Stop clock watching: How successful people maximise the end of the day

An entire day in the office can sometimes fly by. However, staying on task isn’t always easy. How many times have you caught yourself counting down the minutes as soon as it reaches mid-afternoon?

You’re not alone. Productivity can vary massively at different points throughout the day.

In fact, research from the Centre of Economic Performance highlighted that motivation and work output shifts in two ways: Across the working week and throughout each day itself.

It can be easy to let your mind wander at the end of an eight-, nine- or even 10-hour shift. However, maximising the last few minutes of each day can boost productivity overall, here’s how:

Make lists

The ticking of the clock at the end of the working day should be music to your ears – not a burden. It’s the perfect opportunity to prepare for what tomorrow has in store.

You should make sure that you have a period for building lists in any time management strategy. This can give you a better picture of what needs to be done as well as take your mind off any other complex tasks that you carried out earlier.

Making a list at the end of each day is a great way to stay productive.

Action all correspondence

Effective communication is based around the digital world in today’s office environment. Consequently, you’ll likely fall behind and annoy your colleagues if you don’t action your emails.

It may seem like a chore, but the end of the day is the best time to do this. Make it a priority to not go home until your inbox is clear. Inc contributor and best-selling author Kevin Duam suggested setting up canned responses where possible.

By doing this, you can be more productive and save time jointly – it’s a win-win situation.

Clear your mind

Being less productive at the end of the day and leaving tasks overnight can have a detrimental affect. If you’re the worrying type as it is, clearing up issues will occupy you away from work.

After all, there’s nothing worse than taking workplace problems home.

Project management solution providers TeamGantt explained that the best way to use the end of the day is to drain your brain. This can be done by writing down every task that’s on your mind. This practice is not only cathartic, but it’s a productive way to fill those final few minutes.

Ultimately, the latter few moments of any period of work may offer little more than a countdown to going home. However, unlocking productivity from every last second doesn’t have to be difficult, and could prove incredibly fruitful, too.