Keep Productive and Happiness at Work

Listen to music while you work. Some noise-cancelling headphones and your favorite music can do wonders for your productivity. Of course, earbuds work just as well – whatever makes the music sound good. Good music can really help you “get into the groove” of what you’re working on, regardless of whether it’s writing or coding.

Work long hours on Monday and Tuesday. This especially applies if you’re a contractor. If you can only bill 40 hours per week, working 12-14 hours on Monday can get you an early-departure on Friday. Furthermore, by staying late early in the week, you’ll get your productivity ball-rolling early. I’ve often heard the most productive work-day in a week is Wednesday.

Avoid meetings at all costs. Find a way to walk out of meetings that are unproductive, don’t concern you, or spiral into two co-workers bitching at each other. While meetings in general are a waste of time, some are worse than others. Establish your policy of walking out early on and folks will respect you have stuff to do. Of course, if you aren’t a noticeably productive individual, walking out of a meeting can be perceived as simply “not a team player”, which isn’t a good idea.