Productivity Optimization Part Three - What Issues Can Impact an Individual’s Productivity?

The past couple weeks have been dedicated to productivity on this blog, as well as how you can get more of it, so today we wanted to go over some of the impediments to productivity that you’ll have to watch out for. We’ll also cover how you can overcome them so that your productivity is not hampered needlessly.

How Business Productivity Can Suffer

Distractions Are Everywhere

Humans are going to get distracted. It’s in our nature; research has suggested that our brains have developed for brief moments of concentration while taking breaks to scan the environment, presumably for threats. Nowadays, however, the need for this primal instinct—for most of us, at least—is not as great, and it gets in our way of productivity from time to time.

If you combine this with the multitude of stimuli in today’s world, it creates a perfect storm of distraction that can get in the way of productivity. This results in lost profits, and it has little to do with whether an employee is in the office or remote. There will always be distractions in some way, specifically because the brain is programmed to avoid doing things that it deems a threat to the individual—even if the threat isn’t really a threat at all.

Procrastination is a Problem, Too

Procrastination can create plenty of issues and challenges for businesses, but it sure can feel good to let your future self worry about things from time to time. Of course, this doesn’t take the stress off of your situation. If anything, it just makes it worse, particularly if there is a deadline to make. If you feed into the procrastination problem for too long, you create an avoidance loop that makes getting the work done virtually impossible.

Time Poverty is a Real Challenge

Time poverty is an issue that occurs when an individual does not have enough time outside the workplace to do what is needed for them to maintain a happy and satisfied life. If all someone does is go to work and sleep, then that’s bound to impact their productivity. The effects can be devastating, too, like physical and mental health problems, relationship issues, and even impacts to their work performance.

What Can You Do About These Issues?

To help you address productivity problems, we’ve put together a short formula you can use.

First, understand what your avoidance triggers are and try to reframe them into actionable steps toward your goal. You might say something like “I can’t do X until Y,” and then reframe it to “I need to do X, so I should do Y first.” Even something as simple as this can make a marked difference in how you approach tasks.

Next time, we’ll cover how your business can take a more active role in boosting productivity. If you want some help with productivity right now, however, you can ask us about how technology can make your life much easier. Just give us a call at (978) 482-2020 to learn more.