The road to maintaining work-life balance while advancing in career for women is bumpy. While they are the primary caretakers at home, they also experience workplace challenges such as unequal career opportunities, pay disparities, and the glass ceiling.
While theoretically, there exists endless career advice for women, and there are hundreds of tips to improve productivity. However, the statistics suggest that managing productivity and growing in career for women is always an uphill battle.
If you are someone struggling with productivity and career growth, this post is for you. Here we learn about eight proven tips for improving productivity so you can grow your career and live a rewarding and fulfilling life.
Tips for Improving Productivity and Growing Your Career
Tip # 1: Discover and Follow Your Passion
How many times have you been told to discover and follow your passion? While most women assume that they are passionate about their jobs, that's not always true. In fact, statistics indicate that only 13% of the workforce in the United States is passionate about their jobs.
So what exactly is passion, and how do you find passion in life?
If you look at the definition, passion in your job refers to a strong feeling of excitement or enthusiasm about something you do. Passion keeps you motivated and shapes your feelings about your work or work environment. And if you are working on how to discover your passion, the best way to go about it is to look inside and think of all the things that excite you. When you brainstorm ideas, next, you need to do your research to find out the type of job that excites you the most. And if you are already working, you don't have to quit your job just yet. Instead, you should continue to try and find out options and possibilities that excite you to the core.
It is also possible that you may not be able to find your passion immediately. However, the key is to keep trying. Meanwhile, if you are at a job that doesn't excite you, you still need to give your best shot to it so you can progress with your career. Who knows, you may find your passion with your next promotion.
Tip # 2: Write Down Things
Do you want to be more productive at work? You need to invest in some time and energy to get yourself organized, and one of the best ways to go about it is to write down things. Prepare your to-do lists a day in advance so that when you start your workday the following day, you don't know what your workday looks like and what the tasks are that you need to finish before the day ends.
If you are unsure about how your workday will look like the next day, the best way to go about it is to start your workday 30 minutes in advance and spend the time to write down everything that you want to accomplish during the day.
Tip # 3: Prioritize
Writing down your tasks for the day helps you serve two purposes. Firstly, they let you know what your workday looks like and the tasks you intend to complete during the day. Secondly, when you create a to-do list, it also helps you prioritize tasks. When you have a list of all the things you want to complete during the day, you can quickly prioritize them in order of importance, so you can get done with the most important tasks for the day earlier and continue with the rest of the tasks later during the day.
Tip # 4: Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
If you are looking forward to improving your productivity and growing in your career, you don't just have to focus on the tasks. Alongside, you need to focus on yourself as well. Make sure you maintain a healthy lifestyle which involves eating a balanced diet, getting adequate hydration and sleep, and incorporating physical activity during your day.
Make sure your diet includes all essential food groups, including protein, carbohydrates, and fats micronutrients including iron, zinc, and calcium, so your body gets enough nutrients that it needs to stay healthy. Moreover, it is also important that you get enough sleep so your body can repair the damages it experiences throughout the day. Some people may need up to 8 hours of sleep, while for others, a six-hour sleep is enough to recharge their bodies.
Furthermore, try and incorporate a medium intensity workout of 30 minutes on most days of the week to stay fit and healthy. However, many women who are working full-time also have to manage tasks at home, which leaves limited time for physical activity. If you are someone struggling with managing time for your workout, check out the amazing fitness equipment by Flexispot. The Under-Desk Folding Treadmill Walking Pad is one of the best ones that you can get for yourself to accommodate physical exercise in your everyday routine.
The light and portable, foldable treadmill offers a convenient way to accommodate workouts in your everyday routine and make a great choice, especially if you are working full-time from your home office. The treadmill allows you to walk and get your daily dose of physical exercise while you are working, which ensures that you can make the most of your time and get the activity your body needs to stay fit and healthy.
Tip # 5: Periodically Review Your Career Progress
When you are working, it is easy to drift with the workload and forget about how you are doing when it comes to your career. If you want to improve your productivity and grow your career, you need to review your career progress periodically. Doing so every six months or annually will give you a good idea of where you stand in terms of your career. Moreover, it also helps you decide on your career strategy so you know where you want to see yourself next year, in the next three years, and in the next five years.
While your actual career trajectory may be different, having a career strategy will boost your confidence to perform better at work and have a confident plan for the next steps in your career.
Tip # 6: Develop Your Skills
Regardless of how well thought out your career strategy is, if you do not invest time and resources to develop and upgrade your skill set, you will soon turn obsolete. With changing dynamics of the workplace and the new development in technology, it is integral to be a constant learner.
If you are juggling between office workload and household tasks, it is still important that you manage your time wisely so you can upgrade your skills.
One of the best ways to stay on top of your career is to stay in touch with the latest trends in your work domain. You may not need to know everything, but investing time and effort to learn new emerging trends is worth it as they pay for better career advancements.
Tip # 7: Continue to Challenge Yourself
You may be competing with others, and that's great, but your greatest competitor should be yourself. Think of where you are today and aim to be a better version of yourself next month, in the next three months, etc. When you set goals for yourself and change yourself, you will see a new and improved version of yourself every few days.
Tip # 8: Help Other Women Advance Their Career
Over the years, there has been an increasing number of women who are joining the workforce, and one of the best ways to boost your productivity while you are working around women is to help other women advance their careers. When you continue to motivate women around you, you will notice a positive change in your outcome and the outcome of your team that includes other women.
Cheer each other up, and you will be surprised to see the positive effect it can have on your performance and the outcomes for your organization.
Your Journey Matters
These tips and career strategies will build your confidence. With these tips and tricks, you can improve your productivity and increase your likelihood of growing your career or attaining other specific career goals that you have in your mind.
Remember to be organized, be good to yourself and what you do, and be good to others, so there is a positive change in the outlook of workplaces for women.