First off, I’m so productive. I mean look at all I’ve accomplished since working here. I have my own space on the website, I had an incredibly successful March Madness bracket, and I have a successful blog. However, my bosses keep telling me that I have to be more productive. Why? When I hand them an assignment they say good boy, and then they give me a treat. I’m thinking, “great, work’s done for the day. Got my treat, so I’m done.” No. Not done. They want more. They want me to work all day long. What? That’s crazy.
I’ve had to develop a strategy to improve my productivity in the workplace. I need to understand that my productivity and overall leadership can inspire m coworkers while getting more of my work done. Here are the four strategies I’ve started using to improve work productivity.
Focus on One Task at a Time
I get easily distracted. A lot happens when you work downtown like:
- Trolleys making random sounds that I must bark at every time so they will go away.
- People coming into the office to meet with our attorneys that I must greet.
- Walk breaks on main street where everyone wants to pet me.
Getting my tasks done on time can be difficult with so many distractions. I’ve started to focus on one task at a time instead of trying to multitask and doing more than one thing at once. It’s been incredibly effective as I’ve been able to have time to focus on bigger long term projects since my day to day work is done more quickly.
Set Small Objectives and Rewards
As I said earlier, I get a treat when I accomplish a task. I want to make sure I get as many treats as I can, so I make sure to get all my blogs done as quickly as possible. When I get them done, and my boss says they are good, then I get a treat. My boss has started doing something similar too. Everyday he writes down his tasks on a whiteboard. When he’s able to get them done, he checks them off. It’s a simple reward, nothing like a treat, but it helps him get more work done.
Maintain Good Time Management
Time management is really important to improve work productivity. Setting your calendar first thing in the morning when your brain is still sharp can help balance your entire day. My schedule is the same most days:
- Wake up
- Put on bow tie
- Bark at neighbor dog that likes to antagonize me in the mornings
- Go to work
- Write blog
- Take nap
- Eat lunch
- Take another nap
- Make everyone that walks into the office pet me (that one can be completed at any point of the day)
- Go home
- Bark at neighbor dog one more time to let him know I went somewhere cool
- Go on walk
- Annoy my owners to make sure they play fetch with me even though we just went for a walk
- Go to bed
Boom. Perfect schedule. I stick to it everyday without fail and I get so much done. Sticking to a schedule can be difficult especially because humans have far more responsibilities than I do. However if you can stick to it each day, then you’re more likely to finish everything you need to do.
Delegate Tasks
One thing I’ve noticed while working in a law office is that people say yes to far too many things. They think that they can handle everything on their plate, but sometimes they need a dog to eat the last few scraps. That was where I came in for the monthly blog series, larger projects, and overall team morale. Being able to delegate things is difficult because you need to know ahead of time who can handle it and who can’t, but you also have to take risks to learn what they can handle. Being able to delegate can help improve work productivity for yourself, but also your entire team.
Thank you so much for reading this blog on how to help improve work productivity. I hope it was helpful for you! Please visit our blog for more employment law information, or give us a call at 901-737-7740 for any questions you may have!