Once we have understood what productivity is and why it is so important, we then went on to try and understand how to measure our productivity levels. Now that we have gained a fair understanding of what our productivity level is, we certainly do know that we obviously can`t change everything at once, we therefore need to decide on an area of Productivity which we wish to Improve on.

There are many different areas of productivity which a person might want to improve on, but for today we will focus on one of the most common amongst them i.e. getting things done on time!

Speed is what we usually think of first when someone mentions productivity. We most often link it with working faster and doing more within the allotted time.

Do you want to be faster and more efficient?
For those who feel like they struggle getting things done on time because they work slow, there are several ways to improve on speed.

Grow into a steady sleep schedule
You need to be at your best if you want to perform faster. And of course, you can’t expect to be at 100% if you wake up at 60%. Now for those who have children and babies, or work more than one job, it can be difficult to maintain a normal sleep schedule.

But, if at all possible, it’s good to pencil in days when you want to go to bed early. On those days, you can plan out your work and chores, so that you’re left with some time to care for your sleep schedule. Try to aim for 7 hours at the least, and no more than 8.

Practice speed on other daily tasks
Working faster doesn’t come all of a sudden. You get better with time, just like with other skills: reading, writing, memorizing, etc. So, it is entirely possible to practice speed in other aspects of your life, and see how it transfers to your work.

For example, you wash dishes while lunch is cooking on the stove. In the same way, you can check email on your phone while windows updates, for example.
Likewise, if you want to get quicker at typing, simply type out lyrics of a nazm/nasheed you’re listening to, or even a recipe you`ve been eyeing out. See how much of a coherent text you can get out of it, while the audio is still going.

Stick to a schedule
On one hand, speed is shown on how fast you perform individual tasks. On the other, it’s about how many tasks you can finish within several hours, a day, or a week. In these cases, speed is reflected in how well you can stick to your schedule.
To retain productivity through quickness, stick to your schedule “to a T”. That means creating time blocks in your schedule (timeframes for how long you will spend on each task), and starting and ending tasks on the dot.

Break down your assignments
This is a well-known piece of advice. Smaller steps help you power through projects or larger tasks.
Tackling a complex assignment in its entirety can take a lot of time and energy. More so if you’re not sure where to start, or the sheer volume of work overwhelms you. But, if you first break it down into tiny steps, you will not only start faster, but make it easier on yourself to progress through them at a steady pace.

Smaller, easily tackled tasks give the necessary motivation to keep working.

Keep everything within arm’s reach
Now, this piece of advice is a little more practical. When you take a look at your desk, can you really say that everything you need for the work is within reach? Things like pens, pencils, extra paper, post-its, the printer, even!

If you aim to be quicker, then you can’t really be hopping out of your chair whenever you need something. Unless it’s for a break or a stretch, of course.