In today’s business world, long and grueling work weeks are the norm, burnout is all too common, and success is often quantified by how many hours you have poured into a job. This work style that emphasizes constant grinding in order to get ahead is outdated and often, unproductive. What if you could utilize a few simple ideas in order to simplify your entire workday? Keep reading to discover some of the best productivity hacks out there!

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are at the forefront of the new wave of business productivity. They can save business owners up to 70% compared to traditional employees and offer an extremely wide range of skills, such as email management, data entry, sales support, customer service, marketing, and social media management. There are hundreds of thousands of virtual assistants out there, but make sure to hire the best of the best for your business. My Mountain Mover has a rigorous vetting process and hires only the top 2% of virtual assistants.

Tackle Your Hardest Tasks First

Although the saying, “Early bird gets the worm” may seem a bit outdated, there is actually much to be said for consistently rising with the sun and getting your day started early. Our brains are at their peak performance and power during the morning, so tackling our hardest task first thing will result in the best results. Additionally, knocking your hardest task off of your to-do list early in the day will give you a boost of motivation and will leave the easier tasks for the afternoon, when the after-lunch slump kicks in and you are operating on less brainpower.

Make Your Breaks Strategic

The human brain is not designed to work intensely for more than 25 minutes, give or take. Too many times we get caught up in a project only to realize that we have been working for hours and have little to show for it. This revelation resulted in The Pomodoro Technique, which recommends working in 25-minute spurts followed by a 5-minute break. This will allow you to dedicate your best efforts to a task while keeping your brain from burning out. It also helps you organize your schedule and break down your workday into manageable chunks.

Stop Multitasking

Although multitasking may seem like it helps you accomplish more, what you are actually doing is switching between tasks quickly, which disrupts your thinking patterns and actually decreases your productivity. Studies have shown that multitasking actually has negative effects on the human mind and costs you more time than it saves. In order to stop multitasking, you must retrain your brain to focus on one single task at a time. This may seem counterintuitive to our business obsessed society, but focusing solely on one task at a time will actually create better results and will save you time.

Create a Dedicated Work Space

As most of the world has made the transition from the office to their home, decreasing productivity can be a real threat. Now more than ever, if you are working from home, you should prioritize creating a dedicated workspace in order to maximize your hours. If you can’t dedicate an entire room to work in, even creating just a corner of the house or a desk will help you differentiate between “work mode” and “chill mode”. By clearly differentiating between your workspace and your living space, you will have a more productive workday and once done, will be able to transition into relaxation more easily and not be stressed out about work duties after hours.

Leave Your Work AT Work

One of the most necessary elements of productivity is knowing when to unplug and step away from your work. In today’s chaotic, achievement-driven society, most Americans work until they are numb, exhausted, and totally useless. Getting those sorely needed 8 hours of sleep every night is one of the best ways to maintain maximum productivity. Install a notification blocker and turn it on once you log off for the day. This will ensure that your brain gets the necessary break that it needs, allowing you to fully unwind and recharge for the next.