BuzzFeed has been known to be a slippery slope when it comes to workplace productivity. This is the place where humor, wit, and adorable pop culture references roam free, so when they posted an article about how to be more efficient at work, it seemed like a trap. I’m not falling for this one BuzzFeed! Oh wait… there are gifs!
In “23 Ingenious Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder” they have great tips on how to decrease distractions, and increase efficiency all with catchy gifs.
Beat Distractions
Less tabs in more: I fall victim to this one all the time. I get some inspiration for blog post ideas from Pinterest and than I see another pin and then I click on that person’s board and open more pins and after an hour I have dozens of tabs and no blogs written. But look at all of the tabs! That’s work too right? Instead of doing all of the “research” and none of the writing, go one idea (and one tab) at a time.
Multitasking is a trap: You make think your brain can handle more than one thing at a time. “I work better with TV on,” is a personal favorite I had while doing homework. It turns out that listening to music (with voices) or TV can be surprisingly distraction. Human voices force our brains to listen and that takes away the mental stimulation that would be going towards what you are currently supposed to be doing. Whatever multitasking trick you think you are mastering, try doing your work without it and see just how much you can get done at full power.
No videos: (This is my addition.) When you have a video on in a different tab, even if that tab is hidden, you are going to peak. When they say something loud enough or there is an audience gasp, you’ll just have to see it for yourself and then ten minutes have gone by and the next video starts playing and you are stuck. The only videos I listen to now are instrumental songs with a tree blowing in the wind or some other image that won’t draw me in.
Boost Productivity
Get a standing desk! This efficiency tip came up number three on their entire list, and for good reason. “It’s not only healthier for you, but will prevent back pain which can seriously cut into your productivity.” So if you were working on an Evodesk standing desk, you would be doing the good kind of multitasking: improving health, preventing back pain, and promoting productivity. Plus Evodesk standing desks come in so many different styles and configurations that it’ll look good in any office.
Faster typing: One way to increase your work output is to increase your typing speed. The faster you type, the faster you can get that writing done. As someone who has to look at the keyboard, I know how much time can be wasted when you look up at the screen and it’s in all caps. It’s my mission this upcoming year to learn how to type without looking which is while I’ll be using Typeracer. Wish me luck and maybe we can race!
Shorter is sweeter: Keyboard shortcuts and macros are one way to increase productivity and cut down on time. Learning how to select all, copy and paste is a personal favorite.
Well thank you BuzzFeed for the great tips on how to work smarter. Now if you’ll excuse me, I just saw a hilarious looking article about the top cat memes this year.
