5 Bad Working Habits to Avoid to Be More Productive

These days, some bad working habits give us the illusion of hard work, but seize our productivity. If we fix those habits, we’ll get more done in our everyday life.

Are you busy, or productive? The general answer is ‘busy’, but the real answer should be ‘productive’. Most of us are always busy surfing the internet, checking email, scrolling through Facebook feed, running for errands, and trying to work on several tasks at once. If you are one of them, this article is for you.

Unfortunately, we get less accomplished compared to the work we do throughout the day. How to be productive and get more accomplished in a day? The first step is to find out the cause that is keeping you busy all the time but making you less productive.

In this article, you’ll learn 5 bad working habits that are seizing your productivity, but you are unaware of that. Know the ways to fix those habits to get more done that is important for you.

1. Multitasking

One of the common bad working habits in modern life. Multitasking gives the illusion of hard work but makes us less productive at work.

When you switch between tasks, you are changing your thought process. On average, it takes more than 25 minutes to get back to the main task after an interruption. Research shows that multitasking results in 40 drop in productivity. It takes 50% more time to complete a task than a non-multitasker and increases error by 50%.

How to get rid of this habit? It is difficult in the modern age, but doable. Here are a few things you can do:

Focus on a single task at a time. Set a timer and continue working on the task until the timer rings.
Turn off notification of email and social media from your computer and smartphone.
Avoid distractions. Put away your cell phone while you are working on an important task.

Learn more: The High Cost of Multitasking | Visual.ly

Pro Tips
Keep a notebook and a pen while you are working on a single task. You can note down the tasks and thoughts that come to mind. You can review them after finishing the work at hand.

2. Perfectionism

Perfectionism is another productivity killer that hurts your performance at work. It is not bad to try working perfectly, but being perfectionist all the time ruins productivity.

When you do unrealistically high standard work, you tend to fall behind schedule. It results in a pile of tasks unfinished. When things don’t go as you like, you’ll feel unsatisfied with the progress of work. Dissatisfaction leads to procrastination and lack of motivation.

Here is how you can fix this problem:

Focus on time and completion of the task instead of striving for perfection,
Use the Pomodoro technique to finish the task.
Accept the mistake and learn from it.

3. Impulsive browsing

Surfing the internet impulsively is the most compelling psychological addiction of modern age. To many people, it is difficult to resist themselves from surfing the internet. A number of tech habits form because of technology addition. Here are a few of them:

Checking the smartphone too often and unnecessarily.
Browsing off-topic article and social media notification in working time.
Googling obscure question instantly that comes to mind.
Checking nearby places in the online map instead of using common sense first.
Playing with the phone on the bed.

These habits keep you busy all the time without giving you anything in return. Impulsive browsing habit sucks your productive energy and time. Here is how you can get rid of this destructive habit.

Turn off push notification of social media and instant message apps. If possible, remove Facebook and twitter apps.
Instead of checking email and social feeds frequently, set a routine for login, and stick to it.
Stop googling anything randomly. Note down the questions that come to mind and search that is really important for you.
Use tool, for example, StayFocused, to block distracting website and allot time to browse certain website each day.

4. Avoid delegation

Delegation is an essential skill of time management. It is also helpful for better productivity. If you work on your own, you’ll get less time and energy to focus on high-value tasks.

When you delegate some of your work, you can free up more time to handle complex tasks and get more accomplished in a day.

Though delegation boosts productivity, some people fail to delegate in the right way and some people reluctant to delegate. There are several reasons for their unwillingness and a few of the reasons are:

Think that the team won’t be able to handle the task.
Thinks that the task is simple enough that they can do it by themselves.
They enjoy the task doing by themselves.
Fear that someone else may get the credit of the work.

How to overcome from the fear of delegation? Here are a few things you can do:

Get some knowledge on successful delegation.
Learn what, when, who and how to delegate.
Build a cohesive and efficient team to get more done and meet the deadline.

5. Ignore automation

If you are not a fan of technology and automation, you are ignoring the time-saving approach. Automation reduces the need for human involvement for a particular task. For example, on Twitter, you have to post 4 tweets a day for marketing purpose and post a message of an updated post of your blog. If you spend an hour a day doing these type of small tasks, you are wasting a lot of time in a week or month. Automation helps us to make better use of technology, and we can complete a task easily.

Here are some ways to include workflow automation in your personal productivity system:

Automate small and recurring tasks.
Understand what to automate and what not to.
Understand the process before going for automation.
Allow tools according to the type of your work.

Workflow automation might seem complicated or scary, but it is a one-time effort. Once you set up successfully, you can reduce workload and save time.

To Sum Up

Now you’ve got some ideas that what are making you less productive. If any of these productivity-killing habits match your condition, you can fix it immediately to make your life better.

Are there any other bad productivity habits I missed in here? Please share them in the comment section, so that my audience and I can learn more from you.