Mastering productivity is a must for contractors and freelancers. It demonstrates that you deliver a good return on investment for businesses and will help to build your reputation as a good hire, which ultimately puts you in high demand.
However, increasing productivity isn’t one of the easier skills to master, especially when you already feel as though you’re working flat out.
Here are just a few tips and tricks you can apply to take your productivity to the next level.
1. Take a break
Having a rest may initially seem like the opposite of increasing productivity but it’s important to remember that a tired worker is a slow worker.
Ensuring you take a few short breaks throughout the day gives your brain chance to reboot and means that when you do work you’re more effective.
2. Get techy
Technological advances mean it’s much easier than ever before to be productive. There are countless apps out there that can help contractors maximise their time.
One of the must-have apps is Evernote. Syncable across multiple devices, this app allows you to save photos, documents, audio and even web pages. Information can be collated into a single place, while colleagues can be shared in to collaborate. If you travel around a lot, Evernote also helps you manage itineraries and confirmations, while scanning travel documents, maps and plans.
Another great time-saver is Dragon Dictation. This simple voice-recognition application allows you to verbally record a text or email message. According to the developers, the app is up to five minutes faster than typing on a keyboard.
The TIMEplanner app is also worth a try. This scheduler reminds you of your current activity and allows you to add time frames.
Head over to our contractor apps blog for more information and download links for useful apps.
3. Avoid multi-tasking
While you might think doing two things at once improves your productivity, chances are that you’re not doing them both as well as you would if you were only doing one.
This means that you’re not delivering the level of quality that you should be and may have to go back at a later date to make changes.
To avoid multi-tasking, try to remove all distractions and set yourself time frames where you focus solely on one thing, even ignoring emails.
4. Unplug
We often think being connected 24/7 makes us more productive and while there is a time and a place where this is true, being attached to your mobile devices when at work can actually harm your output.
Smartphones, iPads and social media are all massive distractions. We’ve all thought that we’d spend two minutes checking Facebook and ended up losing 15 minutes, so it’s important to be strict with ourselves when at work.
5. Tidy up
It might sound simple but if you’re working in a clean and tidy environment, chances are you’ll be more productive. Not only will you spend less time searching for things you need, but the lack of clutter can help with stress and mental preparedness.
You should also apply this principle to your hard-drive and cloud storage. Make sure everything is ordered into logical folders so you can find what you need to as quickly as possible. Similarly, bookmark key web pages to save search time.
Do you have any tried and tested tips and tricks of your own, to help increase your productivity? Please leave a comment below, we’d love to hear them!
I am a chartered tax advisor with a specialism in the freelance contractor sector advising contractors on how to structure their affairs and recruitment businesses and end hirers on the effective…
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