Is it talking to your coworkers? Give them a heads-up that you’re working on an important task and that you’ll chat on a break.Is it a nosy workplace? Invest in noise-canceling headphones.

Some things need to be discussed and brainstormed in a meeting; others can be just an email. If the former is the case, keep your meetings on-point and productive.

Other than the usual ways to combat procrastination, disorganization, and other nemeses to productivity, there are also some fun and/or interesting things you can try to maximize efficiency.

Dunja is a content manager passionate about time management and self-improvement. After years of trying out all the productivity techniques she managed to come across, her goal became to share her knowledge and help others to become the best, most successful versions of themselves.

Every successful person’s morning routine seems to include waking up extremely early, having a strict workout routine, taking a shower with cold water, meditation, reading, keeping a gratitude journal, having an extremely healthy breakfast… The list goes on. And, all that before 9 AM.

Be careful when choosing your accountability buddy, as this is a two-edged sword. It can backfire as you end up enabling each other to procrastinate more, together — which is the exact opposite of what we aim to accomplish.

You don’t have to become a fan of French cuisine — the Eat the frog method entails doing the task you dread the most at the very beginning of your workday.The “frog” can be an extremely difficult task, an extremely important task, or an extremely difficult and important task. Only when you’re done with the “frog”, shift to the next task of less importance.

Efficiency means achieving maximum productivity with minimal effort. In our case, that also means working smart and being intentional about your time. There are a lot of ways to achieve this, from minimizing distractions and “eating the frog” to finding the right playlist and giving yourself little rewards for accomplishing tasks. You just have to find the ways that work best for you and you’ll be on a good way to maximize your efficiency.

Recent studies beg to differ — working from home seems to be more productive than working from the office. A study by Stanford University done over 9 months that included 16,000 workers found that working from home increased productivity by 13%. The increase in performance has contributed to a more convenient work environment, as well as fewer breaks and sick days.

Moreover, time tracking facilitates accurately estimating the time you need to finish a certain project. It also provides data that will help review your performance.

Ask yourself — what tasks align with your exact skill set and must be done by you specifically? Those are your most important tasks — make them a priority on your to-do list. Try to delegate the ones with the lowest priority level so you can have enough time and energy to tackle your main tasks.

Getting rest is as productive as working. Forcing yourself to work all the time will lead to burnout, exhaustion, and lower performance since you will be too tired to focus properly.

Some tasks are extraordinarily boring and/or hard, but they have to be done — and, what’s even worse, they have to be done by you specifically.

You should always try to do your best. But, when you become overly critical and set unrealistically high standards for yourself and others, it can become a problem.

According to a survey by ConnectSolutions, 77% of those who work remotely at least a few times per month show increased productivity — 30% do more work in less time and 24% do more work for the same amount of time.

Time tracking software used by millions. Clockify is a time tracker and timesheet app that lets you track work hours across projects.

This is especially true if your team works remotely or has adopted a hybrid work model. In that case, it’s equally important to find the right communication tools, from emails to team chat apps. My team uses Pumble as our team chat and collaboration app of choice — it’s great for teams looking for a budget solution as it’s free for unlimited users and it offers access to unlimited chat history.

Effective communication in the workplace is clear, concise, respectful, as well as open and frequent. Everyone should have their turn to talk and voice their input during team discussions, while others listen actively. Always keep in mind the point of the discussion and the problem you’re trying to resolve. Good communication minimizes mistakes and misunderstandings and makes everything go smoother.

Others, however, probably don’t hold the same sentiment when it comes to your time, so you have to learn to say “No”. Be assertive, but polite; give people a reason for your refusal, but don’t explain too much and go into too much detail.

If you don’t know, you should start tracking your time. This practice will help you analyze the way you spend your time, and provide answers to questions such as:

If you’re one of those people who can’t function without music, finding the perfect tunes to work to is an important factor in your success. Some prefer apps with background sounds, some enjoy lo-fi or jazz radio, some have a YouTube playlist specifically for hustling. Or maybe noise-canceling headphones do the trick for you? Music can affect productivity both positively and negatively, so make sure you find the right playlist.

The first step is the hardest one — that’s why it should never take more than 2 minutes to do. Make it as easy as possible to start.

After a lot of empirical research, I came to the conclusion that the best way to bring myself to do such tasks is to promise myself a small reward. I talked to people who use the opposite method: they choose a punishment for themselves if they don’t do the task, but I like the reward method more. It makes you form a positive association with your task, instead of a negative one.

“Write” becomes “open a new document”, “exercise” becomes “put on your workout clothes”, “go through your emails” becomes “open the email app.”

On the positive side, you don’t need more than 24 hours — there are numerous ways to get the most out of the time you already have.

Try to remember that done is better than perfect and finish the task even though it’s not 100% perfect. This mindset will:

Speaking about being proactive and planning ahead, take into consideration that there’s a possibility that your plan may fail. As much as it’s well thought out, there’s always something unexpected that may occur. To minimize the surprise factor, go over the things that may go wrong and make a plan B, just in case.

For example, if you get a lot of emails that require the same or very similar answer, make a template instead of typing out the same thing multiple times.

People usually do this when it comes to going to the gym or eating healthily, but hey, why don’t apply it to work too? If you struggle with procrastination, find someone who’s in the same boat as you and keep each other accountable and on track.

According to Atlassian, the average office worker spends 31 hours a month attending unproductive meetings. The 91% of average meeting goers claimed they daydream during the meeting, 73% did other work, 39% even slept, and 45% felt overwhelmed by the number of meetings they attend.

If you get stuck, there’s no shame in asking for help. I understand that it can be nerve-wracking, especially if you’re a new hire, but the fastest way to learn is to ask. Besides, it’s better to ask and do it correctly than to make mistakes that could easily be avoided.

Try holding a standing meeting — it’s, just as the name says, a meeting where everyone stands. That may seem unusual, however, it has a number of benefits, as it:

✉️ What is your favorite way to maximize efficiency? Have you already tried some of our tips and did they work for you? Would you add something to our list? Write to us at blogfeedback@clockify.me for a chance to be featured in one of our future articles.

The first option should be to check if the answer hasn’t already been shared with you or is just a Google search away. If it’s not, find the right person for your problem and ask away.

Discover the pros and cons of first shift hours to make the best decision for your career path and achieve company goals.

Find out how many work days there will be in 2024, calculate your work days easily, and maintain your work-life balance.

Learn how to calculate work hours per year, along with annual non-work hours, and understand why calculating work hours per year is important.

Does it ever happen you spend the whole day completing less important tasks from your to-do list, without tackling the high-priority ones? Or, you spend all your time writing to-do lists, researching, and thinking about every possible outcome… without doing any actual work?

Experts recommend a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night, as well as taking regular breaks when you’re working so your mind can stay fresh and concentrated. Working intervals can be anywhere from 25 minutes (with 5-minute breaks, as is the case in the Pomodoro technique) to 90 minutes (with 20 minutes of break time).

When you manage to start, it suddenly becomes much easier to continue doing what you need to do and eventually finish it.

If you find yourself doing something over and over again, don’t waste time always repeating the same process — automate it instead.

As much as we’re fans of productivity apps, downloading and attempting to use every single one of them usually does more harm than good. To prevent getting overwhelmed, start with downloading just the ones you feel will help you the most and test them out to see if they work for you.

Time is precious — you only get 1440 minutes each day to accomplish everything, including your work and your private life. Be picky with how you spend it.

Busyness doesn’t necessarily equal productivity. Completing tasks is a better indicator of productivity than the amount of time spent working.

If you don’t know where to start, look up inspiration online. My personal favorites are aesthetic desk setups and stationery collections on YouTube — I watch them like I’m enchanted. Other than bringing me an unexplainable amount of joy, they also make me impulsively buy a lot of unnecessary things, so watch them with caution.

Preparation is the key to success — the better you know your workflow, what can disrupt it, and what the necessary steps to avoid the interruptions are, the more efficient you will be.

If you rarely have time for family and friends, if you’re always doing something but not getting closer to your goals, and if you feel guilty when you’re not working — you’re definitely busy, but are you productive?

Now that we’ve busted some myths, here are some of the most effective ways to maximize efficiency — from getting the best use out of your time to beating procrastination.

Efficient people are proactive people. They focus on what they control and make their own path by making decisions, instead of letting the current circumstances choose their path. How to be more proactive?

Learn everything there is to know about working the third shift and use it to transform your business into a 24-hour functioning machine.

?If you’d like app recommendations, we made a list of 35 best apps for time management in 2021, as well as Top productivity resources on the Internet (that also includes websites, podcasts, YouTube channels, and blogs).

Sometimes there’s a misconception that working from home essentially means watching Netflix in your pajamas and playing with your pets while your work laptop is open next to you.