Effective Productivity Tips for CEOs

Picture this: you wake up in the morning, and even before you had time to leave bed you start thinking about what you have to do at work today. In fact, there are so many things to finish you don’t even know where to begin. As you pour your coffee into a mug, you make a strong promise to yourself: today you’ll rock at work. When you come to work you’ll sit at your desk and you’ll hit your task until they’re done. And you’ll be proud you managed to do them. But, by the end of the day, you see that you made another empty promise to yourself. 

Did you become a victim of procrastination?

On some days “I don’t feel like it” is more important than finishing goals. However, this feeling and a decision to avoid (or to do very little) causes a downward spiral of negative emotions which will make an impact on our future effort to finish the task or meet certain goals. Psychologists often say perfectionists are frequent procrastinators, and if you’re a CEO you should definitely try to get rid of those traits.

70% of your time can be used in a better way

By one research, the average tech CEO works around 300 days a year, 14 hours a day which is equal to 4200 hours a year. However, by the same study CEOs could spend their time way better. By their calculations, they spend 30 percent of their time on emails; another 30 percent on meetings and 50 percent of work hours are completely wasted.

CEOs, stop wasting your time! We have effective productivity tips to share with you!

1.   Give yourself short deadlines and stick to them.

Do you remember what we’ve said about perfectionism? That’s one among the most undesirable traits any CEO can have. That’s why the first among few productivity tips we will give you is to lead by “done is better than perfect” philosophy. Before you approach a task, set a deadline for it and set it shorter than you think you’ll need for it. Push yourself towards its completion and stick out to your schedule.

2.   Quit multitasking.

There’s no job and we can apply today that doesn’t require multitasking. People who work in startups will know it. However, if you want to be a productive CEO make sure you do your tasks one by one. If you start with a handful of tasks at the same time, chances are you’ll take longer to finish them.

3.   Delegate.

One of the most useful productivity tips we will give you is to start delegating your workload if you haven’t started doing it already. The point is simple; you have to keep your employees accountable. If you trusted your judgment when you hired them, you better trust them now when they’re working for you. As a bonus, you’ll see the rise in their engagement levels. Two flies with one hand, right?

4.   Establish your daily routine.

Developing a routine can help you perform better. By some researches, almost 40 per cent of our daily actions is powered by habits, the unconscious actions and routines we’ve developed over time.

Try developing a positive daily routine that actually works for you. This means you should understand when you are performing the best and use your body’s natural ebbs and flows of energy. Plan work when you feel you’ll perform the best and protect yourself from interruptions.

5.   Organize your Inbox.

If you’re fishing for some useful productivity tips, you better keep a close eye on this one. Do you know that by some researches an average worker spends an estimated 28% of the work-week managing emails? This means we spend nearly two business days reading and responding to various emails.

There are numerous tactics to avoid being distracted by your Inbox. One of them is Inbox Zero strategy which stands for keeping your inbox clean at any time and by any means. Whether you decide to try it or not, make sure you’re fully aware of distracting power your Inbox has on you!

6.   Avoiding meetings is one of the best among productivity tips we could give you so far.

Do you sometimes feel like you lose too much time on unproductive and pointless meetings? To be completely honest, you’re not far from the truth. What’s more important unproductive meetings waste more than $37 billion per year!

Make sure you reduce your meeting time to an optimal level and stick to an agenda once you find yourself attending it! 

7.   Mess creates stress.

Productivity tips for CEOs are not much different from what we would say to every employee. So whether you’re a CEO or you’re employed in a company make sure you’re putting your workday to good use. If you find your work desk cluttered, make sure you tidy it up and get rid of all unnecessary things. Clutter means distractions and they are leading you to a less productive workday.

8.   Define and split your goals.

If you want to stay productive, make sure you don’t do bulk work. Split your tasks into stages and solve them one by one. You will see how happier you’ll be seeing one by one of those small tasks disappear and how productive you’ll be.

9.   If you’re stuck on some project, move to another task.

Don’t beat yourself over some task if you find it impossible to complete at some point. You’ll only become nervous and that won’t lead you to anything good. So, if you cannot focus and you see yourself continually trying and failing to do something, move to another task and return to this one when you feel better.

10.   Work out.

Productivity tips are not only about focusing on the mind. Make sure you’re taking care of your body as well. Regular exercise will help you perform better because it will give you the right amount of energy to start off the day. The workout is a great stress-relieving system and by hitting the gym twice or thrice a day you’ll be able to perform better.

We have a bonus tip for you!

If you find yourself working too much and losing energy and motivation, maybe it’s time to go on a vacation. In fact, vacations are good for you because they enable you to work better and they improve your focus on tasks massively.

Vacations are a necessity and everybody should get their fair share of vacations throughout the year.  

Vacation Tracker comes as a great solution for every business because it helps you schedule vacations without breaking a sweat. Make sure you and your employees are staying at your top selves through the year by installing Vacation Tracker on your Slack account. It takes only seconds to do this and you don’t even have to pay until you try it out. Why don’t you give it a spin?

Ana Mladenovic

A cat enthusiast and a cupcake maniac, Ana is a freelance Content Writer passionate about HR, productivity, and team management topics. When she’s not at her keyboard, you can find Ana in the kitchen, trying to make delicious cookies.