4 Life Hacks to Be More Efficient at Work

It definitely doesn't feel like 4 'o clock in the afternoon already! What happened? This is a thought I dwell on somewhat regularly, especially when the mountain of tasks and client emails to respond to are piling up. It's a classic case: you feel like you've been getting stuff done, but at the same time, it's as if you haven't gotten enough completed in the time spent. We all want to find ways to be more productive at work, especially so we don't have to continue fretting about job related tasks into the evening. If you feel the same, it might be time to take a look at how your work life is structured—it could be affecting your energy, ability to think creatively, and your overall health!
As Chris Farley once said in his iconic SNL skit, "How can we get back on the right track?!", there's four life hacks you can take advantage of to make your work time spent as productive as possible. Check them out below:
1. Minimize meetings
They're one of the biggest productivity killers, and yet we find ourselves swamped with them on a daily basis. Before you click "yes" to accept an invitation for that next meeting, ask a few questions to the organizer: what is the goal in mind for the meeting? How do you fit in? If you are just checking with a progress report or status update, could you accomplish the same feat by emailing details rather than explaining them over the course of one or several hours?
2. If you do schedule a meeting, try a walking one
Our Seafoam head honcho and owner Nikki had an interesting revelation awhile back—when we were moving into our new office and having a meeting that morning, she said she felt much more productive and attentive while she was simultaneously moving around and unpacking things! Turns out, this is an actual strategy used by many professionals and entrepreneurs (according to this article, Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook uses walking meetings when screening key job candidates).
The act of getting up and moving about is a strategy that many creatives use to combat writer's block, and the same is true when conducting meetings. Walking around helps to boost creativity and can make your meeting go by much more productively.
3. Focus on one task at a time
Being able to manage multiple tasks is a desirable skill, but when it comes to actually working on those tasks, stick with one at a time! Splitting your brain in too many directions can lower your efficiency, and for this reason, it's better to monotask. Think of it this way: if you were back in college and studying for a major test coming up, would you want constant distractions or reminders about other things you need to do? Probably not! Block off your time for individual projects to work on, and give yourself the ability to focus exclusively on that. You'll finish things in a timely manner with less stress.
4. Minimize other distractions
We love working remotely. So much so that we even wrote an entire post about how to have the best productivity when working from home. There's truth to it: typical office workers are often bombarded with distractions, many times from other coworkers chatting among one another, or dropping by your space for real-time communication. If you don't have the flexibility to work remotely, you can minimize office distraction by persuading your peers and superiors to transition to text based communication or collaboration tools (such as Teamwork). Having more "quiet time" in the office lets everyone work more smoothly without interruptions.
Do you have other life hacks or secret strategies for getting more efficient while at work? Let's hear 'em!
Send us a comment on Facebook or a tweet to @SeafoamMedia with your thoughts!