Millennials are the youngest generation in the workforce today, and for them, working productively can take much learning. Being productive means being able to successfully accomplish tasks in a given time. But if you find yourself with a lot of backlogs and unfinished projects, then you might be doing some habits that are affecting your performance. What are these? Read the 6 habits that you should stop doing to increase your productivity. 

Mobile Phone Use

According to Forbes, typical millennial behavior is having so much dependence on the mobile phone – too the point of being uncomfortable without it. There’s a name for this cellphone addiction and it’s called nomophobia. Nowadays, Millennials are so attached to their phone, trying to multitask and achieve productivity at the tip of their fingers. But what they don’t know is it actually kills their productivity at work. There is a survey that says 83% of millennials open a text within 90 seconds upon receiving it. This can cut a person during work and decrease accomplished tasks because of their mobile device.

Unhealthy Eating Habits

“What you eat affects your productivity”, according to Harvard Business Review. Millennials sometimes start their day skipping breakfast because they give more priority to sleep. By the time they’re headed to work, they’re hungry and late. As millennials get used to the fast-paced work lifestyle, they tend to choose unhealthy alternatives for a quick meal. This then affects their work productivity because unhealthy food can make the body feel heavier. So what kind of food is appropriate then? It is important to incorporate fruits and vegetables in the diet. These contain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that the body needs to produce dopamine, which acts as a neurotransmitter for curiosity, motivation, and engagement. Plus, healthy food produces antioxidants that get rid of toxins in the body.

Multitasking

One thing that millennials often do is multitasking. They tend to do so many things at one moment but they take so much time accomplishing a task. Another report from Forbes says that around 98% of the population doesn’t multitask well. When millennials go back and forth from one task to another, it doesn’t really help in ticking off projects on the list. They work inefficiently because it can take time before the brain can refocus upon shifting to another task. While multitasking might seem effective because of the amount of energy while working, it actually reduces productivity by 40%. The best thing to do is list down the tasks and tick them off one by one to accomplish more things.

Impulsive Web Browsing

Most millennials have access to the internet while at work, and it’s very easy to get distracted and Google things that suddenly pop in the head. Even going on to Facebook every 5 minutes and just refreshing the page to see notifications can take so much time. When you are a person in your team does this, try to stop the impulse and list down your thoughts on a notepad. Allot a later time to look up the information and questions that you have when you’re done with work.

The Snooze Button

Sleep and restoring the body’s energy can feel so good, but hitting the snooze button to get more rest can cause unproductivity. It is best to wake up during the first alarm because that’s when the adrenaline and cortisol shoots up and alerts the body. Hitting the snooze button will only leave more sleepy, groggy, and lazy feeling, making it harder to get up from bed.

Procrastination

Millennials have a habit of putting off the most important work until later in the day. Some reasons might be because of a full schedule, some meetings, finishing other easier tasks, or just because of distractions. But this is a bad idea and they can end up not finishing the difficult work at all. A research from Business Insider that says people have a limited amount of will power that decreases as the day goes. So, it’s best to get the hardest tasks done first then move on to easier ones.

Being aware of these habits and avoiding them can have a great effect on productivity in the workplace. You’ll soon realize how much work you’re able to accomplish without these things in your life. Eventually, you will be ahead of your tasks and find yourself looking for more work to do.