11 Productivity Hacks to Get On Top In 2019

Most people wish that they had more time in a day to get more things done. This is because the task of being a manager, supervisor or even graduate assistant can be pretty overwhelming – completing your projects and assignments on time, attending to subordinates professional needs, completing the boss delegated tasks on time, and having to create time for personal professional development and not the least spending quality time with family.

For Managers and Supervisors to organize their lives and find those hidden moments, there is need to learn how to establish routines, set goals, create an efficient environment, and use time-honored planning and organizational tools to maximize their personal productivity. These skills will become increasingly demanded by employers in the workplace in 2019 to get more value from employees in view of the harsh economic climate. Another reason is the rise of automation, chatbots and artificial intelligence. This article will introduce readers to 11 Productivity Hacks that can make all the difference.

PRODUCTIVITY HACK NUMBER ONE: Goal Setting

Goal setting is the single most important life skill that, unfortunately, most people never learn how to do properly. Goal setting can be used in every single area of your life, including financial, physical, personal development and relationships. In Brian Tracy’s book, Goals, research shows that fewer than 3% of people have clear, written goals about where they are headed, plus a plan for getting there.

What a shame, because setting goals can put you ahead of the pack! Here are the proven ways to set goals.

Unleashing the power of the Three P’s of Goals Setting

• Positive: A Positive goal is a goal that fires you up every day. You wake up daily raring to go. Nobody can get fired up about a goal such as "I want to find a career that is not boring"? Your Goals should be positively worded, so that they can help you feel good about yourself and what you are trying to accomplish. A better alternative might be: "I want to enroll in pre-law classes so that I can help people with legal problems someday."

• Personal: Your goals must reflect your own dreams, aspirations and values, not those of friends, family, or other people. When you want to craft your goal statement, always use the word “I” in the sentence to brand it as your own. When your goals are personal, you will be more motivated to succeed and take greater pride in your accomplishments.

• Possible: When you are setting your goals, be sure to consider what is possible and within your control. Getting an intercontinental holiday twice a year is okay, but it is unrealistic if your income is low, and not due for any income raise soon. In the latter case, a more reasonable goal might be to spend your leave in other locations that your income can comfortably afford. You might also pursue some side-hustle or additional work that will increase your disposable income

Set your goals the S.M.A.R.T way – Make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed.

Prioritize your goals: Achieving challenging goals requires a lot of mental energy. Instead of spreading yourself thin by focusing on several goals at once, invest your mental focus on one goal - the most important goal right now.

Adapt and Evaluate: As you grow, and you are nearing the deadline set for the achievement of your goals, stop, think and ponder. Evaluate your work and consider how well you have performed.  Here is a checklist of things you need to review: What percentage of my goals did I achieve? Why did I achieve that percentage? What would I do differently next time? What is my next step? What other goals might need to change now? If you find yourself floundering, you might need to adapt.

PRODUCTIVITY HACK NUMBER TWO: Deploy the Power of Routines

The Random House Dictionary defines a routine as, “any practice, or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner.”  Most people believe that “routine” typically conjures up an image of a boring, repetitive life. Routines and rituals, however, can actually help increase the spontaneity and fun in your life. But because routine tasks are already planned for, you have more energy to spend on the tasks that will bring you closer to your goals and bring more joy to your life.

There are two types of routines – Professional and Personal Routines. Personal routines include sleep, meals, laundry, parenting, and exercises which form the building blocks of our lives. Without this stable foundation, other personal productivity efforts won’t be as successful. Professional routines include checking emails, reading industry news and events, having lunch, banking tasks, delegating non-essential jobs, normal managerial tasks and attending to regular mails. To simply your life, and get on course with your routines, here are some ideas.

1.       Pay someone else to do what is not essential

2.       Use electronic banking to save time on banking chores

3.       Keep everyone organized

4.       Plan your meals

5.       Take advantage of better shortcuts

6.       Use the time savings towards achievement of one or two of your main goals.

PRODUCTIVITY HACK NUMBER THREE: Scheduling yourself

You will have day to day tasks, assignments and projects to complete, and goals to work on. To make the most of the limited time available to you, and to be focused on your tasks, use the following tips:

Develop a tracking system:  There are many time management solutions out there.

• Electronic Solutions: Most e-mail applications (including Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes) actually fall into the category of a PIM (Personal Information Manager) application. This means that they can store calendar, task, e-mail, and contact information all in one place.
  

• Keep Productivity Journal: To start with, get yourself a spiral notebook and label it as your Personal Productivity Journal or your Professional Productivity Journal. (We recommend keeping a separate journal for work and for your personal life, so you can focus on them at separate times, thus maintaining your optimal work/life balance.) Label each page with the day and the date and what needs to be done that particular day. Next, prioritize each task in the order of importance. Highlight the top three items and focus on those first. Cross off items as you complete them. Items that are  not completed should be carried over to the next page. You can keep a long-term calendar in the back of the book (or use a three-ring binder with sections) to record upcoming events.

Schedule tasks and appointments well in advance

Use the ‘Urgent/Important Matrix’ to manage your time effectively: Managing time effectively, and achieving the things that you want to achieve, means spending your time on things that are important and not just urgent. To do this, you need to distinguish clearly between what is urgent and what is important. This concept, coined the Eisenhower Principle, is said to be how former US President Dwight Eisenhower organized his tasks. It was rediscovered and brought into the mainstream as the Urgent/Important Matrix by Stephen Covey in his 1994 business classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (To be continued in our subsequent posts). You can get the full Personal Productivity course here: http:bit.ly/2s2uk1x

We wish you a productive year 2019!