Things to improve your productivity as a student

Productivity is not a talent I have — I’ve learned to be productive over the past years and still working on it. From a student’s point of view, the more productive we are, the sooner the tasks complete, the better the result and better chances to develop soft skills. Being productive in the workplace means finishing as many tasks as possible in a day.

On personal observation I have found that, within the same time frame, each people have their own limitation and productivity level based on how many task they can finish. The more conducive the environment, the more productive they be. Productivity is not all about the personal management system, it’s also about the external factors like work environment, also work day.

A new survey say that productivity peaks on Tuesdays. By contrast Thursday and Friday tied for the least productive day, with each receiving just 3% of the responses. It said they accomplish more work at the start of the day: 41% are most productive in the early morning and 31% in late morning. Moreover it would seem that Tuesday morning is the most productive day in the week.

For me Tuesday and Wednesday are two of my most productive days because they are in the middle of the week and I feel my body start working at its best. Since time is life’s most valuable commodity, once lost, it can never be replenished. This support the idea for me to being productive everyday and making the most of the day.

So, what are the best ways to be more productive in the workplace? I have found tips that can increase my productivity, especially during this online school season.

Work Environment

Focus is the main key of being productive. To be focus, we need to find what ambient that can help improve our focus.

To exemplify, I love listening to ambient music while working and it’s makes me more focus and finish my task faster, more effective. It is widely known that listening to soft music would increase your focus so does improve your work and productivity. 71% of people surveyed by Robert Half said listening to music at work makes them more productive. My mood will increase suddenly when I can work with a clean desk and comfy chair.

To put it another way, a comfort work environment is a safe zone for us to express ourselves and perform to the best of our abilities so in does affect our productivity.

Processes

When I have a process, I don’t need to waste time figuring out what to do. I just execute. One of the process is take full control of what I will do each day. Make a to-do list.

A survey conducted by Microsoft shows that people around the world are dependent on their to-do lists. This could be argued that people who tend to have to do list are more productive than the one who do not made one. On the contrary, study from Daniel Markovitz show that only making to-do lists will decrease our productivity. Nonetheless, having a to-do lists will keep us on track. Then again, we need to have more context in our to-do lists — the details. Not only focusing on crossing the lists itself.

To give an illustration, I always write down my daily to-do list every night in priority order, with the range time prediction. I like it to be more strict then the actual deadline so that I could perform well and more productive. Its called we are making self-imposed deadlines. Then I’m ready to start my productive day tomorrow without being confused as what to do first. This brings us to the next factor

Goals

Clearly defined work goals are great for boosting productivity levels because they’re measures of productivity themselves. Composing things that really matter will help us more productive.

It could be argued that working on our goals would be more efficient rather than working on our deadline, the clearer the goals- the more understand- the better we achieve it. People feel more happy when they have goals, its like having a ‘direction’. On the other hand, if we just focus on the goals alone, we will probably find that we’re the type of person who always find a new goal that has to drive us on and without a goal we feel restless and no sense of purpose. The aim is to be productive not to be depressive.

Here is thing we can do to set our goals better according to Chris Stowell:

Make a S.M.A.R.T goal setting

Specific — Is the goal clear and well defined?

Measurable — Is the change or intended outcome measurable?

Action-oriented — Does the goal require actionable behavior?

Realistic — Can the goal be reasonably achieved?

Time-bound — Do you have a deadline for completion?

By making our smart goal, can help improve our productivity up to 25%. Then again, putting more details on our goal make it more reachable and doable so that we still can fulfill it without being depressed.

Wellness

The happier and healthy we are going to have far more physical and mental resources to invest in our work. This helps us become extremely focused and avoid procrastinating. A research by Oxford and British telecoms firm, has shown that workers are 13% more productive when happy. But sometimes they are days and condition that make me feel under the weather and when it happen I often need to revise my work more.

We need to understand when our body and mind are tired. Most of the time, we notice this when our heads start spinning and we can’t concentrate anymore. Our body need to be recharge, do not too harsh with our body.

A 2008 University of Illinois study found that taking routine breaks is very good for our body and soul. For example, when I feel tired I will grab my phone and scroll through Instagram or watch one episode of Friends or chatting with my friends. That’s it and I’m ready back to work.

This suggest that being productive looks like bears fruits from your own labor which turns-out to be accomplishments. These achievements serve as standards for being a productive individual. I believe that productivity goes beyond that sense. Therefore I consider being productive as just a part of everybody’s progression. Productivity is not just being productive but by having an objective at first and appreciation at the end.

References:

University of Oxford. 2019. Happy workers are 13% more productive. England. Accessed 6 February 2021.

Markovitz, Daniel. 2012. To-Do Lists Don’t Work. Harvard Business Review. United States. Accessed 5 February 2021.

Redmond,Wash. 2008. Survey Shows Increasing Worldwide Reliance on To-Do Lists. Microsoft. United States. Accessed 5 February 2021.

Robert half company. 2019.Early Bird Gets The Worm: New Survey Reveals Productivity Peaks For Workers in Canada. Canada. Accessed 5 February 2021.

Robert half company. 2018. Most Professionals Like Listening To Music At Work And Are More Productive When They Do, Survey Shows. United State. Accessed 5 February 2021

Sage HR. 2019. 5 Critical Factors Affecting Employee Productivity at Work. Accessed 5 February 2021.

Stowell, Chris. 2015. How to Improve Productivity With Goal Setting. Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness. Accessed 5 February 2021.