Recently, I was thinking of how my life has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Almost two months have passed already and for me, every day looks approximately the same. At the moment I’m working from home and I believe that many of us have been dreaming about having a home office one day. Personally I thought how nice it could be if you can work from home and be so flexible with your time and duties. Now I can say – be careful with your dreams because from that experience I realised that it is very complicated to stay motivated and productive each day when it all looks the same. Therefore, I came with the idea to do some research and find out some useful tools that I can use to increase my daily productivity.
The first tool which I found sounds very ambiguous and some of you will think that it is not related to productivity at all, it is called the “Salami Technique”. From my personal experience, I could say that most of the office people are too often overwhelmed just by looking at the task list on Monday morning and not knowing from where to start. This is where the fear of Mondays stems from when we face the task list for the upcoming weeks. As a result, without planning the steps needed to get your tasks done, it can become very stressful. The whole idea of the “Salami Technique” is when you realize that you are undertaking a major task, the first thing to do is not to start doing it immediately for fear of missing the deadline. Instead, you need just sit down and divide it into smaller tasks, like salami slices. Slice it to as many small tasks as possible. That way you do all the small steps, and, accordingly, you will get the major task done easily.
The second tool which I found interesting and previously used while I was studying at the university is “To-do List”.To-do List makes our lives much easier and meaningful and I strongly believe that everyone should use it for planning their day. I want to share with you some advantages of that list. First of all, a To-do List creates order in our daily routine. All our plans and projects are getting broken down into small chunks that look more attractive and doable. Also, it not only creates the order but also gives you a strategy for getting things done. Second, a To-do List helps to prioritize and manage tasks effectively. As a result, you can see all of the items at a glance and emphasize what most important needs to be done now, according to timelines and importance. Third, a To-do List makes you feel more productive. I tested myself and found out that it is a great feeling to cross the items off from your list. Personally, it gives me a positive productive feeling and this alone is worth keeping lists for. I won’t continue to list all the advantages of To-do List, I would rather encourage you to try to create one yourself. This is the best way to realize which changes one small thing can bring into your life.
A third tool, which I decided to implement in order to increase my productivity is setting up “SMART Goals”. George Doran came up with the concept of SMART goals and objectives in 1981 because he believed that managers of all types of companies should have an outline plan for achieving their business goals. This is because when goals are clearly defined, people are more motivated to take action toward achieving such goals. SMART goals and objectives provide a clear and objective framework for setting and managing goals. This can help people to avoid falling into the trap of setting vague and unclear goals that they do not understand and have no idea how to achieve. There is no clear definition of SMART goals and objectives but rather, the term is tied up in these five criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound (Paul J. Meyer, Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and Beyond, Meyer Resource Group, Incorporated, 2003).
You don’t need to think about it for a long time in order to realize that all these criteria will make your goals and tasks more achievable. As my director likes to say: “There is nothing to lose”, therefore, I will advise you the same. There is nothing to lose to test the SMART goals by using it and, as a result, you will definitely see the difference. For example, if you want to lose weight it’s not enough just to set up a goal such as – I want to lose weight, it sounds too vague. Instead, set up a goal to lose 10 kilos in total by losing 2 kilos every week. That way you make your goal specific, time-bound, measurable, attainable, and finally – realistic.
In conclusion, I want to say that since I started to use these tools I shared with you, I can already see the difference in my productivity. Even though my daily routine looks pretty much the same, however, at the moment I have all the things to do set up in order. That way it helps me to stay more productive and motivated during the day. Therefore, just go ahead and test some of these tools yourself or find others which will help you to stay productive these days.
