5 Things That Are Killing Your Productivity and Earning Potential

We all have them—bad habits; they creep into many aspects of our lives. Sometimes it’s as simple as procrastination. Other times, our bad habits multiply, killing productivity at work and limiting our earning potential. Here are five things that might be hurting your work productivity.

Those addictive mobile devices.

When we get home from work, we may sit on the couch, remote in one hand, laptop or tablet in the other. When we go to bed, those mobile devices come with us. However, research suggests looking at a mobile device in bed reduces melatonin production and interferes with ability to fall asleep as well as with the quality of sleep. A poor night’s sleep has horrible effects on productivity. It can leave us feeling drained, sluggish and with low energy. Ditch the devices before bedtime.

Disconnect from the internet.

Ever heard the term, getting in the zone? At work, it takes 15 minutes for us to truly get into a groove with a project or assignment. Once we hit that 15 minutes, we are in the zone. However, doing some internet surfing on and off throughout the day, takes away from this level of productivity. The brain can’t concentrate if it’s being distracted all the time. Designate specific times, for example, lunch hour, to check Facebook or do some web surfing. Leave the other seven hours to assigned projects.

The inability to be imperfect.

Being a perfectionist hurts productivity. Not everyone comes to the table handling a project the same way, and it can be quite frustrating when a colleague has a higher productivity rate, but is not handling the project or task in the same meticulous way you would. Doing a project well and doing a project perfectly are two different things. Both are good, but sometimes it’s OK to doing something well even if it’s not perfect. You may complete more tasks and find yourself feeling more productive and accomplished.  

Learn to say no.

Meetings need to take place. However, some meetings are unnecessary. Determine which meetings are important to attend, and which ones you can say no to, so you can focus on work.

Email or bust.

Disconnecting from internet and mobile devices serves another purpose. While it is true if your boss sends you an urgent email, you should respond as soon as possible; it’s also true you don’t need to answer every email right away. If you get hundreds of emails a day and answer every one of them, you’ll never get any work done. Pick three or four times a day to designate as email time. For example, first thing when you come into work; right before lunch; right after lunch; and at the end of the day before you leave work. This will reduce anxiety as well. When you are not constantly looking at emails, you’ll accomplish your work goals for the day.

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