4 Hacks to Increase Productivity

(Family Features) With appointments and meetings to remember, tasks to complete and jobs to finish, life can get crazy in the business world. That’s why busy professionals need to stay on top of their game with simple tricks to help take care of work and life, day in and day out.

Luckily, solutions exist so that your schedule won’t drag you down. To help limit the stress and anxiety of everyday business life, here are a few “hacks” for you and your busy colleagues.

Get Some Rest

Without getting good sleep and recharging your brain, it’s impossible to stay on top of everything going on around you. It may be challenging to carve out time dedicated to resting, but it can pay off in the long run by planning to cut yourself some slack and get out of the office.

Make sure to get away from your cell phone, computer and other devices well before crawling into bed, that way your brain isn’t still charging ahead when you’re trying to shut down.

Keep a Calendar

One of the simplest ways to organize your life is to write down your schedule – even the simplest, most mundane appointments. Being able to take a quick peek at your calendar to see what you have to do in the coming hours, days and weeks can help take pressure off trying to memorize everything.

Whether you’re using a physical calendar or typing appointments and reminders into an app on your phone or computer, it’s an easy way to stay on track.

Utilize Technology

With so much technology available at your fingertips today, make sure you’re taking advantage of the technological tools at your disposal, such as Bamboo Slate and Bamboo Folio smartpads.

These tools seamlessly bridge the gap between paper and digital life by turning your handwritten notes into digital files, helping you to keep track of appointments, ideas and anything else that pops into your brain.

“Paper notebooks still play an essential role at the beginning of the idea process,” said Mike Gay, Senior Vice President for Wacom’s Consumer Business Unit. “They are often the last analog step within an otherwise fully digital lifestyle. So our goal was simple: Add the benefits of digital technology to the paper notebook and create an intuitive tool to help make ideas, no matter where and how they start.”

Bamboo smartpads sync paper notes through the Wacom Inkspace app, which offers the advantages of working digitally, including easy editing, organizing and sharing. The sleek tablets also allow files to be exported and made available to several third-party apps, that way you have options at your fingertips.

Keep a Clean Desk

Although it’ll take a few extra minutes each day, cleaning your workspace can help take away stress. With a messy desk, you might feel cluttered, disorganized and overwhelmed, so toss your trash and unnecessary papers.

Cleaning can also be a good way to wind down when it’s almost time to clock out for the day. By clearing your mind and wiping down your space instead of stressing over the final few minutes of work, you’re helping yourself in more ways than one.

Life can get hectic and it’s not always easy to slow things down. Instead of letting time – or a lack thereof – wear you down, use the resources around you to help take on the day, every day.

Find more tools for staying organized at bamboo.wacom.com.