The new year has well and truly begun, and maybe things are off to a slower start than what you anticipated. But never fear, the back-to-work speed bump is a perfect opportunity for you to examine the way you work and turn this year into your most effective yet. We’ve compiled 4 tips to work smarter not harder.

Here are some of our hacks for staying switched-on, work smarter and increasing productivity:

Switch-up the Centres of your Brain

The key to productivity and a balanced approach to work is to mix it up.

• When we work we use our intellectual centre.
• We use our motor centre when we move our bodies and use our physical instincts.
• When we move our bodies and use our physical instincts, we use our motor centre.
• We use our emotional centre when we respond with our feelings or emotions.

For instance, if you notice yourself fatiguing and your concentration wavering while you’re working at your desk, give your intellectual centre a break – stand-up, go for a short walk and get your motor centre activated.

Feed Yourself

We mean this literally: eat! Instead of that mid-morning coffee, perhaps raising your blood sugar with a snack would better fuel you to take on the day’s tasks.

Now not so literally….feed yourself by doing what you love.

For a brief moment in my life, I stopped asking new acquaintances, “What do you do?” (a cue for people to tell you their job) and instead started asked people, “What do you do for fun?”. I did this for only a brief period because asking the latter made people uncomfortable. People didn’t know how to answer the question, nor did they want to. Finding something that you love to do improves the quality of life and makes you more productive when you do work.

According to Help Guide, an online database of mental health resources, the benefits of play for adults are manifold. Playing can relieve stress, stimulate creativity, improve brain function, give you more energy and make it easier to connect with others (helpguide.org).

Limit Social Media

Of course, this is a no brainer – scrolling Facebook instead of working will inhibit productivity. But what happens when you clock-off work? When you’re commuting, lying in bed or find yourself waiting somewhere…this won’t affect productivity at work, right? Wrong!

Research in the Journal of Psychological Science revealed that having your posts liked and liking other posts on Facebook stimulates the reward centre of your brain. Using Facebook can activate the amygdala and the striatum in the brain – these two areas of the brain are associated with addiction. That’s why it’s hard to log off sometimes.

Another study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that heavy social media users, who are used to switching between different channels of social media, found it more difficult to switch between tasks and were more easily distracted.

So with social media, just like all good things, moderation is key!

Bring in a Professional

If you find yourself entering 2019 with the goal of improving productivity and motivating your team, but you’re not quite sure how to do it… that’s where Hunt & Hawk comes in.

Working smarter means many things: team culture, automation, streamlined business operations, technology, sales playbooks, offshoring, clear goals …. to name just a few.

Understanding what your business needs in order to reach its potential is what we excel at. Get in touch for a free flying class with a Hunt & Hawk business specialist today, to see just how high we can go in 2019!