if the only time you think about your work performance is at your annual performance evaluation, you're not

alone.
Sometimes, it's easier to wait for someone else to tell you what things you should be working on than it is to constantly
assess yourself.

No matter how well you perform any task, you can always do better than you did yesterday. The same goes for your
work performance.

Focusing on continuously improving your skill set and learning new things is a great way to boost your confidence and
help you become the best version of yourself.

But being unproductive sometimes indicates that you’re no managing your work the most effective way. And sometimes
a platform can help you with that.

So now it’s time to take a look at the 10 tips that’ll go a long way toward helping you improve your work performance
and professional development.

10 Tips for a Better Work Performance

1. Set Milestones

Setting milestones can help you achieve both personal and professional goals. We have a natural tendency of shooting
for the stars and establishing challenging goals. It's okay to be bold when setting goals to improve work performance.
The problem is that big projects can become overwhelming. By breaking those big personal and professional projects
into smaller sections, you'll stay motivated during each victory you achieve.

Setting individual success metrics to analyze your goal is also very helpful when it comes to keeping morale and energy
levels up. Keep track of your progress, allow yourself to enjoy your success (as small as it may be) and share it with your
team.

2. Organize, Plan and Prioritize

If it seems like I've mentioned this topic before, you're right, I did. Several times, actually. Organizing, prioritizing and
planning your daily schedule is essential for improving work performance.

Break down big projects into small tasks, establishing a due date and priority status for each one (want to learn how to
prioritize tasks? click here!). Combine the most urgent and essential tasks, taking into consideration how much time it'll
take to finish each one (click here to learn how to estimate time for a task) and set your schedule for the next day.

When making your to-do list, be reasonable. Make sure you can do everything you set yourself out to accomplish - it's
much better to establish realistic goals and overachieve than the opposite.

Making a detailed plan in advance is also very useful for identifying which tasks you can postpone (to free up time for
more urgent, valuable tasks) and which ones you can delegate without affecting the result.

Golden tip: Never forget that in order to be able to prioritize tasks, you must learn how to say no.

3. Stay Focused and Avoid Distractions

The most productive professionals in the world have named distraction as productivity's number one enemy. I've
already written an entire article dedicated to avoiding distractions at work, so I won't dive deeply into this subject.

Never lose sight of your goals along with your journey. Every time you feel tempted to waste some time checking out
your Facebook feed or watching your favorite YouTube channels, remember what's at stake.

Sustainable continuous improvements are part of a slow evolutionary process. It feeds off consistent progress. Make
sure you remember that. Focus on taking one step at a time and completing the previous task before starting a new
one. Golden tip: learn how to be more efficient and focused using Kanban.

4. Manage Interruptions

Do you know how many times during the day you're interrupted? Interruptions come in many different sizes and shapes
and learning how to avoid them is vital for improving work performance.

It doesn't matter whether you've been interrupted by a colleague coming to your table, by your boss on a Slack chat or
by your family knocking at your home office's door. Interruptions are dangerous. They make you lose focus and waste
time you've previously allocated to a task, increasing the risk of running late.

5. Do one Thing at a Time (Don't Multi-task!)

Most people claim they're experts at multi-tasking. They may think so, but the only thing multi-tasking actually does is
compromise the quality of the work.
I'm guilty of this, I'm always working on two or three tasks simultaneously, stopping what I'm doing to help a colleague
out. Even though it feels like multi-tasking allows you to accomplish more, it actually does quite the opposite.

Whenever you start working at more than one thing at a time, take a step back and determine which task is more
important and focus entirely on it. Working on one task at a time makes you faster, less stressed and less prone to
making mistakes.

6. Don't Leave Things Unfinished

Another thing I'm guilty of, and it's very likely a consequence of trying to multi-task.

Do you remember how many projects you've started only to abandon them shortly after?

New Year's resolutions, diets, a new sport...they're all great for a while, and then they start to slip straight back to your
to-do list. Don't let that happen. Make it a habit of recording every project you complete and rewarding yourself for
them.

7. Read Something New Every Day Change is happening all the time, all around us. Reading is the best way to learn
about new tools, trends and technologies in your company’s industry so that we’re always updated and remain
competitive. That’s mostly why reading plays such an essential part in improving your work performance. Golden tip:
try to read at least one relevant article regarding the industry you’re inserted every day. (Count on our blog to help
you!)

8. Communicate Effectively

Communication is a two-way street. Whenever you're feeling uncertain about anything, ask someone. Whether you're a
manager or not, make it your ultimate goal to establish a consistent communication channel among your team
members. Evaluate your work performance on a frequent basis and keep your goals and responsibilities in mind every
time you have to make a decision. Talk to your colleagues. Listen to what they have to say. Find new and improved
ways to achieve better results. Make sure everyone knows their opinion matters. Golden tip: upgrade your workplace
communication skills in seven steps.

9. Acknowledge Your Weak Spots

There's no way for a person to be good in everything. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The great thing about
acknowledging your weak spots is identifying easy improvement opportunities.

Getting better at something you're already pretty good at is a lot more challenging than improving something you're not
satisfied with. Even though you can always improve at everything, focus on identifying the things lowering your work
performance and remember: stay restless.

Don't settle for "quite alright" when you can achieve "awesome." Read, learn, listen. Do whatever you can to be the
best version of yourself, every day.

10. Take a Break When you Need One

Admitting you need a break is not a weakness, it just means you're aware of your limitations, and you're wise enough to
admit it. You don't need to be at your peak productivity each day, but if you feel like you've reached your limit, stop.

Stress and burnout levels are increasing at alarming rates. It will do you no good to keep pushing after you've reached
your limit. Your productivity levels will suffer from it. You'll get even more stressed for underperforming and so on. This
is a vicious cycle you don't want to get trapped into.

Rest time is just as important to your professional development as any other aspects I've mentioned before.
Articles, reports, and other resources on Fayol's management theory

Henri Fayol's management theory is a simple model of how management interacts with personnel.

Henri Fayol's management theory is a simple model of how management interacts with personnel. Fayol's
management theory covers concepts in a broad way, so almost any business can apply his theory of management.
Today the business community considers Fayol's classical management theory as a relevant guide to productively
managing staff.

The management theory of Henri Fayol includes 14 principles of management. From these principles, Fayol concluded
that management should interact with personnel in five basic ways in order to control and plan production.

1. Planning. According to Fayol's theory, management must plan and schedule every part of industrial processes.

2. Organizing. Henri Fayol argued that in addition to planning a manufacturing process, management must also make
certain all of the necessary resources (raw materials, personnel, etc.) came together at the appropriate time of
production.

3. Commanding. Henri Fayol's management theory states that management must encourage and direct personnel
activity.

4. Coordinating. According to the management theory of Henri Fayol, management must make certain that personnel
works together in a cooperative fashion.

5. Controlling. The final management activity, according to Henri Fayol, is for the manager to evaluate and ensure
that personnel follow management's commands.