If the above title applies to you then don’t worry you’re not alone. Many of us have experienced problems with productivity in the past but fixing this problem is usually easy than you might think. It takes some self-reflection and can’t usually be done overnight but you can conquer your productivity woes!
First things first you have to identify the problem or problems that are affecting your productivity. So, how do you do this exactly? You need to reflect and be honest with yourself about why your work output is lacking. Could you just need a break or have you been trying to do too much lately?
Or does your workplace need to adopt a more innovative and helpful OKR framework? If you can’t work out exactly what the problem is then don’t panic because it could take you some time and as I mentioned earlier it could be more than one thing. To help let’s look at some of the common reasons people suffer productivity problems at work.
Multi-Tasking
Let’s get a controversial choice out of the way first shall we? Multi-tasking is a good skill to have many jobs will require you to be an active multi-tasker but trying to juggle too many tasks at once is going to cause productivity problems at some point.
You can’t really stay focused on one job and do it well if you’re juggling multiple different ones can you? Multi-tasking is a great skill to have but it shouldn’t become the norm if you spend your days at work switching between multiple jobs and never getting anything done or not completing it to a high standard you should reassess your workload and spend more time focused on one job.
You’re Working Too Much
If you’re spending too much time at work then expect your productivity to take a hit sooner or later and it will most likely be sooner. You have your annual leave so make sure you use it and don’t take on too much overtime.
If you’re the manager or owner of your business then it’s understandable that you might go beyond the standard 9 to 5 hours of work however you should still make sure you take adequate breaks throughout the day and enjoy time away from work.
An Uncomfortable Workplace
Now this one is more common than you might think because an uncomfortable workplace can take many different forms. Your office doesn’t have to be falling apart or full of dust and clutter to be an uncomfortable place to work it could be down to the climate or simply be because your place of work is a little dull.
Thankfully these problems can be corrected easily in most cases some good tips to remember are to add some plants or a splash of colour about the place. You should also have some heaters and fans at the ready for when it gets too cold or too hot to ensure your staff (and yourself) are cool and comfortable at all times.
However, it also important to remember a workplace isn’t all about the climate or how it looks there are other important areas to consider as well. Because even the most luxurious workplace can still be an uncomfortable place to work if your staff doesn’t get along, which leads me to my next point.
Noise and Distractions
This one incorporates a lot of different issues and some of them aren’t easy to solve or even identify especially when it comes to productivity. Noise, however, is usually one of the easy problems to notice and solve when it comes productivity problems a noisy office isn’t going to be a productive one.
But noise isn’t always caused by outside sources like traffic is it? If it’s being caused by noisy employees then that’s going to be a more difficult problem to stamp out. Light talk is good at work although not all the time and too much talk is going to be a distraction.
So, make sure your employees know the rules and do your best to deal with any problems quickly. It could turn out you yourself are the problem do you spend a lot of time at work talking and gossiping when you have work to do? If so then you need to be firm with yourself and ensure you don’t fall into old habits.
No Sense of Growth
This is a difficult problem to fix and it’s one that will likely crop up in your working career from time to time. Sooner or later you might simply not feel as passionate about your daily routine and this can be a tricky problem to solve and it will surely impact your productivity over time.
You could try talking to your manager and ask for more responsibility or look for advancement opportunities or it might simply be time to move on and try something new. Think very carefully when deciding what you want to do and make sure you speak to your manager as well. Once you’ve decided how to proceed your productivity should improve.
No Training or Guidance
This is one that new employees are more susceptible to but it can affect anyone and it’s another issue that will be sure to hamper anyone’s productivity. If you don’t have adequate training or guidance then you will find it very difficult to stay productive while you work.
Because you just won’t feel confident doing your job, to tackle this problem you should be open and honest with your manager. They’ll be able to help you and could possibly offer you further training to help put you at ease. With the right training and guidance, you’ll be able to get your productivity back to normal in no time.
So, that’s a look at 6 very different ways your productivity can be affected at work. There’s quite a variety of ways your productivity can be lowered but thankfully when you’ve identified the problem fixing it usually won’t be too difficult.
‘I was in the Middle-East working in the Energy sector with an organisation that greatly valued me, I was treated like family. A few years later, I had my first-born and soon after I started to feel restless, I wanted to go back to work but the opportunity was not easy to see. It felt as though my industry didn’t know how to reconcile work and family life’.
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