10 Office Items that are Destroying Your Productivity

Emylee here. As self-dubbed “masters of productivity” we know a thing or two about what’s helping you stay on track and what’s steering you off course. Some of these things are simple and some might downright surprise you, but chances are you have at least one of these items in your office that’s straight up destroying your productivity. So it’s time to face the music and cut it out.

Take a look around your office or workspace right now. Are any of these offenders in your space right now?

1. A cute little pet that needs your cuddles?

2. A computer that’s constantly pulling you away (like, just stop)?

3. A speaker that occasionally plays a tune you want to break out in dance to?

4. A phone that somehow seems to never stop buzzing (byyyyye)?

5. A cute little baby or child that for some reason needs you?

6. A view of the great outdoors and naturey things?

7. A coffee pot that wants you near it at all times?

8. A stack of papers, bills, invoices and receipts (get them out)?

9. An inspirational print that makes you daydream at your desk?

10. A calendar that constantly reminds you of the things you need to do?

Ok, hopefully by now you realize that we’re totally joking. Please do not get rid of any babies or coffee pots because you think they’re hurting your productivity. Chances are...they are...but who the flip cares?

We live in this environment of wanting to have a clear cut and dry solution of “good” and “not so good”. So when we see lists like these we cling on to them thinking “gosh, there must be something on this list that I don’t know about! It has to be the answer as to why my productivity sucks!

It’s not.

In fact all of the things listed above could probably enhance your productivity if you let them. Dance break to some Beyoncé? Don’t mind if we do.

Here’s the thing. It’s time we give ourselves some damn grace. Some days we’re going to rock productivity. Some days we’re going to just suck at it. It happens and it’s okay.

You’re not broken.

It’s when we put so much weight into it working all the time that we begin to fail at it more and more. It’s when we beat ourselves up over having an off day that those off days come more frequently.

You’re doing the best you can.

You’re really good at your job.

You’ve got this.

We can only teach you our magical ways as much as we can. At the end of the day your life is still unique with its own set of circumstances that make your day-to-day different.

We encourage you to start looking at things a bit differently (even the things we share with you). Ask yourself, “can I soak this material in and then tweak it to fit my truth?”. No more soaking things in and letting them hang over your head like you’ve been doing it all wrong, okay?

Promise?

Cool.

Now that you’re ready to accept goodies in a new light let us share with you what we use. We personally use and love Trello. It’s a free project management system that’s the bee’s knees. We love it so much that we created a little program that walks you through how to master it for your type of business. You can find it here.

We’re also giving you one of our favorite boards that you get inside the course called “Big Picture Strategy” for FREE.