checking email and text messages at odd times are all steps which will allow you to concentrate better and finish off your work as quickly as possible.
Top Tips
• Make a to-do list, classifying tasks into important, less important, urgent and less urgent
• Tackle the urgent and important tasks first
• Set realistic timelines
• Be flexible
