10 Management Tips to Become More Productive (Explained for Beginners)

Productivity is the measure of efficiency and the effectiveness of a person’s time at work, school, and in life. Working professionals who produce more than they consume are considered productive in their workplace, while a student who can learn quickly and produce high-quality work is considered productive in their school curriculum.

The management techniques you can adopt to become more productive include creating a to-do list, setting smaller goals, delegating tasks, reducing distractions, working during your peak hours, and avoiding multitasking. 

It isn’t surprising that the most successful people in life are highly productive, and one particular skill they have developed is time management. 

Most of the management tips to be productive all stem from learning to manage time. If you can learn to manage time well, you’ll be productive. 

However, we do not dispute that learning how to manage your time, and organizing work or school life can be challenging and often takes a long time, especially if you are not a natural-born organizer. 

This blog post will discuss ten management tips to help you become more productive in your workplace or school.

Let’s begin!

1. Create a to-do list

A to-do list is a list of assignments that have been divided into smaller and more manageable parts to help you stay focused on the task at hand. 

To-Do lists are used as an organizational technique for personal productivity, time management, and task management. Each task is executed in order of priority.

They are easy to create and only require that you take some time to review all that you plan to achieve for the day. Follow the steps below to create a quick to-do list to help you become more productive today.

• Write down everything you plan to accomplish for the day
• Break down large tasks into smaller steps
• Prioritize tasks
• Note down who will execute the task and when to execute the task
• Set deadlines for tasks

By following the steps highlighted above, students or professionals can easily create a to-do list to help them stay productive, efficient, and effective daily.

By writing it down, you will remember what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and by whom. If you like technology, many apps are available for creating lists on your phone or tablet that sync with your computer or other devices. 

Here, you’ll find a list of apps that can help increase personal productivity, including apps like Toggl to help create a to-do list. 

2. Set smaller goals

It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you have a big assignment at hand with a deadline. Breaking such tasks into smaller goals is a great way to motivate and increase productivity.

When you set these goals, you can easily measure your progress and see how close you are to achieving your larger goal.

For example, you have the assignment to read, summarize and present the summary of a thousand-page material in 30 days.

When you think of the volume of the material, you may feel unmotivated. But when you break it down into a few pages per day, let’s say 40 pages per day, it seems more doable. 

However, you may still feel like 40 pages per day is a lot. But if you break it down into five pages read per session and hold eight reading sessions at different times of the day, you’ll be done with the material in 25 days. And you will still have five more days left for discussions and reviews with your team before the summary presentation date.

You can see how breaking large goals into smaller ones can help you become productive and achieve more.

At Iris Reading, we offer a speed reading course that will teach you to skim large volumes of material and comprehend them easily.

You can also do a quick test to see how fast you read using our speed reading tool.

3. Establish routines

A routine is an organizational strategy that can help you become more productive once effectively established. It is a set of habits and practices you establish to help you get things done efficiently.

A routine can be anything from brushing your teeth every morning to going for a jog every day at a specific time before work. It is crucial to establish routines because they provide you with a sense of organization, balance, and control in your life. 

Routines allow you to focus on what’s important at any given moment and give you the freedom to know that you or your team will do other tasks according to their schedule.

So, what measures can you take to establish a routine?

• The first step to establishing a routine is to figure out what you do during the day and how much time it takes. (this can be expanded into weeks and months as well)
• The second step is to plan your day so that you know what needs to be done and when.
• The third step is deciding on a duration for each task so that you can allocate enough time for it.
• The fourth step is to map out the steps in completing each job to know where you are at in achieving it.
• The fifth and final step is following the routine every day.

4. Delegate tasks

Delegating tasks has been a management technique used in the workplace for a long time. It is an effective way to maximize productivity and decrease stress.

The delegation technique can be applied to both individual and team projects. 

When you delegate tasks, it allows you to concentrate on the most critical duties, while your team members are responsible for completing the other tasks assigned to them that match their skill set.

Delegation is also applied in schools. Students working on a project can delegate tasks among themselves and get results faster than if they had worked individually.

Applying this technique is simple. It only requires you to create clear and precise instructions for your teams and provide them with any necessary resources or tools to complete their task successfully.

5. Take regular breaks 

Yes, it can be challenging to want to take breaks, especially when you are in the middle of a project. However, working 24/7 without taking time to rest does not necessarily mean you’ll get more done.

In fact, according to a study done by researchers at the University of Illinois, those who take regular breaks tend to accomplish tasks faster and better than those who do not.

People who take regular breaks have higher concentrations and an improved mood to task while those who don’t get burned out. 

Some simple ways to incorporate breaks into your schedule to help you relax and increase your productivity include taking a walk outside, grabbing a coffee, or going for a jog around the building. 

These short breaks will refresh your mind and allow you to come back to work with a new perspective on things.

Iris Reading’s course on Personal Productivity discusses in detail how taking regular breaks can help you become more productive.

6. Reduce distractions

Reducing distraction means an increased focus on your goals. If you can reduce distractions, you will be more productive.

A management approach that has been proven to help reduce distractions is the Pomodoro technique. 

The Pomodoro technique is a time management technique that helps you work on your task without distractions by dividing the time into 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break. 

The idea behind the technique is to concentrate on one task at a time to avoid distractions.

Another crucial step to reducing distractions and becoming more productive is to turn off notifications on your phone, social media, and other apps when you have a task at hand so you can concentrate.

7. Stop multitasking

Contrary to popular beliefs, multitasking does not make you more productive. Multitasking can cause you to lose focus, which can lead to mistakes.

The ability to multitask might sound like a great skill, and if you take the time to go through job descriptions on job boards, you may see the ability to multitask as a job requirement. 

However, science has proven multitasking is not the best technique to apply if you want to become productive and costs as much as 40% of someone’s productive time. 

Individuals need to know when to stop multitasking and focus on one task only. This will allow them to maximize their productivity and avoid any mistakes that could happen as a result of being distracted.

8. Identify your peak hours

The peak hours are the time when a person is most productive. It is the time when a person can concentrate better and work more efficiently.

Some people’s peak hours are in the morning, while others work best at night. To become more productive, you need to understand your work pattern and how you function best. 

Most individuals have not taken the time to identify their defined peak hours, so they find it difficult to accomplish tasks faster.

When you can identify your peak hours, it is best to schedule important and urgent tasks during those hours. Doing such tasks outside your peak hours makes them more challenging, affecting your productivity.

9. Do the most challenging thing first

It is tempting to want to start getting wins right from the start of each day by doing the easy tasks first, and yes, it does have its place. 

However, it is said that the first thing you do in the morning determines how productive your day will be. The same goes for the last thing you do before going to bed. 

The most challenging task should be done first when you are most likely in your peak hours. 

This technique is based on a principle of time management called “The Eisenhower Decision Matrix” or “The Urgent-Important Matrix.” 

This principle suggests that we tackle our most challenging tasks early in the day when we have more energy and fewer distractions.

The idea behind this system is that if you do the most challenging thing first, you will have more stamina to do other tasks. It’s a time management technique that managers have used for years.

10. Be accountable to another person

We often think of accountability as a consequence of something bad happening, but it can be a powerful tool for success. Accountability simply means being accountable to another person for the completion of tasks and goals that we have set.

Being accountable also allows you and your team to hold yourselves accountable for what you said you would do, which may lead to more confidence in yourselves.

Final thoughts

The quest for personal, academic, and professional self-improvement is a never-ending journey, but the process we go through towards achievement makes it interesting.

The above management tips to become more productive are evergreen and can help you achieve academic excellence or success in your career. It does not matter if you commute to work, work from home, or do school from home. These tips, once implemented, will help you do more faster.

Some management tips we discussed include creating a to-do list, establishing a routine, taking regular breaks, delegating tasks, reducing distractions, and more. 

However, trying them all at once might overwhelm you and negatively affect your productivity journey. 

Therefore, to ensure that you stay motivated and become productive, we suggest you pick one or two tips to implement. Once you have mastered that system, you can move on to master other techniques on the list. 

We recommend that you start with two techniques: creating a to-do list and identifying your peak hours.

Feel free to check out some productivity tools we have listed to help you with this process.  

Want to become more productive? Then enroll in the Personal Productivity course by Iris Reading.