“It is not enough to be busy... The question is: what are we busy about?” - Henry David Thoreau

These days, I’ve been hearing a common refrain from friends and colleagues: “I’m CRAZY busy!” After slowly picking up steam in January and February, it seems like the year is off and running full steam ahead – that’s certainly the case here in the Brilliant Ink offices. And while we’d never complain about having plenty of work to do, more work demands working smarter.

This week, I’ve found myself looking for new ways to do more in less time. And while there’s no shortage of tips and tools online for improving productivity, sometimes I find that the simplest solutions are the ones that make the biggest difference.

This week I’ve tried these simple steps to try to squeeze more productive time into each day:

• Take a walk. While getting away from your desk when you’re drowning in work seems counterintuitive, I found that stepping outside for a 20-minute walk and sunshine break helped to clear my head, give me a much-needed energy boost, and help me sit back at my desk and crank out high-quality work much more quickly.
• Make a list. Again, taking a break from actually doing the work can be difficult, but spending a few minutes charting out all of my to do’s is tremendously helpful (I love Evernote for managing my lists and making sure I have access to them on all of my devices). It not only helps me get a handle on everything I need to tackle, but also helps me to prioritize. Plus, I find that once I’ve written everything down, my mind is no longer distracted with worrying about whether I’m forgetting something, and I can focus more effectively on the task at hand. (See here for some awesome To-Do list tips from Anna! )
• Take an email break. Working in client service, it’s difficult to disconnect and ignore email completely. But if I know I need to focus my attention on a particular task or deliverable, I will close my email program while I work on it. This way, I can focus on finishing up that item without the distraction of emails popping up along the way. As soon as I’m finished, I’ll take a few minutes to catch up on any emails that came in while I was focused. Because I’ve just checked off an important to-do, I feel reenergized to respond to email messages and requests more quickly anyway.

What are your tips for staying productive during the day even when you’re drowning in work? I'd love to try out your favorite strategies next week!