7 Things to Eliminate to Make Your Fridays More Productive

Fridays are the least productive day in many offices.

People are scrambling to get things down before the weekend.

Others are ditching and leaving early or not working at all.

However, you don’t have to let it impact your productivity.

Let’s reclaim our Fridays.

Can Fridays be Productive?

Is Friday a productive day in your workplace?

Is it a ghost town where everyone has left early for the weekend?

Or is it marked by the chaos of last-minute fire drills by those desperately trying to finish their work before the break?

Friday can seem to be the most dysfunctional day of the week. (After Monday, of course.)

Fridays in many offices are a combination of last-minute fire drills,

people running for the door, and the ghost town of those who

have already left.

Many people write off their Fridays as a non-productive close to their week.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact, Fridays can be one of the best days to actually get work done.

Let’s make our Fridays productive, again.

Get Rid of These From Your Fridays

Let’s take back our Friday’s by eliminating some of the chaos, and  simplifying our work day.

Friday can be the best day of the week to do creative work or other tasks that require long periods of uninterrupted time.

Here are 7 Things to Eliminate From Your Fridays to Make Them More Productive:

1. Email – Get out of your inbox and get productive. Stop waging the email war. Some companies have designated Friday “email free” and it has made a tremendous impact of their team’s ability to get work done.
2. Meetings – Meetings take up way too much of our work week already. Let’s declare “No Meeting Fridays” and reclaim at least one day a week from scheduled meetings.
3. Negativity – It’s the end of the week, there is no time for being negative. Leave out the complaining, whining, and gossiping. Don’t associate with those who do it. You’ll be long gone for your weekend while they’re still telling stories. (See #7 below)
4. Phone – Friday is a great day to stay off the phone. Instead of talking on the phone, go see people in person. Go down the hall and talk to someone face-to-face. For those who are remote workers, this may not be possible. But, you can try other more personal ways to communicate such as Facetime or Skype. The extra effort almost always pays off in the relationships built. You can’t communicate at the same level when you can’t see someone.
5. Interruptions – One of the best ways to reclaim your Friday is to limit interruptions. Find a place to do uninterrupted work. Maybe it means reserving a meeting room or even going offsite. Of course, set expectations with your team before you “go silent” so that they know how to reach you for a true emergency.
6. Unnecessary Paperwork – Keep Friday for the important work. The creative work that you can’t seem to get large time blocks for during the week. Leave the unnecessary paperwork for later. This is also a good time to look at what paperwork needs to be eliminated on a permanent basis, as well. Much of the paper-shuffling we do is unneeded in the big scheme of things.
7. Work Hours – I am a big proponent of the “results oriented work environment.” (See ROWE.) Get your work done and get out. There is no reason to expand your work to fit the time. The traditional work week is dead. In a ROWE, those who have been working hard all week can go home early. The rest can stay and finish their work. 🙂

A Productive End to the Work Week

Don’t let your Fridays fall prey to the chaotic end of the work week.

With a little effort, Fridays can be the most productive day of the week.

Reclaim them and you might just discover a “hidden” day of productivity that you were missing.

Question: How do you make your Fridays productive?