A day comprises 24 hours, so making the most of your time is crucial. Maximizing your productivity at work isn’t like climbing Mount Everest; all it requires is being more conscious about how well you manage your time. There are basically two ways to make the most out of your day, one is either putting in more hours and the other is planning your day better and working smarter.
The state of peak performance is highly desirable. That combination of intense focus and effortless power is very rarely achieved even among highly focused people. The peak performance or flow state is not only in high demand in the sports field but also in our digitally powered workspaces, and for good reason. Flow helps in staying motivated and engaged, resulting in better performance and even happiness.
How to Maximize Employee Productivity In the office Workplace
1. Set Interconnected Goals
According to a study, the key prerequisite to achieving flow is setting realistic goals. Astonishingly, far too many people are not aware of its importance of it. Hence, they don’t set work-related goals. But when we set realistic expectations or goals at work, we tend to focus better on our tasks.
Yet setting and achieving goals will just lead to a single flow experience sometimes, but our ultimate objective should be in achieving consistent flow, which can also be termed as a “unified flow experience.” To achieve this consistent flow, all our goals must be connected in such a way that the interdependencies between them are clear. And goals that are complex should be divided into smaller ones by stating objectives and their key results (OKRs) that are interconnected to one another and tracked over time.
2. Find Intrinsic Motivation in Work
The research study says external motivation isn’t enough to increase flow. Instead, intrinsic motivation drives the flow. Consider workplace or even in athletics, intrinsic motivation is often best powered by passion. When you engross yourself in work that you’re passionate about, success is more likely to follow. Leaders need to recognize this and prioritize fuelling their employee’s passion over other extrinsic rewards like promotions or bonuses.
3. Minimize Interruptions
One of the key steps to maximizing your productivity at work is taking control of your tasks. Interruptions are the biggest reason to lose this necessary feeling of control. Often, the interruptions that are the biggest reason for focus and productivity loss are unwanted meetings. All organizations can benefit greatly by doing a timely meeting audit and understanding the inevitable meeting bloat systematically. This could also help you add or remove a few things, or completely rebuild your meeting culture from the ground up.
4. Prioritize Mental Health
Flow or productivity is intimately linked to mental health. Happy and optimistic people are often more productive. The possibility of achieving and maintaining flow is increased when we prioritize mental health.
Over the last few years and also at the start of the Covid pandemic, organizations have made positive adaptations from mental health being considered a taboo to it being considered an important topic of discussion. But there’s still scope for improvement– mental health should not be considered the sole responsibility of employees only. It should be given equal importance by managers, too. Managers should be well-equipped with all the training and tools needed to help empower and support their employees. This measure will definitely help them take control of their mental health and build the right mental foundation for achieving flow.
Conclusion
Productivity or flow is defined by effortlessness, but this doesn’t mean that it can be achieved with minimal effort. Bringing small changes to your habits will exceptionally improve your office efficiency. This will help you to finish more quality work in a shorter span of time, and also limit the amount of time and energy spent on doing unnecessary tasks. By making the conscious efforts mentioned above, you can achieve that state of peak flow that is the zenith of success and also well-being.
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