If you’re one of those people who don’t seem to get enough work done every day, even though you seem to be working all the time, then it might be because of your bad habits! Don’t worry, it’s not your fault – humans are master procrastinators – but it might be time to rein in those little things you do that take up lots of time. If you can gain control of those habits, you’ll ultimately become a faster, more productive, more creative and happier worker. Here are a few of those bad habits you can try to eliminate:
Ignore Your Phone
In fact, turn it on silent and then put it in your bag or far enough away that you won’t be able to quickly reach for it as soon as it vibrates. It’s extremely difficult not to check our phone every time we get a message or notification and this ends up being such a huge waste of time. If you simply must be contactable by someone for an important reason, tell them to contact you on your work number during work hours. That way, you can safely turn your phone down or off without the associated anxiety.
Check Emails Less Regularly
Another huge waste of time is checking every single email as it hits your inbox. To become more productive, check your emails at regular but spaced-out intervals during the day or after you’ve completed your work. If you’re really expecting an important message, set your email client to notify you only of messages from that sender and nothing else. If you think people will be offended that you haven’t responded immediately, set up an auto-respond message explaining that you’ll respond within a couple of hours.
Limit Those Little Breaks
You deserve and have the right to take breaks throughout the day at work, but if you’re taking advantage of that and taking extra breaks, extending your break time or anything else, it can obviously add up to a lot of wasted time. If you’re a smoker, you’re probably feeling guilty about the extra breaks you’re likely taking, but it’s so difficult to stop! Unfortunately, even between breaks, you’ll be time-wasting when you’re distracted by just hanging out for your next smoke, as well as the extra time it takes to go to the bathroom to spray deodorant, maybe brush your teeth and wash your hands to get rid of the smell after smoking.
Vaping is a great solution to this problem because even in workplaces where vaping isn’t allowed indoors, people using them don’t take as long on their breaks because they can literally pull it out of their pocket, have a few puffs and hop back inside – no waiting for an entire cigarette to burn down, no fumbling with lighters or rollies or finding somewhere to put your cigarette out, no deodorant, avoiding people who might smell you or anything else associated with cigarettes. If you want to avoid all of this and make the switch to cleaner, healthier electronic cigarettes for a great price, Vapestore offers you everything you’ll need to get started.
Try To Limit Procrastination
If you continuously find yourself drifting into doing anything other than work, then you’re a procrastinator. This damaging behaviour is why writers like me (and maybe actually me every now and then) are frequently writing articles at 3am the day before their editors want them back, rather than a week before when it was assigned to them! Procrastination has a huge effect because it breaks the work ‘flow’ – a state that can cause you to be about 5-times more productive but takes about 15-minutes to get into.
Stop Being Perfect
Ok, we know there’s no such thing as a perfect person, but if you’re trying to be one by meticulously going over every piece of work with a fine-toothed comb, you might be taking perfectionism too far. You should take care and pride in your work, but not at the expense of never handing it in because you’re never finished.
Another thing that wastes time is multitasking. Yep – it might seem like a contradiction, but if you’re trying to do 10 things at once instead of one, you’re actually breaking that work flow and slowing things down.
Improve Your Health
If you’re feeling like a flat tyre every day, you’re going to perform just as badly as one. it‘s so hard to keep fit if you’ve got a job that involves sitting at a desk or similar, but you can make the best of it and change some small things, which will eventually show results. The best part is you can start right now! Firstly, replace all those unhealthy junk food snacks with healthier options and I mean actually healthy – not replacing chocolate cake with carrot cake and pretending it’s healthy! Drink water, or at the very least, teas or juice instead of soft drinks and try to get up more. Sneak exercise into your routine, like taking the stairs or doing a few squats whenever you get up to use the coffee machine. Replace smoking with vaping, nicotine patches or gum will also slowly improve your health. Whether you like to start your day with a fresh cup of coffee, having a coffee maker is crucial that will help you to save your time and money by making your own perfect coffee every morning.
There are many other little bad habits you can drop to improve work, but these are good starters. Even if you choose just one of these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a much more productive day!
