Follow These Hacks to Increase your Productivity at Work Taking short breaks throughout the day helps our brains re-orient and re-focus on work

It often happens with most of us that starting the morning on a positive note, we plan a bunch of things with a vow that we will complete the tasks planned for the day. But, as the day progresses, we end up doing very few or sometimes none of the assignments. Have you ever wondered why can't you perform in an organized fashion and where does your productivity gets lost?

Talking to about 40 people in office on productivity, I gathered that the key factors that hamper our output are over indulgence in social media, casual and sometimes lethargic work atmosphere, spending too much time attending meetings and frequent technical issues at workplace. But is it possible to steer clear of all these issues, if yes then how?

A lot have been written about productivity by many noted authors but hardly any of them has touched on the facts of setting all factors in motion to get the maximum work done in a day.

Entrepreneur India compiles a list of four major hacks that can be used to maintain efficiency at workplace.

Use Online Tools to Schedule Your Day

Prioritizing your tasks for the day is an easy way to start a productive day. Use your smartphones apps like calendar, note-taking tools, to get stuff done on the go.

Industry player Amitabh Verma, CEO of AMP Digital, recommended an aggregator app called NewsApp to keep track of the recent changes in your industry on the go. Verma also shared his quick tip on how an entrepreneur can do hard and smart work. He said one should smartly choose the method to get a work done in an easy way. The working environment is much more competitive now than it was before. Every entrepreneur now looks for better work quality and lesser work hours. Wasting a lot of time in figuring out the way will not meet the purpose. One needs to be quick and smart with making decisions.

Take Intermittent Breaks

This may sound wasteful, but it actually works. As per many psychologists, our brain can stay focused for 90-120 minutes at a stretch after which it needs a break. So taking short breaks throughout the day helps the brain re-orient and re-focus, said Saneesha Lingala, Co-founder of Leanspoon.

Elucidating why an entrepreneur must do smart work and not just hard work, she said hard work can get your job done, but smart work will make you stay ahead of others while getting the job done.

She further advised to maintain a perfect proportion and explained that hard work will fetch results, not just immediate but also long-term, but smart work gives exponential returns in the long term. Now combining hard and smart work is the ideal outcome. On a daily basis while you are accomplishing your tasks, look for ways to make it faster, better or easier, so that you can work on more complex tasks.

Learn to Say no to More Work

Simple way to go about it is delegate the work to people, who can do it and focus on what you alone can.

Avoid putting your brain and hands on tasks that someone else in your team can handle, especially if you are a manager. Delegate wisely — this will not only save your precious time but also provide opportunities for others in the team to learn and grow. Now focus on things that you consider as your unique contributions to the business, said Ravi Patruni, CTO, NeoSilica Technologies.

It is not an individual choice — companies and also countries need to design and build systems that foster higher levels of knowledge, skills and inculcate the habit of reaching goals in individuals.

Citing an example of productivity, Patruni said, "Apple Inc., known for both innovation and hard work, makes more than USD $ 215billion business annually. All Indian IT companies, known for slogging, put together do not make even half of that amount. It's not that India don't have talented and skilled workforce, but it's a simple game of productivity."

Keep Distractions to a Minimum

For any entrepreneur, the power of focus is undeniable. Being able to unscramble the to-dos in your mind and to commit to key items are proven, effective strategies. Every minute spent on distractions does nothing but cut into your productivity. When it comes to emails and texts, try to check them while you're on the go to save on time. Keep your phone on silent mode or offline altogether while at work. This will help you focus on your work and limit distractions.

Founder of Aqua App, Venu Dantuluri opined that every individual should set a time limit for completing a task. Timing yourself on individual tasks will speed up your work as well. Instead of just sitting down to work on a project and thinking, "I'm going to be here until this is done," try thinking, "I'm going to work on this for three hours." The time constraint will push you to focus and be more efficient, even if you end up having to go back and add a bit later, advised Dantuluri.