There are so many aspects to running a business, and as a small business owner you’re expected to do all of them! Wearing a variety of hats, getting involved in areas that you don’t enjoy, understand or simply aren’t interested in. This can make maintaining productivity and motivation difficult. The key to remaining productive at work is largely down to good organisational skills. Below, I share six secrets to squeeze the most from your day.

Minimise Distractions
Email is undoubtedly the biggest distraction for anyone in business. All those new messages, notifications that beep, newsletters, special offers…so many emails vying for your attention! It’s natural to start your working day by checking emails but it’s probably the least productive thing you can do because you are drawn into tasks that are less important (but probably more enjoyable :)).

• A good way to avoid this is to set aside specific times in the day to deal with your emails. Once or twice in the morning (not first thing – try tackling the most important task of the day first, then deal with your inbox), and again in the afternoon. Group all the inbox tasks together: sending, replying, filing and deleting as you go. Read my previous post on email inbox management for more tips.
• Another tip is to adjust your notification settings. This applies to emails, smartphones, and any other online tools such as Skype or 3rd party social media applications. Curiosity will often to get the better of us, and if we have the slightest opportunity to concentrate on something other than that particularly tricky task we are grappling with – a flashing red light red or ‘you got mail’ notification will do the trick. Turn them off!

Automate reminders
If you use an online calendar, set up reminders to prompt you to do particular tasks. You may want to do this for a one-off time sensitive task, but the real gold is when you set recurring reminders for tasks that need to be repeated. Once it’s in the automated diary, that’s it – you’ll continue to get your reminders at the frequency you choose, freeing up your head space so you can concentrate on more important projects, rather than filling your head with a jumble of ‘things’ you need to remember to action.

Tidy Space, Tidy Mind
My mum always told me ‘tidy space, tidy mind’. The premis being that if your environment is neat and ordered, your mind will be too.

Have a place for everything in your office and be sure to put them back in that place when you’ve finished with it! Keeping your note pads, files, business cards, phone chargers in the same place will save you time rushing around searching when you need them most. Lastly, leave your workspace tidy at the end of the day. There is nothing more demoralising than being confronted by a messy desk in the morning, especially if it’s a Monday.

Touch A Piece Of Paper Once
I first learned this rule before email was a necessary form of communication but it can easily be applied to email too. Keep this objective in mind to maintain productive working.

When a piece of paper or email comes your way, ask yourself ‘Why do I need this?’

• Can it be actioned, or do I need more information?
• Can I pass this on to someone else to deal with?
• Do I need to refer to it for something else I am working on?
• Will I need to keep this for future use?

If you answer ‘No‘ to all of the above questions, get rid of it and go on to the next.

If the answer is ‘Yes‘, take immediate action. Deal with it now. Don’t set it down to ponder, or look at the next one. If you can’t complete the task straight away, take a step towards completion – even if it’s simply putting a note in your calendar on a suitable date to follow up. Don’t leave it in your inbox or in a pile on your desk!

Group Similar Tasks Together
If you need to do a handful of similar tasks, it’s much more productive to do them all together rather than stopping and starting haphazardly jumping from one task to the next. So, for example, tackle your phone calls together – spend 30 minutes making all your calls. Same with emails as mentioned above. Blog posts or articles: write a bunch at one time setting a morning aside weekly or fortnightly. If you have a number of errands or meetings, arrange them so you can do them back to back and avoid wasting time travelling to and from the office.

Be Prepared
Spend 10 minutes at the beginning and end of each day reviewing, adding and updating your to do list to prepare for what’s ahead – this quick exercise will help you maintain sharp focus during your working week. Preparing in this way is a great habit to adopt because it acts as a signal for your brain that it’s the start or end of your working day – like an on/off switch. In the morning it will give you a jump start and, surprisingly, a quick overview in the evening creates a feeling of calm leaving you in control and fully prepared to face the next day.

Do you have any other ideas to keep you productive? Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.