Productivity is important in any business. The prospect of increasing productivity is why people hire virtual assistants; they can delegate certain tasks to these professionals such that they can focus on the more important aspects of their business. VAs, on the other hand, strive to be productive in order to deliver quality service to their clients.
Now we\’ve all heard about various tricks to increase productivity, but do you know that there are habits that you can eliminate to make yourself more productive? Here are the five most notorious ones:
- Perfectionism. Trying to get things done perfectly is the best way to not get anything done at all. We all know that quality output comes above everything else, but obsessing yourself with getting things done “the right way” can only lead to you spending a lot of time on a single task, and may end up with you not getting it done. Learn to focus on finishing your tasks, and be prepared to welcome possible failure.
- Multitasking. This may sound like a great skill to develop, but switching between tasks in an effort to get them done at the same time consumes a lot more mental power than actually working on the individual tasks. Furthermore, multitasking can easily up your stress levels and increases the chance you make mistakes, thereby making you less effective than you should be. Make it thus a habit to work on one task at a time, and minimize the amount of tools that you are using for the job.
- Not saying no to all tasks. In the VA\’s line of work, more tasks usually mean more money. Simply accepting all tasks that come your way is an easy way to swamp yourself with obligations, clogging up your work schedule and to-do list. Of course, you won\’t get them all done soon, and that fact combined with the amount of pending work can overwhelm you. The feeling of being overwhelmed can easily paralyze you and lead to procrastination, decreasing what productivity you have. Simply learn to say no when you barely have enough time to do more tasks, or just finish your current projects before agreeing to doing more.
- Indecision. If you are swamped with choices, or are choosing between two equally advantageous options, chances are that you will find yourself in an indecisive state. Your indecision can run for minutes, and the worst case is that you find yourself choosing one thing and end up dissatisfied and going for a different option. Indecision is one of the culprits of many lost hours, and pairs up really well with perfectionism in that regard. Whenever you find yourself facing indecision, stop overthinking and pondering which is the right choice; just choose something and deal with the consequences later.
- Browsing social media during work. You can\’t help it. Maybe you just want a peek of your Twitter or Facebook feed to keep yourself up-to-date. Well, not just a peek maybe, as you have come across a rather interesting post. You then end up checking it out, and then check out some more related stuff. It\’s very easy to lose yourself in social media, a productivity black hole that should be avoided at all costs. eCampus News has an article listing some excellent tools that you can use to block the temptation of social media during your working hours.
It is not always necessary to take up new habits to be more productive. Simply assess yourself and see which of your practices actually hamper productivity, and deal with them in the most effective way possible.
