Top 5 Mistakes That Ruin Your Productivity At Work
And How To Save 24 Hours A Week
Focusing on your goals and being productive to achieve them is fundamental.
And yet some people love wasting their time doing things that have no impact.
Every time you do busy stuff, you lose precious hours of productive work you could spend on doing more important tasks on your way to success.
The solution is to focus on where it matters the most and cut off the fluff.
Here are 5 mistakes to avoid at work so you can be more productive and save at least 24 hours a week:
1. Meetings with no agenda
Your time is the most valuable asset.
And let’s be honest: you can summarize most of your meetings in an email.
You can also use this AI tool to do that for you in seconds.
But if a meeting is still necessary, you should ensure it has an agenda.
At the end of the meeting, you should have action items with the owners along with a timeline to complete.
But, have you noticed that meetings are like TV Shows? scheduled for 30mins, 45mins, 1h, etc.
If it only takes 7 mins for a meeting to conclude, why should it take 30 mins?
What happens next is people start talking about anything outside of the main agenda to fill in the void.
A total waste of productive time, isn’t it?
Solution:
Cancel meetings that have no agenda.
Replace them with an email and an action plan assigned to all stakeholders.
Default to an asynchronous collaboration.
Savings: 4 hours/week
2. Saying Yes to everything
Do you ever find yourself saying "yes" to tasks and meetings that come your way before even checking your calendar?
It's time to break that habit and focus.
Solution:
Ask yourself:
Is this task urgent or important, or both?
Do I have all the information to make a meaningful contribution?
Does my participation bring value to the outcome of the meeting?
Is this task aligned with my day’s priorities?
Does this task need my unique skills and expertise?
Can you delegate or automate the task instead?
Use the powerful Eisenhower Decision Matrix and other two techniques to never get caught in unimportant stuff again:
Savings: 5 hours/week
3. Energy and task mismatch
Your energy levels have a massive impact on your productivity and the quality of your work.
And you cannot deliver your best if you are low in energy.
Solution:
When you have high energy (e.g. early morning):
Focus on tasks that need your full concentration and creativity.
Tackle deep work first, that big project, write that report, or brainstorm new ideas.
And when you’re low on it, focus on tasks that require less mental effort, such as administrative work.
Savings: 5 hours/week
4. Checking your phone every minute
I know, it’s hard not to.
We're all glued to our devices these days.
But the truth is, deep work requires focus.
And social media and news sites are best to ruin your productivity as you switch between tasks.
And at the end of the day, you are exhausted, without having accomplished anything important.
Solution:
Use site blockers to limit access to your phone and computer.
Schedule specific time slots to check social media.
And a time when you need to work deeply.
Bonus: when you’re not always available to your network, they will stop pinging you non-stop. Win-win.
Savings: 5 hours/week
5. Chit-Chat
And finally, the one productivity killer of all time.
I’m fascinated by people who love wasting their time doing small talk.
Spending countless hours at the coffee machine, on the phone, in irrelevant meetings, etc.
With remote work becoming the norm, it’s important to make even stronger connections with your peers to stay in the loop.
But doing the small talk —all day long ??
No way.
Total waste of your precious time you could do more important stuff instead.
Solution:
When entering a meeting, start with the agenda right away.
Don’t wait for others to join on time. It’s not respectful of anyone’s time.
When someone pings or calls you, cut the chase in a respectful way and ask: all right, so, what can I do for you?
Cut all your meeting time by half.
A 60-min meeting? Make it 30 mins.
You’ll notice that you can deliver the same outcome as it will force everyone to deliver their best and faster as by Parkinson's law.
Savings: 5 hours/week
And that’s it
These common mistakes ruin your precious time and productivity.
So avoid them and you’ll save at least 24 hours a week.
You can then spend more time on the things that matter to you.
Come on, you’ve got this!🎯
Very nice reading @hakan. Thanks for sharing it. :) Karim