By Oscar Waterworth
Soon after starting a business, many entrepreneurs find out that even if a day was 48 hours long, they would still not have enough time to get everything done. Running and developing a business is difficult on its own and the lack of time isn't helping in any way. That's why many entrepreneurs rely on time management apps to help them out.
Although time may be of the essence, there's neither a magic formula that will help you become productive, nor the one that will help you manage time more efficiently. In the end, it's down to you alone to find what motivates you and what makes you productive. There are, however, various strategies that may help you improve productivity and work performance and here are a few of them.
Try Pulling an All-Nighter
Working all night in order to get things done has worked for many college students over the years. You could try to reconnect with caffeine sources and remember your college days, pull an all-nighter and get the much-needed inspiration and motivation. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that people tend to be more creative when they're tired.
Furthermore, when people are tired, they also tend to be more distracted, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, when we're distracted, our brain performs better when we need to think outside the box and solve quite difficult problems. Therefore, pulling the all-nighter may do wonders for you, but you may also experience an existential crisis mid-night, when caffeine kicks in and you realize you're not as young as you once were.
Get More sleep
It's the oldest trick in the book; get enough sleep, and you'll be able to accomplish so much more. However, sleep is the first thing to go when people have too much on their plates. After all, people believe that sleep is the easiest thing to sacrifice in order to get more time to complete tasks. However, sleep deprivation can do serious harm to your body, as well as your productivity, motivation and creativity.
Not only will you be groggy, stressed out, exhausted and experience mood swings, but you'll actually do much less work and make much more mistakes. Sleeping helps repair your neural pathways, while helping you maintain both long and short-term memory and the ability to learn new things. Therefore, if you want more productivity, don't wear yourself out by skipping sleep.
Let Music Boost Your Productivity
Music is one of the best motivators ever. Not only does it help you focus, but listening to music stimulates your brain to produce more neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, which are responsible for feeling good. Listening to music will help you become more focused, productive and it will inspire your creativity.
This is especially handy when there's a lot of background noise either at your office or at home. In fact, background noise can increase stress levels and decrease your performance and productivity. Therefore, you can always use your in ear headphones to completely eliminate those noises and let music help you focus on what you're currently doing.
Allocate Less Time for Work
A well-known fact is that entrepreneurs tend to work long hours and even exceed 60 hours per week. However, there’s a good reason why a 40-hour week is optimal. The main reason is that it helps improve productivity, while preventing burnouts. Prolonged working hours may lead to severe health issues and substance abuse.
That's why there's that old saying: "Work smarter, not harder." If you allocate more time to finish a project, it doesn't mean that it will magically be finished more successfully, it will only take longer to complete. Instead of burning yourself out and becoming counterproductive, set less time for work and use the much-needed break to recharge your stamina and relax your mind.
Productive Procrastination
Usually, procrastination is a sign of a burnout and that you're physically, mentally and emotionally worn out and unable to find any motivation whatsoever. However, good types of procrastination are actually beneficial for you. But, telling an entrepreneur to procrastinate is the same as telling them to jump off a cliff, because they believe that spending time not working is wasting time in general. However, no one is telling you to procrastinate indefinitely.
Instead, set some time to completely disengage from work and commit to some other activities; doesn't matter what those activities are, as long as they are not work-related. This will help reduce stress levels and help improve your motivation and productivity. In addition, it will improve your overall well-being and help you grow your business successfully.
Managing time effectively to get more work done is more than a difficult task for every entrepreneur. However, the key is to find what works for you best and utilize those practices to improve productivity, while also taking care of yourself both physically and mentally. There's no secret recipe that will solve all your problems at once, but if you make an effort you'll find a way to organize everything.
Oscar Waterworth is a writer and a senior editor at Bizzmarkblog. He frequently blogs about the latest developments in the tech, marketing, and business industries. To stay updated with Oscar’s latest posts, you can follow him on Twitter.