Give your day a productivity boost the right way

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‘Being busy’ is the lifestyle strata for complying with hectic work-life standards like most but with times changing the workaholics are surely on a lookout for some relief. So if your work includes juggling through the week with swift runs to catch the metro to work and weekends dedicated to startup hustles, here is a better way to enhance your productivity. Time-batching is a great technique that can help us put precious time into better use. It endorses the pre-planning methodology of leading work to rescue you from exhausting precious minutes every morning of the week.

How we plan to work smarter, not harder!

1. Batch Making

Planning done for purpose with precaution is the most cautious way of arranging your following week. Line up all the upcoming week’s commitments, meetings, tasks, deadlines & errands in sequence in a diary/planner. Mark all the activities on a priority basis differentiated in order or urgency, dependency and delivery. Once you’ve memorised all your to-do’s for the week sort the various tasks into these three work themes : a) Mega Monday’s: It is always good to eat the biggest frog at the beginning of the week to avoid panic attacks as you reach closer to the weekends. Email scheduling, Networking calls, Social media management for the week, reviewing and reevaluating the business proposals, prep talk with colleagues on the things to take up the following week should be followed up extensively till Tuesday.

b) Working Wednesday’s: It’s the time to hit the mid of the week with reading and researching client pitches, developing content-based work, draft/complete drafts, respond to work queries, following up with last weeks sales queries, etc. The idea is to begin acting on the potential positive outputs for the coming week while ensuring the best for the routine tasks.

c) Follow-up Fridays: As we head towards the end of the week it is best to get done with maximum to make most of the weekends. Check on your accounting book-keeping, Thank you emails, send invoices, make payments and settle finances. Revisit the to-do list and mark the tasks done and undone. The last working day of the week should end with the feeling of accomplishment.

2. Commitment and Consistency

In order to take a strategic route, it is recommended to set a plethora of activities that help develop a consistent flow to new agendas on the list. Start with the tasks that demand your immediate attention hence important. It is possible to witness a conflict between ‘urgent tasks’ and ‘important tasks’. The route to a productive day ideally begins with ticking-off important agendas that boost our spirits to look forward to the next on the list.

3. Tech planners How do we best ensure that we do not miss the tasks we plan to do? Well, the answer is by syncing your devices. Create and segregate your list in any of the various planner apps available, we recommend Microsoft To-do as it stands out amongst other apps for it's simpler user access. Once you find the e-planner that fulfils your criteria, log in assemble your weekly tasks and set reminders for the tasks having deadlines. Check the settings to mark the automated weekly tasks and attach additional notes.

4. Schedule Time Blocks 

According to experts, the tasks that never reached your calendar are imaginary and not bound to happen in real! The best way to incorporate schedule time blocking in your routines is by starting small with 2-3 hour blocks focusing on one list. It is recommended to practice it every day to develop a habit of systematically balancing work and life. But it is also acceptable to not batch every day but on alternative days. Days without time batching are more organic and fluid on following up with tasks.