9 Productivity Hacks for Busy IT Professionals

   

Like millions of other professionals, you are struggling to get organized and stay there. Between keeping appointments while churning out endless hours to keep your company moving forward, there is just not much time left in a day.

Most tech professionals aspire to conquer more and more work in a lot less time. In the hectic tech world, creativity is practically a job requirement. So how do you manage an ever-expanding workload and not get overwhelmed entirely by the many things you need to accomplish?

In this post, you will learn how to do just that by applying these Productivity Hacks for Busy Tech Professionals. Even with the “productivity enhancers,” such as hitting the gym every morning adds more cluster into your life.

Instead of adding more demands, look at these productivity hacks to see how much simplicity you can add to your life.

Set Goals for Yourself and Stay Focused

When you set your goals, they will become your North Star that will guide you from day to day. Writing your goals on paper will aid you in achieving the success you are aiming for with your profession. The trick to setting goals is to make sure they are inspiring and realistic.
You also want to make sure that your goals still are in front of you always so that you will see what you need to focus on to achieve each goal.

Get a Calendar and Maintain the Task, Always

Whether you choose a high-tech app on every device you own or a simple old-timey desk calendar, the key is to use it faithfully. If you see yourself at the first of a month still relying on sticky notes, you need to back up and start applying your attention to your calendar. Get one and use it religiously.
If you see your goals and your task on your calendar, when you mark it as complete you get a feeling of satisfaction and relief. Go ahead, find the schedule that you like and use it.
“Everyone has their own secrets and tricks that make themselves more productive. The hack that works for one person may not work for the other.”

Set Your Priorities at the Beginning of Every Day

Set a goal to devote at least 20 minutes before each business day to set up your priorities. Devote this time to you and you alone. So, this means you need to ignore emails, forward calls to voicemail, and keep a precise schedule.

If you struggle to set this time aside, make appointments with yourself to reserve the time with you and you alone. Where do you this? On your calendar, where else?

Thanks to Ian McClarty From Phoenixnap.com for this tip.

Prioritize Your Priorities in Sections

Attack your foremost priority first and the lowest priority last. That may seem like an obvious task, but how often do you want to do the easy-and quick, low payoff task and save the hard stuff for later, or last?
You know already that later sometimes never happens. Prioritize-it is the best way to balance out your schedule from hectic to less stressing.

Tackle and Conquer Your To-Dos

Do you feel as though your to-do list never seems to get shorter? If this sounds familiar, it is time for you to change how you are keeping track of your time. Here is the tip of the day-this goes back to your schedule. Start scheduling your daily to-do list and mark them off as you accomplish them.

“By making a to-do list, you are giving yourself a clear visual of the timing you must carry out each task. Having a to-do list turns into an action item. Moreover, it also guarantees you will not burn the midnight oil or wake at the break of dawn to complete lingering tasks” said Jason Perkins a Senior WordPress Developer.

Email Management is Vital

Who does like cleaning out their email inbox? No one does. Email clutter is a same headache as the physical clutter. Digital clutter can distract your workflow just as if it were paper letters landing on your desk at rapid speeds.
When it comes to managing your email inbox, there are many strategies and suggestions available online. It is essential that you find one that works best for your work.

Tie up Loose Ends at the End of the Day

Never leave your office with loose ends lying around everywhere. Take at least 20 minutes at the closing of your day to tie up all those scattered tasks. Rummage through your remaining tasks and assign some to others if possible. Try doing the following to wrap up your day with no lingering headaches to face the next morning:

– Forward coworker’s information when needed
– Respond to voicemail and email messages
– File items that need keeping
– Toss the stuff that is not worth keeping
– Review your schedule for the following day

Clean up Your Workspace and Organize

It is difficult to stay organized while taking care of your daily task when your office and desk is a mess. Spend an hour or maybe two, each week, to organize your desk and paperwork that is more than likely taking over the entire surface area.
Cleaning and organizing mean filing the things that are important and tossing the stuff you no longer need. Even though a cluttered desk is no longer a sign of a cluttered mind, it sure will not help you conquer and remain organized for success.

Set Realistic Goals for Yourself

When you are getting all your task in order and compiled for the day, be sure not to overwhelm yourself with more work than what you can complete.
Overwhelming yourself with a workload that you are expecting to carry out in one day is not doing anything except adding stress to your already hectic day. Do not set the bar too high and always keep your real expectations in check.

Everyone has their own secrets and tricks that make themselves more productive. The hack that works for one person may not work for the other. If there are some of the hacks that you feel needs tweaking, by all means, do what works best for you.

The purpose of this post is to help you churn out the best results to become more productive. You will find when you are more productive you are also more successful. Utilize the hack that you feel you need the most help with your work.
Once you see where your time is going, you can better schedule, better approach and better accomplish.