It’s Wednesday! Either you feel like the week is winding down or there’s still so many things getting in between you and the weekend. If your attitude towards the middle of the week tends to lean more towards the second one, it’s okay. Your week just needs a pick me up, that’s all. Being productive doesn’t always mean getting things done as quickly as possible. Sometimes it means, taking time to assess your work needs and reorder your way of working through them. With there still being two whole days left before the weekend hits, why not spend some time now looking at the different obstacles blocking your productivity and figure out ways to move past them.

Here are 5 Common Productivity Hurdles and How to Overcome Them: 

  1. Too Many Emails – Drowning in emails is definitely one way your work gets slowed down in the middle of the week. Instead of trying to answer every email all the time, set aside specific blocks of time to go through them. This gives you a break in between your tasks and lets you prevent yourself from getting stuck on just email managing for too long. It’s also beneficial to delete emails or move them to a different folder after one message chain has ended. The next time you need to look up a recent email thread that hasn’t been resolved, you won’t waste time paging through a ton of outdated ones and potentially overlooking the one you need.
  2. Overwhelming Amount of Tasks – If you’re having trouble keeping up on tasks because you require another team member’s input to keep the project rolling, don’t wait around until you can speak to that person before moving on to the next part of the project. Chances are, things will come up and prevent your colleague from getting information to you right when you want it. Focus on things you can do and fill in the missing pieces later. This way the project will still be completed in time and you’ll mark another thing off your to-do list.
  3. Not Enough Time – To solve an issue of time management, you need to look at what you’re spending the most time on. Make a list of the things that occupy most of your day and figure out which one of those you shouldn’t be spending as much time on. Then try to limit the amount of time you spend on each project. You can also make use of professional time management products such as Toggl which tracks how much time you spend on different projects to help you stop wasting time.
  4. Lack of Direction – If you don’t know why you’re working on something or how it plays into the larger picture of your company’s goal, it’s going to be very difficult for you to find motivation to get it done. Ask questions if you don’t understand something and communicate with your team members. Make sure you’re on the same page as the person next to you.
  5. Being Too Ambitious – On the opposite end of things, sometimes trying to do too much yields unsatisfactory results. Instead of rushing through multiple tasks to get them all done on time. Focus on getting the highest priority ones completed to the best of your capabilities. Nobody likes receiving work with only half the effort put in. If you need to push something back till the end of the week, just be honest with your coworker or supervisor and make sure the quality of your work matches their expectations.

Wednesday can either be the day you use to revamp your mindset and power through the rest of a productive week, or it can be the day you start shutting down and regret by the start of next week – it’s your choice. With these tips in mind, let’s make it a great rest of the week so the weekend can be well enjoyed and deserved.

About YouMail –

YouMail is a visual voicemail app that helps millions of customers lead more productive lives. Discover innovative ways to keep your clients happy, save up more time in your work week, and handle messages in the most hassle-free way possible by joining YouMail today. It’s free!