No matter if you’re working in a crowded office or alone at home, distractions can be numerous. From noisy coworkers to the temptation of procrastination, your workflow may have ample obstacles that prevent you from reaching a desirable level of efficiency.
For startups and home-based business professionals especially, an efficient and productive workflow is essential for success. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take now to improve your workflow in as little as a week. Here are some great places to start.
Take Hold of Your Time Management
To better tackle your agenda each day, it may be smart to look into tips and tools for managing your projects. A variety of time management options exist. For those in business, deadlines tend to be a common occurrence, which makes the Pomodoro Technique relevant.
The Pomodoro Technique breaks time into chunks. It centers around the idea that working intently during larger periods, followed by taking a quick break, will help get smaller tasks done more quickly, in addition to helping organize tasks in general.
Taking full advantage of the Pomodoro Technique involves using a timer and working until the timer rings, then taking a short break. For every four work periods, you can then take a longer break. A variety of apps serve as a Pomodoro timer, such as Focus Booster, PomoDone, Marinara Timer and Pomodoro Keeper. These timers all have free versions as well as priced versions with additional features.
Enhance Your Process Management
Company workflow is especially important for startups, which can fall victim to disorganization. As a result, many companies opt to get certified in the process approach, specifically in ISO certification, which shows a thorough understanding of the process approach.
Workflow can also improve with the use of apps like CEOBoard, which provides KPI dashboards to help monitor workflow and achievements, complete with importable data from Excel, CSV, XML and Google Docs.
The app strives to help discover a new management format, reducing meeting times by 40 percent and labor costs for control operations by 60 percent. Although CEOBoard may not be ideal for home-based businesses, startups have good reason to consider it along with time management apps that are similar, helping to reduce any bloat in costs and resources for businesses.
Use Google Calendar for Your To-Do List
If you’re in the habit of making your to-do list on paper, or not at all, then you can likely boost your workflow productivity by relying on Google Calendar for your to-do list. Since many businesses use Google and their various platforms, it makes sense for Google Calendar to act as a hub for your to-dos. Google Calendar can sync data with a broad array of programs, in addition to Google’s built-in Task app, providing a useful workflow barometer.
Organize Your Thoughts
Regardless of whether you’re dealing with small projects or a massive undertaking, it’s useful to organize your thoughts to avoid losing focus and high-quality ideas. Thought organization apps like Workflowy help in this regard, turning lists into a flexible and organized hub for ideas.
You can incorporate any number of sub-lists and accompany child entries, all with the ability to zoom in and out of topics, elevating project management into something that’s easy to grasp and organize. Plus, the app autosaves, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything.
Restrict Your Web Browsing
Although it doesn’t sound exciting, restricting fun distractions on the web can help improve your workflow considerably. Some tend to get lost in online forums, games or news articles when they should be working. Temptation can become too much.
If browsing the web is a draw, consider installing an internet restriction app. You can often cater the app’s extent of restrictions to your whim, adjusting the time you wish for the app to be active and deciding on its level of coverage.
For example, if your work doesn’t require online access, consider restricting the entire web for a period. Alternatively, if you need the web for research but are still tempted by procrastination, block specific leisure websites for a period. You can align the timing of your Internet restrictions with pre-set Pomodoro Technique blocks for optimal workflow enhancement.
Reduce the Noise
Although noisy distractions tend to most often occur in offices in the proximity of chatty coworkers, even home-based professionals can find disruption in noise, such as outside road work. In any case, white noise apps can help increase workflow and amp up productivity.
These apps provide soothing or neutral sounds consistently, helping you hone in on the tasks you must work on instead of the sound of chit-chat or road work. As a bonus, you can use these apps for help falling asleep at night, making you feel fresher when you complete work tasks during the day.
These tips can help startups and home-based business professionals improve their workflow considerably. The improved workflow will result in better work that’s complete in a quicker time frame, so get started right away and see what works best for you!
