The 6 Best Tools to Overcome Common Workplace Time Wasters - MUO - MakeUseOf
A few occasional blips during your workday are inevitable. But, if these distractions become consistent habits, they can hurt the quality of your work and productivity.
While some productivity killers are apparent, others disguise themselves as necessary tasks. If you're not careful, these time wasters can easily sneak into your day and waste hours. Recognizing these activities and using appropriate tools to counteract them can help you regain control over your time.
1. Spike[1] to Reduce Email Overload
Reading and responding to emails is one of those work activities that might seem innocuous, but it can quickly eat up your time if not managed correctly. Email overload[2] can be caused by several factors, such as an overflowing inbox, a lack of organization, or not using appropriate internal communication tools. If left unchecked, email overload can also become a significant source of stress and anxiety.
Enter Spike, a user-friendly yet robust collaborative email tool that can help you get a handle on your overflowing inbox and boost your productivity.[3] For starters, Spike allows you to unify all your email accounts in one place, so you can easily manage all your messages from the same dashboard. It also provides a host of features to help you organize and prioritize your emails, such as Priority Inbox, which separates important messages from non-priority emails, allowing you to focus on your most important communication.
In addition, you have complete control over your email notifications. You can also leverage Spike's snooze and reminder features to set time aside for reading and responding to emails (batch your email activity), rather than letting them waste the productive hours of your workday.
Download: Spike for Android[4] |[5] iOS[6] | Windows[7] | macOS[8] (Free, premium accounts available)
A round-up of the most common workplace time-wasters would not be complete without mentioning social media. The allure of checking Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok can be hard to resist, but these activities can quickly eat into your workday without you realizing how much time you've lost.
If you're struggling to stay focused at work, Unpluq is a tool that can help you overcome distracting apps by making it harder for you to use them. All you need to do is add the app you wish to block and select your distraction barrier, for example, scanning a QR code, shaking your phone for 5 seconds, or tapping 7 buttons. You can also customize the difficulty levels of these barriers.
Unpluq will block all notifications from the app and prevent you from opening it until the set time is up, or you consciously perform the distraction barrier. The goal is to help you break the habit of mindlessly scrolling through your social media feeds and instead focus on your work.
Download: Unpluq for Android[9] (Free, offers in-purchases)
3. IFTTT[10] to Automate Repetitive Tasks
Like your email activity, repetitive tasks can become the wolves in sheep's clothing of your workday, sneaking in and devouring your time without you realizing it. Repeating the same tasks can be a significant source of wasted time and boredom in the workplace, especially if you can automate these processes to use your time and skills on high-value tasks.
IFTTT is a platform that lets you connect different apps and devices to create "recipes" that automate tasks. You don't need to be a programmer to use IFTTT; all you need is a basic understanding of creating a recipe[11].
For example, you can use it to automatically post daily reminders to your Slack channel[12] or add completed Asana tasks to a Google spreadsheet[13], rather than having to do it manually. You can use one of the several recipes already created or create your own based on your specific needs.
This tool effectively automates mundane, repetitive tasks that would otherwise sap your time and energy.
Download: IFTTT for Android[14] | iOS[15] (Free, premium version available)
4. Yac[16] to Cut Down Time Spent in Meetings
Meetings can be an essential part of the workplace, but they can also quickly become a waste of time if you don't manage them well. Remote workers are particularly affected by unnecessary meetings, as they have become a common way for teams to stay in the loop.
One of the main issues with meetings, particularly in remote workplaces with teams scattered all over the globe, is that they require all the participants to be online and available simultaneously, which can be challenging to achieve due to time zone differences. What's more, synchronous communication is not always the most productive way to work, as it can lead to distractions and interruptions.
You can use asynchronous communication tools[17] like Yac to reduce your time spent in meetings. Yac is a chat app that lets you record and shares voice messages with your team.
Do you want to provide feedback on a design or explain a process? Instead of starting yet another Zoom meeting, you can record a quick Yac message and leverage its screen-sharing capabilities to help illustrate your point.
Sending a voice message is faster than typing, and its asynchronous nature means that people can listen to it at their convenience, helping you avoid unnecessary meetings and saving time.
Download: Yac for Android[18] | iOS[19] | Windows[20] | macOS[21] (Free, premium version available)
5. RecueTime[22] to Avoid Multitasking and Detect Other Time Wasters
Multitasking is often touted as a productivity booster, but the research[23] tells a different story. Multitasking can actually lead to decreased productivity[24] due to cognitive overload. Moreover, multitasking can be a significant source of distractions, leading you to lose focus and spend more time on tasks that you don't need to.
RecueTime is a time-tracking app that can help you track how you spend your time and block your biggest distractions to help you master single-tasking[25]. It runs in the background of your devices to track the apps and websites you use the most, as well as how long you spend on each of them.
This information can help you identify which tasks are taking up the most time and which activities are causing you to lose focus. You can then use this information to detect and eliminate other time-wasters. RescueTime also has a Focus Work feature that empowers you to concentrate on your work for a set period.
Download: RecueTime for Android[26] | iOS[27] | Windows[28] | macOS[29] (Free trial, premium version available)
6. ANC Headset to Cut Down on Background Noise
Finding a quiet space to focus on your work in today's open-plan offices can be challenging. Remote workers might also struggle with noise from pets, kids, or other people around. Background noise can be a significant distraction that prevents you from getting into the zone.
ANC (active noise-canceling) headphones can be a great way to reduce background noise and improve your focus. By canceling out the sound from your surroundings, ANC headphones create a noise-free workspace, allowing you to stay focused on the task at hand.
Regain Control of Your Time to Improve Your Productivity
Putting yourself in a strong position that allows you to get more done in less time is the key to success in any field. To regain control of your time and improve your productivity, you need to be proactive in recognizing common workplace time wasters and finding tools and strategies to eliminate them. The tools we've mentioned in this article can help you do just that.
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[30] About The AuthorReferences
- ^ Spike (www.spikenow.com)
- ^ Email overload (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ handle on your overflowing inbox and boost your productivity. (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ Android (play.google.com)
- ^ | (apps.apple.com)
- ^ iOS (apps.apple.com)
- ^ Windows (spikenow.com)
- ^ macOS (spikenow.com)
- ^ Android (play.google.com)
- ^ IFTTT (ifttt.com)
- ^ basic understanding of creating a recipe (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ to automatically post daily reminders to your Slack channel (ifttt.com)
- ^ add completed Asana tasks to a Google spreadsheet (ifttt.com)
- ^ Android (play.google.com)
- ^ iOS (apps.apple.com)
- ^ Yac (www.yac.com)
- ^ asynchronous communication tools (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ Android (play.google.com)
- ^ iOS (apps.apple.com)
- ^ Windows (dl.yac.com)
- ^ macOS (www.yac.com)
- ^ RecueTime (www.rescuetime.com)
- ^ research (www.apa.org)
- ^ Multitasking can actually lead to decreased productivity (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ master single-tasking (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ Android (play.google.com)
- ^ iOS (apps.apple.com)
- ^ Windows (www.rescuetime.com)
- ^ macOS (www.rescuetime.com)
- ^ How to Avoid the Overuse of Communication and Collaboration Tools Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the vast number of collaboration tools you have at your disposal? Here's how you can avoid it. Read Next (www.makeuseof.com)
- ^ More From Lando Loic (www.makeuseof.com)
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