Three Psychological Strategies to Boost Your Productivity

We all experience a lull in our productivity levels from time to time. While it’s normal to feel

a little less efficient in your day-to-day work every now and then, this can become

problematic if it becomes a regular occurrence or starts to feel particularly stressful.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait it out if you’re having a bad day or two – with

the help of these three psychological strategies, you can learn to boost your productivity

levels in a way that’ll make your everyday tasks much more enjoyable.

Understand Your Productivity Type

Each one of us has a different way of working. While some people do their best work

under pressure, others need plenty of time to plan for a big project. Likewise, some people

find that collaborating as part of a team can be helpful to inspire new ideas and expand

their vision – while others feel this can derail their productivity entirely.

Most people find that they fit into one of these four productivity styles: the prioritizer, the

planner, the arranger or the visualizer. Understanding how each of these styles works is

key to developing a plan that will keep you feeling focused and productive. Take a little

time to discover the way your mind works, and you’ll begin to recognise the habits that

deliver results for you – whether that means splitting your tasks into smaller increments,

collaborating with other team members, or only working at certain times of the day.

Exercise Mindfulness

It can be hard to stay focused on the task at hand if you’re feeling particularly burnt out.

While a little stress can work to boost productivity for some people, there’s a fine line

between stress that feels useful and stress that becomes overwhelming. If we get too

caught up and flustered in trying to be productive, our brains can tire out, ultimately leading

us to experience a decline in creativity and information retention.

Mindfulness is all about becoming more consciously aware of your inner world – to be fully

present and understand exactly what your thoughts, feelings and behaviors are, as well as

why they’re happening. By exercising mindfulness, we can start to feel more in control of

our actions and may find it easier to pull back if we find ourselves going off track. In turn,

this helps us to better engage in our work, and boost our productivity.

Be Inspired

Completing important tasks becomes much easier when you’re interested and invested in

the work that you’re undertaking. Unfortunately, tight deadlines and heavy workloads can

make it hard to feel inspired and decrease our desire and motivation to get things done.

To avoid boredom setting in when you’re feeling less than enthusiastic about your work, it’s

best to find a few small ways to spark your attention. This might mean setting yourself

regular goals, and then rewarding yourself as each one is completed. It can even be

helpful to take on a little more work (so long as you feel you can) in order to spend some of

your personal time researching the task at hand, to learn a little bit more and hopefully get

inspired.

A Method That Feels Right For You

Productivity looks a little bit different for everyone, and what it means to you will often

depend on the task that you’re working on. Discovering the psychological strategies that

work for you can be a bit of a learning curve, so you’ll want to experiment with ways to

boost your productivity. Don’t be reluctant to work in a way that feels a little outside of the

cultural norm – each of us is unique, and there’s no right or wrong way to be productive.