The Top 8 Resources to Maximize Productivity in the Workplace
Productivity at work is what separates the Average Joe from the Employee of the Year, the grunts from the corporate elite. In a world where degrees are expected, and the playing field is leveling out, any factors that cast your efforts in a positive light are worth the investment in the long run.
One of the most efficient ways to maximize productivity is to create room for more opportunities in your strongest areas. In order to do this, we must increase our bandwidth—adding variety to our job, and freeing up essential time to make something of quality. Remember, saving minutes here and there will truly add up to monumental changes.
- The Gym
Exercise enhances the ability of your body to transfer glucose and oxygen, increasing your energy level. It also increases blood flow to the brain which, you guessed it, sharpens your awareness.
Pushing through physical plateaus has an analogous effect on your ability to work through discomfort and remain resilient through mental setbacks. Additionally, physical exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which are responsible for the rewarding euphoric feeling that accompanies moments of triumph, happiness and pleasure. It follows then, that after a workout we are able to focus more clearly and better organize our thoughts into workable patterns and sequences.
- Automation
Plenty of software exists today to streamline the time-consuming tedious tasks that present most of the monotony in our schedule. Programs like HubSpot and Buffer are built to run social media for you ahead of time, and to handle marketing automation.
- Accountability Software
RescueTime makes a software that is incredibly useful, showing you exactly how much of your time you spend on your computer and where you spend it. You can set alerts to trigger after a set amount of time is spent on a particular activity, or block distracting websites.
- Spreeder
If you can effectively separate those two words, this software is exactly as it sounds. Spreeder teaches users how to speed read and improve reading comprehension. It’s a free service that teaches us to silence subvocalization (that inner voice which is a reflection of our reading voice aloud) and understand words faster than ever.
- Audible
While were on the subject of books, Audible is Amazon’s audiobook service and application. By taking advantage of time otherwise spent doing mindless tasks and concurrently listening to an audiobook, we open up free time otherwise spent reading different material.
- News Management
Feedly is a place where all of your favorite channels, blogs, and publications can be organized efficiently. Spend time diving into your favorite sources to stay ahead of the game? Feedly helps you arrange and structure your publications and content through collections and alerts.
- Scheduling
In order to avoid the troublesome time-intensive task of arranging and organizing your slate, managing your calendar through an application like Doodle can be invaluable. Doodle’s claim to fame is its ability to “radically simplify the process of scheduling appointments.” Answer meeting requests directly within the calendar, and cross-reference availability.
- Social Media
Staying connected ensures that you and your clients and coworkers are on the same page. Open communication is second nature in today’s digital world, but making use of the technology at hand is often overlooked. Familiarize yourself with the smaller features of your preferred social platform to use the application to its fullest potential. Connect with GetAssist to see how the community structure within can benefit you personally, and check out this infographic for more tips on productivity.
Productivity for Employers
Founder and CEO of Bluedrop, Emad Rizkalla, was honoured as one of Canada’s “Top 40 Under 40″ and later featured in a TIME Magazine cover story as one of eight “Young Dynamic Entrepreneurs Who Will Create the 21stCentury.”
According to Rizkalla, “there is a commonly held misconception among many organizations that if they invest in training their employees, they will lose them to other organizations. The CERIC Report found that 64 per cent of employers share this concern. The reality is, the more an organization invests in developing talent, the more likely they are to retain employees. According to the ASTD Report “Bridging the Gap,” 41 per cent of employees in companies that invest little or nothing in training said they are likely to leave within one year. However, that number plummeted to 12 per cent for employers who invested significantly in developing their people.”
