I have always been a fan of productivity hacks – tips and tricks designed to improve your productivity and making your work easier and more efficient.

Today I would like to share with you 3 tips that could impact you and change your working life! (Although I have many many more tips up my sleeves, but 3 is a good way to start!)

I will begin with the first tip – which may seem like a fallacy: How do I know if I need to use these tips?

1) Well, if you are spending 12 hours a day at your desk and yet still have unfinished work – then it’s time to make a change!

For example, if you have been working from 9am – 9pm for the past few years and yet always seem to get subpar results or get nothing done, then perhaps its time for you to reflect on your working style.

Ask your self this question – what happens if I would do the opposite? I have a friend in sales who used to sit at his desk making cold calls to get new leads from 9am – 3pm, before going out to meet customers. His average was about 2 successful appointment out of over 50 phone calls!

The rest of the 48 companies told him to call again as the Manager was not available, or were simply not interested. After reflecting on it, he decided to make a change. He decided to cold call only at specific times – 11am, 2pm and 4pm. The reason is because by calling at these times, he is able to avoid the peak period (morning meetings, lunch and afternoon meetings) and you know what? His average success rate jumped to 20 successful appointments!

2) It is normal for your energy level to go down – it is ok to feel bored, tired at work! Acknowledge it and do not try to ‘power through’ it!

All of us have spells when we have bored of the job on hand. Writers go through writers block all the time. Creative people have occasional brain freezes. It’s NORMAL!

The trick is not to ‘power through’ it but rather take a short break – be it logging onto Facebook or surfing the web. You will be surprised at how much better and refreshed you will feel after that! If you were to forcibly do a task, it may result in you making a bad decision.

3) Doing lesser is not being lazy! Similarly, staying late or skipping lunch does not mean you are effective!

Many managers and bosses alike have the wrong notion that working overtime, being early or skipping lunch is a sign of hard work and dedication. This is wrong!

There’s a difference between being productive and being busy!  Instead of measuring the amount of work you do, measure results in terms of the amount of time, and eliminate the less important things that take forever.

Eliminate work for work’s sake.

I hope these tips help you as much as it helped me! Let me know what you think or share your thoughts in the comments below.