Proven Productivity Hacks to Supercharge Your Finance Career This Year

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Proven productivity hacks are crucial for any industry, especially the finance sector. Productivity is crucial to success in any industry. However, in the fast-paced finance sector, where every moment counts, ensuring you’re making the most of your day is crucial.

Business leaders need productive employees to cultivate and retain profits. Employees need to be effective to reach professional goals and demonstrate their value.

Yet certain studies show that the average office worker is only truly productive for around two hours and 23 minutes a day!

In the finance world, it’s easy for productivity to wane when you’re constantly overwhelmed by challenging tasks, distracting notifications, and endless meetings. However, there are ways you can invest in your productivity and accomplish more in your finance career.

While productivity is essential in finance, numerous “productivity killers” exist in any work environment. Problematic workday planning, distractions, and even burnout can prevent you from reaching your targets. Here are some hacks to get you and your career back on track.

1. Create a Morning Routine

Starting the day right is one of the best ways to boost productivity. Some of the world’s most influential leaders say they achieved success simply by optimising their morning schedule. What’s more, research shows a well-crafted morning routine can reduce stress levels and improve cognition, making you happier and more efficient at work.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for building an effective morning routine, there are various factors worth keeping in mind when planning your day:

  • Cultivate the right mindset: Starting the day with the right attitude can help eliminate stress and increase focus. Take meditation or mindfulness before you begin your work day to help centre yourself before you go to the office.
  • Exercise: Though it can be difficult to find the energy for a morning workout session every day, exercise is a great way to reduce fatigue, increase energy and improve your wellbeing. It can also help finance professionals reduce stress and anxiety.
  • Nutrition: Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day. Fuel yourself for success with a nutritious, healthy breakfast and plenty of water.

2. Learn How to Prioritise

How much time do you spend each day simply wondering which tasks you should tackle first or what you should address next on your to-do list? Leaders in the financial sector avoid this issue by planning their day in advance. When you start each morning, examine your to-do list for the day.

Ask yourself which tasks you should be prioritising first. You can use tools like the Eisenhower Productivity Matrix to organise your tasks by what’s most urgent and important. This can also help you determine which tasks you should ignore and which you can delegate to others.

Once you have your list of priority tasks, you can organise your workflow according to your energy levels throughout the day. For instance, you may decide to tackle your biggest tasks first when you’re most focused, or you might spread them into different time blocks throughout the day.

3. Optimise Your Workflow

Planning your day will help you use your time more effectively at work. However, there are other ways you can optimise your workflow to boost your chances of success. For instance, while it’s easy to assume the best way to stay productive is to jump from one task to another immediately, many leaders agree that regular breaks are important to preserve productivity.

Regular breaks help to prevent your attention span from waning and reduce the risk of burnout. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique to segment your day into 25-minute intervals, followed by 5-minute breaks. You could also consider time blocking.

Time blocking is a great way to structure your day into specific sections for different tasks. You might block one part of your day out for focus work, like analysing financial reports, and use another segment for communicating with clients or responding to emails.

4. Minimise Distractions

Distractions are the ultimate enemy of productivity, but they’re common in any workplace. Look for ways to create a distraction-free environment in your career. You can start by looking at your physical space. If you’re working in the office, this could mean choosing a desk in a quiet area for focus work and letting your team members know when you can’t handle interruptions.

The average employee is interrupted every 3 minutes and five seconds, making it extremely difficult to retain focus. If you’re working in a flexible environment, turn off notifications and emails during focused work via the remote or hybrid working model.

Another way to minimise distractions and improve productivity is to avoid multitasking. Multitasking makes it seem productive at first, but it prevents you from giving full attention to any specific task.

5. Use The Right Technology

Technology can be an excellent resource for boosting productivity. In the finance sector, you’re likely already reliant on various tools for your day-to-day tasks, such as accounting and data analysis software. However, it’s worth looking at other valuable tools too.

For instance, productivity tools with integrated calendars and collaboration features can make organising your day easier, delegating tasks to team members, and accessing colleague support. There are even apps that can notify you about upcoming deadlines to help keep you on track.

Avoid using too many separate apps and tools when implementing technology to boost your productivity. A unified and consolidated digital platform for document, account, and time management will prevent you from wasting time jumping between tabs. Additionally, you can switch off notifications for each app you use during focus work periods.

6. Stay Active

Finally, one of the reasons many finance professionals struggle with productivity is that they spend too much time sitting at a desk. Studies show that sitting for long periods can decrease cognitive performance. With this in mind, look for ways to stay active throughout the day.

Take regular breaks when you can move around your office, communicate with other staff members, or enjoy a change of scenery. Even walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water gives your brain a chance to refresh between complex tasks.

Another option could be to consider using a height-adjustable standing desk to work standing up for periods to improve blood circulation.

Turbocharge Your Productivity

Productivity is essential in the finance sector but can be difficult to achieve and retain. Fortunately, the above strategies should give you useful ways to increase productivity, eliminate distractions, and improve your wellbeing.

With these hacks, you’ll be able to achieve your career goals faster, impress your employer, and even open the door to new growth opportunities.

Thanks

 

Rachel

 

About Rebus Financial Recruitment

Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.

We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs, and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly.

To learn more, contact one of our team members today or call us at 01282 930930.

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