Being productive at work is the hardest task people find difficult to accomplish, our productivity can be affected by a lot of things, distractions, or co-workers being able to dedicate some time to a specific task, and finalizing it by the end of the day can be hard but not doable. Your productivity is, overall, affected by not having a specific method or strategy to help you in your daily task, methods, like time management, organisation, or tracking tasks. Nicole Umuhoza, a Personal Assistant in an international construction company, says that when a person applies methods that support their productivity, they will have a chance of improving their task delivery. “Strategies associated with improving productivity are often not hard to adapt, and if you are willing to drop some habits like daily distractions that are unnecessary, implementing those strategies will be easy for you. I know we all have distractions especially chats among co-workers always find a way to distract us all day but if you start by engaging with them lesser, and reserve the chats for lunch then time management will be easier to adapt, and you will be able to be productive,” she says. Umuhoza notes that time management can’t be learned overnight but practice like having a journal that helps you to plan your everyday tasks will help you to manage your time and to work on all tasks that you are assigned. Herve Ishimwe, a freelancer in a local tech company says that although taking unnecessary breaks is a distraction, sometimes breaks are essential when you need to be productive. “Sometimes people take unnecessary breaks. Any time they feel that they need to relax they take that break and lie to themselves that they deserve it but in reality taking a break every 3 or 5 minutes in the task results in ending the day without doing anything. However, breaks are necessary because working without resting results also into stress which causes a person to be unproductive, taking a break when you feel that your body really needs it is acceptable and will be effective in helping you complete all your tasks,” he says. He continues, “what also may cause a person to be unproductive without them having any help in it, is focusing on smaller tasks tricks your mind into thinking that they are the only tasks you need to finish today and you end with much bigger tasks for tomorrow that will interfere with your other tasks, so focusing on the biggest tasks keeps you focused on finishing the whole thing.” Ishimwe also suggests focusing on one task at a time because trying to do all tasks at once can tire you and will require you to use much time while transitioning through tasks. “Doing one thing at a time helps you to think properly, focus, and not get confused while juggling through tasks, and also focusing on one thing helps you to be fast and to use less time,” he notes. Additionally, Ishimwe says that concentrating on one task at a time until it is done can help you increase your productivity because when you focus on one project at a time, you are setting a single objective at once instead of many, which is likely to motivate you to complete one task before moving on to your next assignment.
