Bad habits that harm our productivity

Getting good habits is not easy, and changing my ip address location is not easy either. That's why we must first identify those habits that are harmful to us in order to try to improve them and/or change them. Below is a list of the most common bad habits among people who want to improve their personal productivity.

- Using the most productive hours in non-productive tasks.
Checking email, making calls, calling or attending meetings... are tasks that do not require much energy and to which we usually dedicate the hours of greatest productivity. It is better to focus on an important task and devote the morning energy to finish it.

- Working with constant interruptions.
The phone is our worst enemy: a call first thing in the morning, a WhatsApp in the middle of the day, etc. Interruptions prevent us from doing our jobs. That's why it's best to manage interruptions well and try to keep them to a minimum.

- Not respecting our schedule.
Whether it's because we haven't finished an important task that we needed to finish or because another very important task has come up that requires our immediate attention, we almost always spend more hours than we should on the job. This decreases our productivity and breaks our discipline, so we must manage our time well and stick to our schedule.

- Not allocating the necessary time to each task.
Many times when we plan our day we do not take into account the interruptions or difficulties that a task can generate and we set very tight times for each task. This makes us go all day in a hurry and not give each task the attention it deserves.

- Checking the mail constantly.
The "constant checking syndrome" prevents us from starting and finishing a task without having checked our mail several times. Not setting a time to check our mail and being on top of it all day takes away from our productivity and gives others the feeling that we will always respond instantly to their email.

- Perform several tasks at once.
Jumping from one task to another and doing them "at the same time" makes us lose an important amount of time because our brain is not multitasking. Every time we change tasks our brain "turns on and off" interrupting our concentration, which will lead us to do the task with a low concentration and make mistakes.

- No rest during the working day.
Our brain and our body need rest and if we constantly bombard them with tasks there comes a point where they become saturated and do not give their best. To avoid this, it is best to schedule short breaks after each task is completed.

- Attend or call unproductive meetings.
In Spain, some people suffer from "reunionitis" and look for any excuse to call a meeting. Unscheduled meetings, without clear preparation and objective, and without a time limit are, in most cases, a bad habit. Meetings should be attended with a clear, documented and prepared objective. It is of vital importance that everyone is on time, so that they are not delayed any longer than necessary. And if we believe that the meeting will not bring us anything new or interesting, the best thing is to justify our absence and say no.

Habits are part of our routine and we must therefore work on them day by day. Once we have identified them, we have to look for the best way to change them and/or improve them and, thus, increase our productivity.