In case your 2020 was like most individuals’s, you possibly weren’t fairly as productive as you’d wish to have been — and that’s okay. Covid-19 and the shift to distant work have made life tough for everybody, however that’s no motive to assume that 2021 can’t be higher. There’s no straightforward method to emerge from a 12 months like 2020, however maximizing your productiveness is nearly as good a spot to begin as any.
Maximizing your productiveness going ahead will probably be one thing of a balancing act. Covid-induced productivity habits may be onerous to shake, however doing so could make all of the distinction on the subject of what you accomplish on the job. For those who’re hoping to begin off 2021 on the fitting foot, you’ll wish to maximize your productiveness as quickly as doable. Right here’s how you are able to do it:

There’s no straightforward method to emerge from a 12 months like 2020, however maximizing your productiveness is nearly as good a … [+]
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1. Consolidate your tech.
This 12 months, 1000’s of companies took their operations on-line and used tech instruments to assist them accomplish that. Digitally emulating an workplace is not any small job, and the software program required to take action can rapidly change into overwhelming if not managed correctly. As an alternative of letting your desktops and dashboards change into overloaded with apps, packages, and widgets, work to mix and streamline all of these processes.
As an alternative of losing time by continuously switching between functions, look to undertake platforms that incorporate as lots of your crucial providers as doable. All-in-one marketing platforms are rapidly gaining steam as go-tos for companies trying to economize and improve effectivity, as are full-service choices such as Salesforce’s Customer 360. In relation to productiveness, easier is healthier — apply that mantra to your tech, and the outcomes will converse for themselves.
2. Take command of your inbox.
One of many many penalties of sudden distant work was an enormous uptick in e-mail utilization. An overloaded inbox is nothing new, however Covid-19 has made electronic mail extra crucial to the enterprise communications equation than ever earlier than. These hoping to spice up productiveness within the coming 12 months want to indicate their inboxes whose boss — and which means excess of simply deleting unreads.
A clear inbox is a cheerful inbox, however the prospects for enchancment don’t simply cease there. Tools like Mixmax mean you can monitor electronic mail, simply schedule conferences, and automate your workflow. Mix that with instruments to trace how a lot time you truly spend in your electronic mail to take management of your inbox and your time. E mail is just not going anyplace anytime quickly — may as effectively use tech to maximise your productiveness whereas utilizing it.
3. Cease multitasking.
It’s the age-old productiveness paradox: the extra you try to do, the much less you’ll truly be capable to accomplish. Whereas this truth is well-known amongst all sectors of enterprise, the post-Covid panorama has precipitated many to revert again into the taboo world of multitasking. Generally it seems like taking up a crucial mass of duties is the one manner your enterprise or profession could make it by way of instances like these, however there’s all the time a greater method to do issues.
Whereas there are a variety of apps on the market designed that can assist you curb a nasty multitasking behavior, only a few of them do something you could’t do your self. Specializing in one job at a time is eminently achievable utilizing just some basic psychological tricks, reminiscent of solely protecting one window open in your desktop at a time. By constructing sturdy working habits from the bottom up, you’re guaranteeing that prime ranges of productiveness change into germane to the way in which you use.
4. Separate dwelling and workplace — even should you’re distant.
Earlier than the pandemic, it wasn’t fairly as tough to depart work duties at work and maintain home life at dwelling. Now that many individuals sleep, eat, and loosen up just some ft away from the place they work, the road has change into fairly a bit thinner. Conserving the non-public {and professional} separate is each harder and extra necessary than ever, as failing can have a severe affect on productiveness.
Remote work productivity is tough sufficient to attain as is, and sustaining excessive ranges of it’s even tougher should you’re letting one a part of your life creep into one other. There’s a motive that corporations like Chegg, DocuSign, and ServiceNow are giving workers extra time off, with some even forcing workers to take paid holidays. Once you’re at work, you wish to be totally current. To be able to try this, the identical must be stated for whenever you’re at relaxation.
Productiveness is all about growing habits and routines that make it simpler so that you can full the duties that it’s essential to — easy. What’s not so easy is growing the habits themselves, however these hacks can go a good distance in getting you on the street to productiveness in 2021.