Welcome to the First Column IT Tech Blog

HomeBlog
The Productivity You Seek is Indeed Within Reach, with the Right Habits

The Productivity You Seek is Indeed Within Reach, with the Right Habits

June 27, 2025

Productivity is an essential metric in modern life, and while it can often feel impossible to achieve, there are ways to overcome the anti-productivity malaise. Here are three habits that are likely to help you in your search for both organizational and personal productivity.

Limit Your Notifications

Notifications are a necessary, yet bothersome thing to keep track of, and it’s largely because they’re so intrusive when we don’t want them to be.

It’s difficult to refocus on a task when your attention is constantly being pulled away from it. You can and should limit your notifications either by turning them off completely or limiting them to a specific time of day. Windows and macOS have options that make this process easy, and many applications allow you to customize notification rules accordingly.

The same goes for your mobile device apps, too.

Take Advantage of Automation

Every job has repetitive tasks that eat up a lot of the worker’s day without offering value in return.

Some examples of jobs that don’t present an immediate return on the time investment include reorganizing files or repeatedly typing out the same message. They’re necessary, but not great for getting work done. You can use automation to eliminate some of the waste and ensure processes are carried out in a more efficient way. For example, you can configure inboxes to sort messages into specific folders or use templates to streamline certain types of content creation.

Microsoft Power Automate and various other tools let you get even more specific with workflows; you might be surprised by how much time you can save.

Keep Yourself Organized

Switching between applications and open windows can take up time, especially if you’re not very organized with them.

There are many ways to organize your digital workspace, including virtual desktops that can be used to keep certain processes separate from others. All you have to do is snap from one desktop to another using the window snapping features. It’s easy enough and keeps you organized.

Oh, right; the shortcut for that is the Windows + Arrow keys.

Achieve Maximum Productivity with Proactive IT

Many businesses make the most of their productivity through technology, which is exactly what we at First Column IT do for SMBs in Northern Virginia. Through our proactive solutions, you can stay focused on your duties without getting pulled away by random security issues or problems with your technology.

To get started, call us today at (571) 470-5594.

‍

Previous Post
July 26, 2024
Amazon Web Services Offers a Plethora of Solutions for SMBs
Cloud computing has allowed businesses to scale unlike any time before, all without breaking the budget. One such cloud provider is Amazon, and its Amazon Web Services platform allows businesses to manage their cloud computing needs. Today, we’re exploring some of the ways that AWS aids businesses with varied cloud computing needs.
July 24, 2024
Meta’s Track Record Isn’t Great, Regarding Security
Sometimes, companies don’t take the privacy of their services as seriously as they should, as evidenced by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Despite their popularity, these services have had several security and privacy issues over the years. Today, we want to look at some of these services' most notable privacy and security breaches.
July 22, 2024
Tip of the Week: How to Avoid Social Media Threats in 2024
You can take numerous steps to secure your social media accounts and tighten your privacy settings. Yet, every time you log in, you’re still exposing yourself to a vast stream of information and content. Our civilization has never encountered anything like this before. These platforms are designed to curate content you want to see, encouraging you to stay longer and return frequently. This design, meant to be enticing and addictive, poses dangers, especially to certain individuals.

Have a project in mind?

Start with our free consultation. We will provide a detailed proposal and firm quote based on your specific IT support needs. All at a predictable monthly cost per seat.
Free Consultation - Sign Up Here