Productivity is defined as the value of one’s output divided by time, which could be further subdivided into the output hourly or daily. In any business, being productive is essential to garnering profits; the more productive, the better.
One of the very essential ways to ensure high productivity is to know how to manage tasks. If an individual is given five things to do for the day but does not know how to prioritize, he could be wasting away precious hours which should have been spent doing things that are required to get the job done.
The Role of Task Management
In order for any one to be productive, you need to be able to finish a lot of things in a less amount of time. This means that a person who can complete two assigned tasks in four hours is more productive than one who finishes only one assigned task in four hours.
So, the question is: what is the role of task management here? First of all, task management and productivity are interrelated, the idea is that one is the “cause” and the other is the “effect.” If you make use of effective task management (cause), you can do so many things at a given time and this makes you more productive (effect).
Productivity Optimization through Task Management
When you incorporate task management, there are many ways that you can be productive. This is because a task is the fundamental unit of projects and business plans. When you are able to complete tasks at a specified time, or even earlier, you can then work on other important things; the more tasks you accomplish, the more productive you are.
Here are some ways you can increase productivity through task management:
1. Keeping a to-do list. When you always have the list ready with you, along with your handy pen and notebook, it is easy for you to be reminded of what you need to do. Additionally, you can always write down specific tasks as soon as they come along.
2. Work on difficult tasks in the morning. When you face your dreaded tasks with a fresh mind, you could finish it faster than when you work on it late in the afternoon with your mind already tired from the day’s activities.
3. Getting your workplace organized. You may not notice it, but when there is too much clutter on your desk, this could lower your productivity. Piles of papers stacked in your office could hinder productivity. Organize your workplace, make it neat and clean, and get rid of unnecessary things.
4. Be more efficient. When you could do things faster, then of course, this will add up to your productivity. Learn certain skills that could help you achieve this. For example, if you could type at a speed of 50 words per minute, then you could finish working on a document in lesser amount of time. You might spend money to learn the skill but in the end, it will be more beneficial to you.
Productivity Killers
While there are things that could significantly improve one’s productivity, there are also those that decrease it.
The first one is procrastination. This is a person’s tendency to keep putting things off. This happens because of several reasons such as dreading a particular task, the lack of skills needed to complete a task; or the misconception that there is enough time to work on a task “later” only to find out that there is too much work to be done, and as a result, tasks do not get accomplished.
The second productivity killer is lack of planning. When you do not plan ahead and go through your objectives, you could be doing things that are unnecessary and are really a waste of time. Lack of planning also contributes to not being able to set priorities, which is definitely a no-no in task management.
And lastly, doing so many things at the same time. Yes, you may argue that you can finish a lot of things quickly if you multi-task. However, when you think about it, this could result to so many mistakes, and having to correct those mistakes will take more time than just doing the tasks one at a time.
