14 Tips: How To Be More Productive At Work

After reading these simple tips, you'll wonder why you hadn't done ALL of them before! Be productive at work so you can enjoy your weekend...and every weekend!

Buzzfeed wins again with this list of tips and lifehacks to help you sail through your day completing more than you probably have in a long time. It's the little things that seem to take most of your time. You know, those things that make you wonder what sucked all the extra minutes out of your really long workday.

There are 14 simple things you can do right now!

Two Minute Rule: If it can be done within 2 minutes... DO IT! Planning to do it later will actually take you longer.
Five Minute Rule: Work on something (anything) for at least five minutes. This is helpful for those things you keep putting off or don't quite understand. One of two things will happen. 1) You'll find that you keep going and actually accomplish that task or 2) You've made progress and are happy to know that you only spent 5 minutes on it.
Develop Good Habits: If you want to be good at something, you need to do it on a daily basis. D-A-I-L-Y. Saturday and Sunday are considered "daily".
Streamline Your Email: Check email at certain times (which isn't in the middle of a project) and have your goal be to clear out your inbox. Here are some tips on how to keep that dreaded inbox clear. Just so you know, we're working hard on this one, too. It's a difficult task.
Divide and Conquer: Take all your small tasks and bunch them up into one. Start crossing those small "to-do" tasks off your list.
Plan to Sleep: This sounds crazy but if you can plan when you will be sleeping (yes, like a child), your days will take on an organized feeling. Try it and see if it works well for you.
Track How You Spend Your Time: If even for a few days, write down everything you do including playing games, spending time on social media, looking for lost items, eating lunch...EVERYTHING! You don't have to show the list to anyone, it's just a good way to see where you might be using your time wisely and where you are wasting time. Buzzfeed also recommended an app called aTimeLogger to track your time.
Become a Minimalist: Get rid of all of your choices. Spending time picking out an outfit, shoes, purse, makeup, cell phone cover, sunglasses, desktop background, pen and coffee creamer may only take up less than a minute but if you add it all up every day, that's some serious time wasted. Find what looks good on you, what you are most comfortable with and things that work the best and go with it!
Create Shortcuts: You may open up a computer program and scroll through pictures or files to find what you're looking for. What about putting a shortcut on your computer? What about calling someone back? There's actually a program that can remind you later rather than you taking your focus off your current project. That's just the beginning. Buzzfeed introduced us to Ifttt.com ("If This Then That") which allows you to automate different things through what they call 'Recipes'. For example, you take a picture and it will automatically be sent to Dropbox to be saved. You do nothing other than set it up once.
Deactivate Distractions: We're talking email notifications, Facebook notifications, anything that beeps, buzzes or pops up on your computer screen. Even turning of the volume is helpful. Stay Focused is a pretty rad Google Chrome app.
Stop Working: It's truly as straightforward as it sounds. Are you just staring at your computer not doing anything but wasting time? Walk away. Do something else. Either that, or make a list. You sitting there isn't getting anything done.
Just Say No: You will soon become aware of how much time you have in a day to be productive. Don't take on extra tasks just because you want to be nice. Take on what you know you can complete and can complete to your satisfaction. Something's gotta give.
Write It Down: Always have a notepad or paper near you. If you have an idea, don't let it distract you or take your attention in another direction - just write it down. By writing something down, your brain will clear up and you know you'll be able to get to it when the time is right.
Start With the Small Stuff: Not everything is going to happen overnight. We've got some habits to break. Start by doing one thing at a time. I started by turning off my pop-up notifications. I mean, sure, it's taken me longer than it should to write all this down but I'm learning and taking baby steps.