5 Simple Productivity Hacks for Entrepreneurs
If you’re like many people running a business, you are probably always on the lookout for ways to boost your productivity. We’ve got 5 simple productivity hacks to help you get your work done!
There are days when you probably feel like there are too many things to get done and not enough hours to complete them. It doesn’t help when your schedule keeps being interrupted by online distractions. The numerous emails you receive, for example, can really take a hit to your productivity. You may also have a large amount of social media messages and notifications to go through. Add the various online messages from your supervisor and team members, and it’s no wonder that after a while you start to feel crazy.
However, here are 5 simple productivity hacks you can follow that can help you keep to your schedule—and keep your sanity along the way.
1. Track your brand through an alert system.
Negative reviews and complaints online can do a lot of damage to your brand, so you have to respond quickly to mitigate the damage. Monitoring your social media platforms in real-time can cost you a lot of valuable work time, though. Instead, you should be using a tracking system so that you are alerted when your brand is mentioned, rather than refreshing your platforms unnecessarily.
Tracking your brand also gives you a better idea of how people are regarding your brand identity and marketing campaigns. You can also set alerts for your competition, so you can keep track of how they’re doing, as well.
2. Set your calendar to public.
A calendar is great for productivity, as it helps you to organize your schedule more efficiently. You can set aside a reasonable amount of time for each task, and during that time you know what to focus on.
It’s best if your schedule is visible to others so that they know not to bother you when you are busy working or in a meeting. This is also helpful for excusing yourself from meetings that run late because others know that you will stick to your schedule. Having a public calendar may even work as motivation for others to run meetings more smoothly and efficiently, not wasting time on inconsequential matters.
3. Prioritize your KPIs.
What are KPIs? These are your key performance indicators. They tell you how you are doing when it comes to meeting certain standards. So whether you’re supposed to bring in a certain amount of sales per month, or your aim is to be covered by four major online publications every season, you can check where you are each day in achieving those goals. For the PR coverage of four online publications a season, this means that on average your brand should be covered once a month. If you’re running short, then you know that you have to focus on this task more in the coming weeks.
4. Block out tabs and notifications from social media sites like Facebook.
These are distractions that you really don’t need at all—and if you really think about it, most of the time when you’re spending time on social media at work, it’s not because you’re so popular, it’s because you are choosing not to be productive.
5. Wear headphones to avoid useless chitchat.
You can do this even when you’re not actually listening to music. It just discourages other people from disturbing you unless it’s actually necessary. With noise-canceling headphones, you can even ignore discussions held by the others in an open-space office.
Distractions are the bane of workplace productivity, but with some determination and these 5 simple productivity hacks, you can reduce them to a minimum and actually get your work done.
