Constant connectivity has changed our professional lives. In the course of the working day, it’s estimated we check our emails an average of 15 times a day—and that doesn’t include messaging apps that keep us even more plugged into the minutiae of the working day of our colleagues.

With this in mind, it can be overwhelming to try and manage this alongside our actual work and at the same time the demands of our jobs have risen, interest in productivity solutions have unsurprisingly also skyrocketed.

Now more than ever, people and their workplaces are buzzing with the term ‘productivity’. But what are we actually referring to when we use this term? And how can we take control of our week in order to produce work while keeping ourselves from overwhelm? These are the questions we’ll tackle in the article below.

What is productivity?

Productivity refers to the output of a person or workplace over a period of time.

The concept is often confused with efficiency, which describes how that output is generated—if something is done quickly or slowly, for example, it relates to efficiency, not productivity. You are productive if you produce, not if you simply produce more in a fast amount of time.

How can planning create a more productive environment?

Like most things in work and life, careful and considered planning can help us achieve our goals. Often just knowing what’s ahead down the road can do wonders for how to navigate your path, especially when you can effectively anticipate how much time and energy should be dedicated to each particular task.

Implementing a set of strategies to help you become more productive ensures that work your tackling is the right work—as in, the most pressing or more important—is carefully considered and thought out, leading to a higher chance of success, as well as the fact that your time is planned and managed properly to ensure optimum efficiency and avoid potential burnout.

Ready to get planning? Start with a Canva template such as Yellow Black Floral Feminine General Weekly Planner or Violet Simple Elegant Work Schedule Planner to jot down your aims for the week.

Common myths about productivity

In the quest to get more things ticked off your list, you might be thinking of ‘productive time’ as something that will alter the course of your day or week.

Certainly, well-planned and well-spent time can positively impact your workload and your energy levels. But in the endless quest to fit more into every day, there’s a temptation to do more just for the sake of more.

There are a few myths that are counter to the idea of true productivity. One is the confusion between productivity and efficiency. In short, the concept of productivity measures the results over a period of time whereas efficiency measures how those results are generated, with resources, such as time and money, is a big factor. Being more efficient doesn’t always mean being more productive and it doesn’t necessarily mean more work will get done. It’s about getting things done properly, rather than getting many things done in a short space of time.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that more time doesn’t equal more work, especially as your days stretch on. In fact, working longer hours in a block of time makes for a staggeringly less productive output than a standard stretch. Studies confirm that longer hours actually have a detrimental effect on work, proving that overwork isn’t the answer. Bear this in mind when planning your week for the ultimate productivity.

Need some motivation to get started? Try pinning an inspirational quote to your workstation to keep you focused. Canva’s Gold Corporate Quote Productivity Hack Social Media Post or Bisque and White Traditional Life Quote Poster template can help.

Productivity hacks

There are many strategies that aim to assist you with ticking off some tasks. All or some (or none) could work for you, so try to be flexible when working them into your day. Here are 10 of our favourites.

Minimize distractions

It may seem obvious to ensure that you allow yourself no distractions while working on tasks that require a particular ‘flow’, often referred to as ‘deep work’.

But these distractions aren’t limited to just the constant pinging of your email—it’s about anything that will take you away from your flow, even if it seems to be related to it. Meetings or phone calls relating to the task should wait, too—once your mind is derailed from the task at hand, studies show that it takes an average of 25 minutes to recalibrate and get back on task.

In the context of a day, if that happens even just twice, that’s a lot of time to lose in a busy working environment. Try to dedicate one day a week to meetings so as to not chop into important blocks of time that could be dedicated to deep work and, it goes without saying, that muting notifications during those periods is non-negotiable.