Digital Productivity is being able to leverage the digital tools you have to increase your productivity and outputs. These can be tools that enable you to keep focused, on track or inspire new ideas. But it can also be methods of keeping your files organised to quick and easy access, being aware of accessibility tools and managing your time and stress.
Staying Productive
With technology comes countless distractions—whether it’s the buzz of a notification, the lure of a new episode of your favourite show, or the temptation to play a game. These interruptions can easily pull you away from your tasks and reduce productivity.
So how do you stay focused? One effective method is using timers to structure your work into focused sessions, followed by short breaks. This not only keeps you working towards a goal within a set timeframe but also benefits both your mental and physical well-being by encouraging regular breaks.
Managing notifications is another key strategy for minimising distractions and staying on track. A single notification can disrupt your concentration, and research suggests it can take up to 30 minutes to fully regain focus.
To combat this, make use of tools like Outlook’s Focus Time to schedule uninterrupted work periods or set your phone to aeroplane mode for a dedicated block of time. Small adjustments like these can make a big difference in maintaining productivity and focus.
Time Blocking
Time blocking is scheduling your day to focus on set tasks throughout the day. Often individuals will often get caught up with a scatter of activities throughout the day, for example:
- Checking emails through-out the day
- Meetings at different times of the day
- Project planning or execution split through-out the day
- Scattered breaks
By scattering out activities, it can lead to a lack of focus and pressure when working on an item that is time sensitive. Instead plan activities around your day for objectives and task you want to achieve. If you have a repeatable task that is done over multiple days in the week try to schedule it for same time every day to keep a schedule.
Pomodoro Technique
Pomodoro is a technique for keeping yourself on track by rewarding your self with a break after a set time of focused work, incentivising focused work. Generally there are two time frames to work from, the first is the 25 minutes of work with a 5 minute break or second a 45 minute of work with a 10 minute break.
Decluttering the digital workspace
One area that can seem overwhelming is workspace, maybe there's too much open or your area where you save your work is too "busy" with items open.
Start with your tabs – Do you have millions open? Do you need them all open? Save the important ones to a bookmark or reading list to come back to them later, not only will you feel so overwhelmed with things to access but it will also speed up your device.
This can also apply to the area where you save things. Often if items are saved to a general file or desktop, you can lose items as more and more files are save there. Instead dedicate some time to creating an area where there is an organised structure, not only to track your projects or items, but if someone else needs to access them they too can find them easy.
Planning out tasks
You might be struggling with how to approach a task, sometimes breaking a task into more digestible chunks helps. A good tool that might be able to help is the use of Goblin.Tools which is an AI task manager that can help break down tasks into more digestible goals and turns them into a to-do list.
