An Ernst and Young Productivity Pulse survey reveled the lack of productivity was costing Australian businesses more than $41 billion each year in wages alone. The report also revealed that despite working more than 8 hours a day Australian workers are less productive. One would assume that a quick remidy would be to cut back on breaks, social media and vacations but this is clearly wrong. The report revealed:

…that unproductive workers took fewer breaks, spent more time travelling to work and less time on leisure and recreation. In contrast, highly productive workers spent two-thirds of their time on meaningful work, they took longer breaks, spent less time travelling to work and allocated more time to leisure and recreation.

Andrew May, a performance coach who has spend the past 15 years working with elite athletes offers the following 7 simple strategies to help minimise distractions, work smarter and squeeze the most out of your day:

1. Daily Warm Up – use a todo list to prioritize your day.
2. Tame Technology – control email and mobile device use–don’t let it control you.
3. Compress Meetings – book shorter meetings and give yourself a buffer to deal with the past meeting and prepare for the next.
4. Pick up the Phone – email tag and complex issues are easily handled by a quick phone call.
5. Forced Isolation – take a break from to do high-end cognitive tasks like reports, thinking, strategy, writing, etc.
6. Work in Waves – oscillate between periods of high concentration and rest.
7. Change Expectations – Let colleagues, co-workers and family know about your new productivity rules–and learn how to say no.