Become More Productive with These 4 Office Tools
Our time is best used efficiently, it is something we all strive for in life and in business as well. Efficiency can be achieved through many factors. Whether we waste less time watching television, install multiple, split-screen monitors for parallel work, or something else, it is up to us. Basically, it stands for anything that enables us to finish a task in as little time spent as possible. Another most common source of inefficiencies are distractions. Since it takes about 23 minutes to fully recover from a distraction, we can understand why it is imperative to keep them at a minimum. Let’s cover some of the tools, both digital and physical, that help us make the best use of our time.
To-do lists are very much alive and well. It is just that they have moved on from pen and paper to more modern platforms. Carrying around a notebook with all of our obligations scribbled in is inconvenient in multiple ways. They are often cumbersome, convoluted, and other coworkers have no insight in our duties and cannot plan accordingly. The popularity of digital media and mediums, we can access such resources with much greater ease. And with these online options at our disposal, there is no risk of leaving the notebook at home. We can access our Todoist account from the web, as it is always on, and always available to us. Others can join our lists, we can add comments and expand our ideas with conjoined forces. It is always better to put two minds together, rather than everyone working independently on the same problem. It is a free application with a premium version. This paid version offers us features like, adding custom labels and filters to lists. This way, it makes it easier for us to navigate the things to do, and things yet to be done.
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Post-it notes
Applications, journals and other burden-alleviating methods do have their great role in our lives. Still, more conventional means do keep their place in our hearts and minds. Something as simple as a post-it note on a coworker’s monitor could attract more attention than an email. As both conventional and digital mediums can get cluttered, one does tend to overuse one of those and neglect the other. These methods should complement each other to achieve peak productivity. Written notes can also help in adding a personal touch in an otherwise protentional cold and time constrained environment.
What if we need more than just simple lists to get us through the workday? We need an effective digital medium to handle as much of our personal logistics as possible. Only this way can we actually, fully focus on what needs to be done, rather than managing all of our tasks. Evernote is an industry-leading information management software. It is used by many industries for various purposes. Bloggers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and many others are using it to greatly add value to their lives and business projects. Brainstorming new ideas with coworkers, taking notes, or even collecting feedback on an individual subject, all fall under what can be accomplished in Evernote. It gives us a set of tools for us to get the job done in a professional manner. Like most applications of this type, it is multi-platform compatible. Meaning, we can access this information from our computer, as well as mobile phone. It caters to the business sector, with a concise platform where workers can collaborate, brainstorm, and generally work together.
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The essentials
There are also many old-fashioned, more conventional means for us to maximize our productivity in the workplace. And they are much simpler than one might initially assume. Headphones, for starters, are one of them. Having them on, but not playing music will drown out the surrounding noise. It also might serve as a deterrent from people unnecessarily bugging you, which brings us back to our point about distractions. Taking regular brakes to walk around, stretch our legs is greatly beneficial. There is a reason most school classes are 45 minutes long. Focused mental strain any longer than that is proven to become inefficient. Being on point with our office supplies, like pencils, paper, whiteboards, calendars, printer supplies is important. Imagine solving a big problem or making a closure on a business deal. Only to find your printer having that dreaded “no ink” light blinking ominously at you. So, make sure you have those Lexmark cartridges well in stock, printers can smell that you are in a rush. These are simple. And precisely for that reason, are easily overlooked. Of course, there are many more instances of such a potential problem, we have just gone through some examples.
Finally, we need to keep in mind that we are all humans. We can get easily distracted, too comfortable, and inefficient over time if let to our own. These are the tools that, if used right, will help us as much as possible to keep our productivity at peak levels. This goes for our personal, as well as our business lives.
