Improve Productivity: Why is my performance so low and how to fix it with apps?

Improve productivity in the workplace – easier said than done, isn’t it? Especially when items on a task list seem never to end, and low energy makes everything ten times more difficult.

Luckily, you’re not the only person on this planet who struggles with maintaining the highest level of work performance.

Why is my productivity so low?

To be honest, it depends on you. Each individual faces challenges that affect their physical and mental health, possesses character traits that make them more prone to distractions, and is different in terms of stress resistance. Lower productivity may even depend on what happens during the day – unexpected, stressful events often lead to motivation and overall well-being decrease. Moreover, some reasons are beyond our control and often affect a larger group of people than just us, e.g., economic crisis.

However, a recent study points out also common reasons for lower job performance and productivity:

• Too many tasks at hand—and not enough time to complete all of them within the deadline,
• Undefined priorities —performing one task after another instead of creating a task order based on urgency,
• Toxic work culture—ridiculously high expectations set by a management team and executing them often at short notice,
• Worker burnout—overworking that leads to exhaustion and indifference to work responsibilities,
• Economic uncertainty—mounting stress caused by global crises (like wars or pandemics),
• Financial insecurity—or job insecurity, fear of becoming unemployed due to (unexpected) job cuts,
• Lack of purpose—company leaders’ failure to foster a culture of care and belonging results in low work motivation despite having the proper skills and experience for the job.

My manager has no interest in what I do; is it normal?

Other research shows that low productivity is directly related to receiving not enough feedback from company leaders. Employee productivity levels depend heavily on how said employees are treated by their supervisors. A good manager should know that poor communication leads to performance flaws and a less productive attitude, often resulting in projects ending up off schedule.

If not appropriately treated, workers may become more and more indifferent to fulfilling their responsibilities. Who would care when business leaders demanded results but didn’t give a toss explaining their expectations and providing constructive criticism?

Read more: A Guide to Overcoming Poor Time Management

Top strategies to improve productivity and work performance

Boosting productivity is a process that requires serious effort and time spent working on yourself and your mental balance. Let me show you some useful advice on how to take the first step towards a more efficient work style!

Identify the source of flaws

It’s hard to find a cure without knowing the reason behind the problem. That’s why, to improve productivity… 

Ask yourself a few important questions:

• Has something happened recently that affects my mental health?
• What I’m insecure about that doesn’t depend on me only?
• What do I expect about my work life in terms of growth and self-improvement?
• What do I want to accomplish, and what stops me from achieving it?
• Does my work life make me happy or miserable?
• Am I able to solve my problems alone, or do I need professional help?

Write down your answers and read them again after a day or two. This will help you gain a fresh perspective on your situation and identify the source of your lower work motivation.

Break big chunks of work into smaller tasks

Research confirms that the human brain can stay focused for up to two hours. Working on a single assignment for longer makes you more prone to distractions and interruptions. It isn’t actually anything bad—it’s just your neurons begging for a break. That’s why I highly recommend changing task management habits to divide the workload by creating subtasks and squeezing quality time between them.

Don’t underestimate the importance of these few minutes of relaxation between tasks. They play a crucial role in refreshing the mind and regaining focus. It’s safe to say that if you’re a break skipper, you’re always a minute away from better productivity.

Set boundaries

The moment your co-workers and managers notice you have a hard time refusing help, you’re lost. They’ll throw a few tasks at you occasionally, and before you know it, the extra work equals your own to-do list, leading you straight to winning the title of “most exhausted employee of the month.”

Bet it’s not what you want to get for your efforts.

Mastering the art of saying NO may be tough, but definitely it works best for boosting productivity. Taking on someone else’s tasks is against your priorities and makes you more prone to distractions, which takes a high toll on your energy.

Create a healthy distance between you and employees who sense and take advantage of your politeness. It may score you a few unpleasant faces, but instead, but is a small price for the time you regain by clearing your schedule from other employees’ tasks.

Delegate tasks

Asking your co-workers for help doesn’t mean you lack control over your schedule; it’s a sign of being responsible for your actions when a heavy workload strikes.

However, try not to cross the boundaries by making it a habit or by taking advantage of one person constantly. You don’t want your improved productivity to become someone else’s burden, do you?

Set time limits for daily tasks

Once you have divided a task into smaller chunks, estimate the number of hours it will take to complete each part. Stick to these limits to stay focused on your assignments and spend less time just messing around. This way, you’ll improve productivity in no time. 

Hint: Implement a time tracker to your workflow to automate the process and increase its accuracy. 

Spare a few hours per week on self-care

One of the easiest ways to boost your productivity is by being good to yourself. If you start browsing social media platforms every time you lose focus, why not spend this time polishing your skills or learning something new and helpful in unleashing your hidden potential?

Try finding a course or workshop for your profession. If your company offers a refund for self-improvement activities, then you have half the job done. If not, visit websites that offer free courses, like Coursera or FutureLearn.

Ask for professional help

Mental health problems caused by stress and overworking, like depression or job burnout, seriously affect work-life balance and approach to performing responsibilities. Observe yourself carefully so as not to miss any signals of decreased well-being.

Asking for professional help is not something to be ashamed of; it’s common sense, so visit a psychotherapist or even a psychiatrist if needed. This way, you’ll do your brain a favor by providing it with substances to stabilize the chemistry, regain control over life, and then improve productivity.

Find the powerful motivator

One of the most successful strategies for productivity improvement is treating yourself to something that brings you pleasure. A little bribery never hurts anyone, especially if you’re aiming high—rewarding yourself for all your efforts seems absolutely natural and motivating.

Find a motivator that aligns with your taste. Saving extra money for an overseas trip? Treating yourself to a tasty meal in a high-end restaurant? Buying books and goods for your favorite series? Everything is fine, as long as it keeps you motivated to do your best and improve productivity.

What are the best online tools to improve workplace productivity?

Good old pieces of paper to write down thoughts and a timer to track work hours are still fine; however, a modern approach to business productivity requires more sophisticated solutions. By automating tedious, repetitive tasks, you can save at least a few hours per week and spend them on what really matters at work.

Time management: TimeCamp

♦ Time-data-based way to improve productivity

Know how much time it takes to complete tasks in a project to create a balanced work schedule and maximize productivity of your team. TimeCamp eases the pain of filling out timesheets and helps turn the collected data into reports full of actionable insights.

Creating strategies to improve business productivity is a breeze with TimeCamp. Performance stats are available for both supervisors and their employees, allowing team members to control their own time usage while participating in team-focused productivity practices.

Key features of TimeCamp for productivity improvement:

• Automatic time tracking that works in the background and seamlessly fills timesheets with work time,
• Dashboard for employees with breakdowns of top-browsed apps and websites and top activity categories,
• Goals report that allows you to set an productivity objective and compare the assumptions with actual results,
• Integrations with other productivity tools, like a to-do list app.

Free

$

0.00

billed annually

Free plan includes all the essentials (accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more).

Starter

$

2.99

billed annually

Starter plan includes unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking.

Premium

$

4.99

billed annually

Premium plan includes one integration, billable time, budget and estimates, apps and websites tracking, project archiving, and more.

Ultimate

$

7.99

billed annually

Ultimate plan includes unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more.

Enterprise

Talk to sales

Schedule here

Enterprise Plan, designed for companies with 50+ employees, includes priority support with SLA, self-hosted and private cloud instances, custom integrations, and more.

Budget-friendly productivity software

Get TimeCamp for free to improve your time management skills, boost productivity, and always deliver work on time.

Sign up free!

Prioritizing tasks: TimeCamp Planner

♦ Implement and execute best project management strategies with a Kanban-based tool

Squeeze the most from your workload with a powerful project planning and management tool. TimeCamp Planner allows you to create realistic project schedules based on available resources and then helps execute the plan till the work is done.

Planner combines the features of task management software and a messenger-like team collaboration tool. With its assistance, there’s no longer a need to jump between two separate tools to manage tasks and communicate, so teams can actually save time collaborating and increase productivity in a trice.

Key features of Planner for business productivity improvement:

• Multiple ways of task management: Kanban boards, timelines, calendars, Overwatch, lists and My Tasks,
• Priorities for distinguishing important tasks,
• To-do list to summarize task items and track their completion,
• Time tracking integration for accurate estimates and project resource usage monitoring.

Pricing: A generously packed free plan is available for unlimited users. Additional features like scheduling or different views cost $2.99 per user per month.

To-do lists: Any.do

♦ Keep and manage each to-do list in one easily accessible place

Some of us may find chaos creative and productive, but when it comes to teams, it disorganizes workflow and drains member’s energy. Believe it or not, it only takes a simple to-do list to put all the work in order.

Any.do provides teams with a productive workspace with custom-made templates and shared calendars to coordinate any project or workflow. People view streamlines progress tracking of all the employees, so everyone knows what their responsibilities are, and managers can intervene in case of any productivity flaws and performance bottlenecks.

Key features of Any.do for business productivity improvement:

• A shareable to-do list to help teams stay on the same page with the current workload,
• Reminders to make sure no one misses any important task,
• Daily planner to keep an eye on daily assignments or personal activities,

Pricing: A free plan is available for solo usage. Teams can purchase their highest plan for $4.99 per user per month.

Wellness and mental fatigue control: Headspace

♦ Everything your mind needs for a less stressful life

Transform mental healthcare at your company to create an organized and productive work environment. Headspace provides an evidence-based prevention and treatment experience, offering soothing meditations, mindfulness tips, sleep content, and text-based coaching. Every solution is available at hand, ready to use anytime when low performance strikes.

Headspace team promises productivity improvement after 30+ days of using their service and significant changes in stress and anxiety management.

Key features of Headspace for productivity improvement:

• A custom employee assistant program for the workforce and their families with on-demand mental health coaching
• One-on-one video therapy and psychiatry services, available even on weekends and late weekday hours,
• Mindfulness and meditation for self-care and focus improvement

Pricing: Not available; sign up for a free demo to get the offer customized according to your team’s needs.

Cognitive function improvement: CogniFit

♦ Test and improve your brain’s agility

Keeping your mind in good shape is not easy, especially if you work in a stressful environment. High stress levels may translate into performance flaws and failures to meet deadlines. Luckily, you can avoid it easily with CogniFit – a cognitive function training app that helps improve brain plasticity.

CogniFit helps you discover your strengths and weaknesses with a set of games carefully designed by a team of psychologists. An easy-to-use app allows you to monitor your progress everywhere you are, thus identifying problems with cognitive functions when they occur, not when they require serious intervention.

Key features of Cognifit for productivity improvement:

• A battery of cognitive tests to determine the level of cognitive functioning,
• Brain training to improve aspects like hand-eye coordination, focus, divided attention, various types of memory, or processing speed,
• Brain games and quizzes for challenging your brain through fun activities.

Pricing: Individual plans start at $11.99 per month (billed monthly). Teams can subscribe for one of the paid Family plans

Focus improvement: Forest

♦ Don’t let your focus drop, or the tree will die (please no)

If you need an additional motivator to help avoid distractions, try planting a tree with the Forest app. Each focus session makes the tree grow, but once you leave the app halfway through, it withers, and you need to start from a seedling once again. 

Forest app helps diminish procrastination habits and positively affects productivity. Staying entirely focused for a long time turns a single tree into a whole forest! 

Key features of Forest for productivity improvement:

• Virtual tree that grows with every full focus session,
• Trees for the Future, regular donations for planting orders the Forest app creates from virtual coins spent by users.
• Now, it also comes as a Chrome extension. 

Pricing: $3.99 with in-app purchases.

Brainstorming: Mentimerer

♦ Interactive tool for more productive brainstorming sessions

Nothing engages and makes the team productive like good, old brainstorming. Digital tools like Mentimeter help you squeeze the most out of every session, giving you tools to collect and store ideas in an easily accessible and shareable place.

Invite your team to share their ideas using Open-Ended slides and then open the voting on their favorite responses. Once you get results, Mentimeter helps you identify key themes and priorities using the AI grouping feature. This way, you can gather valuable insights and make well-informed decisions while everyone stays on the same page.

Key features of Mentimeter for productivity improvement:

• AI MentiBuilder that drafts interactive presentations in seconds,
• Live polling to create interactive polls at hand and increase employees’ engagement,
• Word cloud for teams to build associations and discover which words appear more frequently.

Pricing: A free plan is available for up to 50 participants. Paid plans start at $11.99 per user per month.

Ola Rybacka Content Specialist at TimeCamp, foodie and doxie lover, full-time otaku. よろしくお願いします！

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