When you first move into a temporary office there’s often a lot on your plate. You may be starting a new venture or looking to change your office situation from permanent to temporary. Whatever the reason for needing a serviced or temporary office in Brisbane, there are always new and interesting approaches to preserving a high level of productivity.

We’ve put together some of the best hints and tips we can find to keep yourself motivated and focused when you need a temporary office solution like ours.

Keep focused and stay on target with these productivity tips

 

meetingChange the way you conduct meetings

We all know that meetings can be time black holes. Idle chit chat or waiting for others to arrive can easily chew into productive time throughout your day and when you’re running a business, the age old maxim ‘time is money’ really does apply. Here’s a few tips on how to change up your approach to meetings to keep productive throughout the day.

Reduce meeting times
Rather than taking the usual hour for a meeting, reduce this by 25% and schedule in 45mins. Make sure you let your clients or colleagues know that you only have 45mins for the meeting so things can get on track quickly. Do this a few times a week and you will suddenly have hours back in your day for more productive items.

Try standup meetings
This is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of everyone sitting around getting comfortable, a standing or walking meeting means that people will want to get through what they have to say quicker, along with getting your body moving and mind working. Sometimes a sedentary environment can lead to sedentary results so get moving!

Don’t hold meetings that aren’t absolutely necessary
Many times people will want to talk with you about a particular project, service or product and ask to have a meeting because ‘it’s the done thing’ and what’s always been done. The questions to ask yourself are ‘is this meeting 100% necessary?’ and ‘will my business move forward by having this meeting’?

If you answer no to both these questions, there’s a good chance you don’t need to meet.

Hold virtual meetings
This will vary from client to client but if you can try holding virtual meetings, this will eliminate travel time and the distractions of coffee shops, cafes and long boozy lunches.

Have an agenda
This is about taking control of the meeting and setting up a framework or an agenda for the meeting to run to. This will give everyone an outline of how the meeting is going to go and how long they can expect to focus on each particular section of the meeting.

timeChange the way you structure your time

When you think about it being productive is really mostly about managing your time in the most efficient manner. We’ve all got things that eat into our productive time
(long meetings, water cooler chats, unproductive phone calls, Angry Birds, etc) so by managing these items effectively we can claw back some of our precious workday to focus on the tasks that really matter and that will drive your business forward.

If you’re in a position where you need to concentrate – like writing a report, putting together a proposal, planning a presentation, etc, interruptions can not only throw you off track in terms of getting things done, it can impede your focus when you get back to the task at hand, making you take longer to get back into the groove you were in before the interruption.

Start your day with a block of ‘catch up time’
Set aside 15-20 minutes in the morning to go through email, check social media and fire off some quick responses or tasks to other team members so they can start their day. By getting these items out of the way first thing you will then be able to concentrate on more important work that’s going to help your business or assist in the growth of your company.

Make phone calls when ‘on the go’
If you’re up making a coffee or driving to your next meeting, utilise this time to make sales calls or customer service calls to your customers. Sure it’s fun to listen to your favourite playlist or have a chat with someone in the lunchroom when you’re on the go, but if you use this time effectively, it will leave more time in your day for other activities that can help your business and get you moving and off your chair.

Allocate time to a task
By focusing on one task at a time you will find that you can churn through a large amount of work in a small amount of time. By giving your full attention to the task at hand you give yourself the focus and drive needed to complete in-depth or focus-heavy tasks without interruption. When you hit your allocated time you can choose to give yourself another block of time, or change it up if you need a break and move onto something else (like getting a coffee and making phone-calls!).

environmentChange your environment

There are many things you can do to change the environment in your workplace to help you work more effectively. Here’s a few ideas:-

Get a plant
Indoor plants bring a little bit of the outside in and can brighten up your office space. A dreary and somber workspace can lead to dreary and somber work. Having a plant will give your office a sense of personality and will also help with oxygen production. Peace lilies, Spider Plants and Dracaenas are some of the easiest to grow and highest oxygen producing plants to have indoors.
Turn off your notifications
Do you really need to check your phone or email every time a notification comes up? Chances are they’re pictures of funny cats, a newsletter or something that’s not time critical. If something needs to be done urgently, it’s likely clients will call you, not email you or tag you in their latest Facebook update.

Get out of the office
We're not talking about spending the whole day at The Coffee Club to work – get yourself out of the office for tasks that don’t require you to be at your desk. A change of pace and scenery can be just the thing to give you that boost to finish off your report!

Organise your space
By organising the space around your desk, you will not only be able to find things easier, it will give your workspace an organised and logical feel. This translates over to your work and the way you do business. Rearrange your desk so you’re not hunching over, get a comfortable chair so you’re not always rearranging your sitting position and think about how you can logically position items that you need throughout the day (paperwork, files etc).

Find items that motivate you
What are you ultimately working towards? A new house, a holiday, a motorbike or perhaps becoming a well known professional in your field. Whatever your motivation for getting up in the morning and getting yourself to your desk is every morning, bring that into work in the form of pictures, images, paintings, trophies, etc.

So if you’re working from a serviced office or rented office space there are lots of ways to keep yourself motivated and on track throughout your day. By taking control of your workspace you can really ‘own’ your office and get amazing work done to boot!

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If you have questions about our Serviced Offices, Virtual Offices or Meeting Spaces, please feel free to contact us by phoning direct on (07) 3842 3111, Emailing or fill in your details below

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