Three Ways to Simplify Your Workload and Enhance Your Productivity

When someone asks how you are, do you answer “busy?” As the summer season approaches, it seems everyone is on the go — attending community events, volunteering, going to networking events, speaking engagements — the list goes on. With so many appointments and tasks filling up your professional and personal calendars, it’s time to start implementing strategies to streamline your workload. Try these simple recommendations to calm your chaotic to-do list and increase your productivity.

Tackle big projects in small chunks

If you have a daunting project on the horizon and not a lot of time to knock it out in one sitting, try breaking it up into small increments throughout the week. For example, if you are planning a big marketing campaign, you can’t reasonably tackle every component of that plan in one sitting. Instead, if you only have 30 minutes, spend five starting the project and see how far you get. Try outlining a marketing plan or making a list of all the things that need to be accomplished in that plan. If you only spend five minutes starting it, hey, at least it’s started (that’s the hard part!).

Make templates

If you have reoccurring projects or plans that require a standardized format, take five minutes to create a document or spreadsheet template so you and your colleagues can easily plug in information and execute against it. Avoid reinventing the wheel every time. While it might initially take some time to create these templates and protocols, it will save you tons of time in the future. For example, sales deck templates and budget worksheets can help your entire professional team get things done efficiently.

Be Proactive

You have 20 minutes of spare time in your day…What do you do? If you’re feeling ambitious, see what projects you can get a head start on. If there is time in your day where you can spend a few minutes working ahead, do so. This strategy is important, because when you’re in the mood to keep cranking out results, you need to take advantage of that “just do it” attitude and put the pedal to the metal (or in your case, probably, pen to paper or fingers to keyboard).