Productivity is an important thing to have, whether you’re at work, at school, or perhaps working on a personal / passion project. Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons why your productivity can be affected; nobody is capable of remaining 100% productive all the time. We spoke with TechQuarters, a well known Managed Services Provider London companies across the capital rely on for technology that enables their work and boosts productivity. They discussed some of the common reasons productivity can be impacted, and what solutions are available to help you get back on track.
Motivation
Perhaps the most obvious barrier to productivity at work is simply motivation, which is also the hardest one to solve with technology; if you’re struggling with motivation, that is something you need to work on yourself.
There are some solutions that can help set the right conditions to get motivated, however. For instance, maintaining a tidy and organised workspace goes a long way; listening to music that you enjoy, but which doesn’t distract you can also help (more on that later); and also being aware of your limits goes a long way – perhaps after 30 minutes of uninterrupted work or studying you begin to get distracted or lose motivation? Knowing that can help you plan the optimal way to stay productive – and simply knowing how to keep yourself productive is a great way to motivate yourself.
- Awareness – one of TechQuarters’ top picks for apps that help with motivation is this superbly designed focus app. Providing IT Support for Small Business Solutions and Offerings has meant TechQuarters has seen the many people like to work – taking breaks means people can remain refreshed, and won’t get fatigued from long hours. Awareness allows you to set periods of work and periods of rest; you can set work periods to be as long as you like, so you can create a tailored work pattern that works for you. Knowing that you have a break coming up can make it easier to motivate yourself to work.
- Noisili – this app has a diverse library of calming background noises to help block out distractions from your environment and stimulate your aural senses. Many people find music can be a distraction, so these unobtrusive background noises are a great alternative. The app is free on desktop and the web, and £1.99 on mobile.
Distractions
Everyone gets distracted when they’re trying to concentrate on something (unless its something they find very interesting); your distractions could be any number of things, such as social media, emails, YouTube, or maybe Wikipedia. It’s an unfortunate paradox that technology is often essential to our work, and also the primary source of our distraction from work; fortunately this is the challenge we are most equipped to address!
- Freedom – for those that want to be able to block out distractions such as apps and websites, this is a perfect app. Simply set a blocklist and start a session, and you won’t be able to access any of the apps or sites on your blocklist until the session has ended. The great thing about this app is that it blocks across all platforms – so if you’re prone to blocking apps on your phone, only to go on your PC to use the app, this is ideal for you.
Energy
Sometimes your energy levels are a barrier to true productivity. This is usually a deep problem; perhaps you’re struggling with your sleep? Maybe you’re not getting enough exercise throughout the week, and that’s making you feel sluggish? TechQuarters’ outsourced IT support often involves long hours for engineers – so they know the importance of supporting energy levels. These are issues that cannot be solved entirely through technology, but there are some solutions that can assist you in taking measures to improve your energy levels.
- Sleep Cycle – the source of low energy levels may be with your sleep cycle. It is important to get to bed with enough time to get a full 8 hours of sleep before you start work. Other factors can include whether you’re forcing yourself to wake from a deep sleep phase. Sleep Cycle is a great app to help you understand these things and more – it tracks your sleep using your phone’s mic, and gives you lots of data on your sleep quality. This app can help you understand your sleep, and hopefully take measures to make it more fulfilling.
