10 Toxic Habits You Need To Give Up To Be Productive
Originally published at lmt-lss.com on February 9, 2016.
Bid farewell to the following habits if you want to be productive.
Success is often a play of chance. Sometimes you a hit home run and sometimes you fail miserably. But productivity on the other hand is always under our control. This is the reason why many successful leaders assess their toxic work habits that are screwing up their productivity and take active measures to get rid of them.
Here are 10 toxic habits that you need to give up to be productive at your work.
1. Multi-tasking
It’s difficult to know exactly why multi-tasking is seen as a strength when in reality it’s proven that humans can never multi-task. Yes, we cannot make a power point presentation and talk to a client at the same time. Neither will the client be happy with our conversation, nor will our presentation make any sense. Focus on mono-tasking in order to be more productive at work.
2. Working in isolation.
Working in isolation can be good as long as you don’t end up becoming overly self-dependent. We must understand here that no matter how many medals, certificates and years of experience we have in our arsenal, we don’t know enough about everything. So instead of scratching your brain and wasting your time on something you don’t understand, ask for help.
3. Spending time on Social Media
Facebook is a default site that’s always seen open on every computer. Everyone likes to take that 5-minute break to do something other than work. And what does that break end up in? A 30 or so minutes of unnecessary liking and sharing of videos and photos on Facebook. If you seriously care about your productivity, get rid of this social media obsession.
4. Extending Tea Breaks.
Tea breaks are great. You get a moment to talk about something new other than work. You get to stand by the window, watch random things happening on the streets and make jokes out of them. You can even use that moment to do nothing other than sitting silently. But the problem occurs when you indulge in that joy for an unnecessary length of time. You extend tea breaks and that ends up affecting your productivity.
5. Micro-managing.
This applies more to managers. I know that as a manager you’re concerned about how your team’s working and are, therefore, constantly checking on them. But then, hey, what about your work? If you’re constantly snooping in other people’s work, then when will you do yours? Micro-managing will not only make you unproductive, but your team as well.
6. Saying YES to all kinds of work.
So you’re this polite helper in the office who likes to solve every problem that comes his way. Great. But have you noticed the piling number of pending work on your desk? Stop saying yes to every job that you get. There might be a lot to learn with every job that comes your way, but soon you’ll find yourself burning out, losing focus from what you’re actually supposed to do and becoming unproductive.
7. Partaking in office gossips.
If there’s anything that’s more interesting than the new season of Game of Thrones is the recent office gossip. Who’s getting fired? Who’s got a promotion? Who’s sleeping with who? You want to know it all. It’s the same curiosity people have when a question paper is leaked during exams. Ever thought how much time you’re wasting by taking part in such conversations? Certainly a lot. Partaking in office gossips can ruin your productivity.
8. Cluttering the work desk.
The clutter on the work desk are like the weeds on a patch of land. If you don’t get rid of them the first day, they’ll double the second day, triple the third day and so on. They don’t just stop with messing your desk. The clutter even enters your mind and makes you lose focus. Treat your work desk like your mind space. Keep it organised and clean to work productively.
9. Calling unnecessary team meetings.
Team meetings are boss’s means of releasing his or her stress and anger. If there are more than three meetings held for one project a day, then there are two possibilities: either you have an inefficient boss or you don’t know how to do your work properly. Figure out which one is true in your case, because more than three meetings signals inefficiency.
10. Indulging in drugs.
Maybe a rare case, but if left unspoken and unaddressed can effect your and your team’s productivity. Indulging in drugs, like smoking up during office hours can make you lazy. Drinking can leave you in an excited state and thereby disinterested to work on anything. Ensure that you complete your work before you even think of indulging in drugs.
