Increasing your productivity is one of the best ways to increase your income. When you increase your productivity, you are able to do your work in a shorter amount of time and with a higher quality output. Here are some tips to help to help you increase your productivity, no matter what your job is.

1. Learn as much as you can. It is surprising how many people do not take advantage of every opportunity to learn more and increase their knowledge and expertise in their fields. Many employers have courses and other training available to anybody that asks. All you have to do is ask your boss or call the HR department and inquire. Many times you will be given time off to take classes that are paid for fully by your employer, which will allow you to be more productive at your job and eventually lead to higher compensation and personal income.
2. Cut off the distractions. One of the best pieces of advice that I ever got was “work when you work,” don’t socialize, and don’t catch up on the news or other information sources. Put your head down, put on the headphones, put up the “do not disturb” sign and work. Make a list of a few tasks that you want to accomplish that day, and don’t do anything else until you accomplish those tasks. Turn off the cell phones, BlackBerry, instant messaging, Facebook and Twitter, and focus on getting those tasks done. Afterwards, you will feel like you have accomplished a lot and you will not have any guilt about playing or doing whatever else you want.
3. Time block. Whenever I sit down to write a blog post, I know that I need about two hours from start to finish. Starting with an initial idea, doing research, drafting and editing takes about two hours. In my schedule, I have to block out two full hours where I know I will not be distracted and then I can fully focus without worrying about being interrupted and having to start again. There are emergencies that can’t wait two hours. You should do the same: block off several hours at a time to focus on one task. Cut off all distractions, let people know you will be available after that time, and then let your mind run with the opportunity to stop thinking about anything but the task at hand.

Finding ways where you can do things faster, more efficiently and with less distractions will make you more productive at your job. This will lead to higher income either from your current job or from the marketplace in general. It will also allow you to enjoy your free time without any guilt, because you will have already accomplished your tasks for the day.

We all know that perception and reality are often disconnected. For retailers, the former stands to bring customers in, or drive them away, much more so than the latter. With so many retailers going under, speculation about who will be next has added to the downward spiral. Perceptions affect more than just the consumers on which retailers rely. Their lines of credit, supply chains, and investor contributions all stand to suffer from negative press as well.

According to a USA Today report, Rumors about retailers can be very bad news for their health, gift card sales are one area where significant declines can occur amid rumors of a store’s bankruptcy. As I mentioned previously, in Another Downside of Gift Cards, gift cards may become worthless once a company goes bankrupt. The reason is that companies aren’t required to keep gift card proceeds separate until the cards are redeemed. So it’s not surprising that people wouldn’t want to purchase gift cards at stores that are seen as a bankruptcy threat.

The USA Today article mentioned quite a few retailers which often end up on published lists of companies likely to go bankrupt, even though their financials appear strong.

The takeaway seems to be that retailers would prefer that you don’t avoid buying gift cards simply because of speculation about a potential bankruptcy. Unfortunately for retailers, there are many other reasons to avoid gift cards, such as those I covered in The Gift That Keeps on Taking.

Do you have any gift cards that have become worthless either through bankruptcy of the issuing company or due to excessive fees, inactivity or otherwise?

Having a corporate credit card through your employer is often a necessity and may even have some personal benefits. In many cases, though, employees are required to pay the credit card bill out of their own pocket and are then reimbursed by their employer. This scenario has a few downsides.

First, it disrupts your personal cash flow by tying up your money until the reimbursement occurs.
If your employer doesn’t approve a particular expense item or becomes insolvent before it can repay you, you could be out for the amount that you cover. Even if your company is just slow to process payments, this system could cause you to cover for your employer’s expenses for months at a time.

Second, it gives you the possibility to pay late or less than the full amount, exposing yourself to interest and penalty fees. We all know that the responsible use of credit means regularly paying our credit card balance in full and always paying on time. When the responsibility for those actions shifts to employees from employers, it’s more likely that an improper use of credit will occur.

Lastly, it adds more complexity to your budget. Since transactions are intermingled with your own personal money, you’ll need to track them closely. To handle this scenario, I have an expense category called Reimbursed Job Expense. I capture both corporate credit card payments and reimbursements received under this category. Ultimately this category should balance to $0 as I am reimbursed for my corporate purchases. Until that occurs, I can track the amount I have spent, which is also the amount I am owed.

Making your employer aware of the downsides of your current corporate card payment method might inspire your company to change. An alternative method is to have employers handle corporate credit card payments directly. That shifts responsibility back to the ones who are mandating the expenses.

How are corporate card payments handled by your employer?

Just over a year ago, I arrived in London for a weekend trip put on by my school. Students from my class were flown in, put up in a hotel, and fed for free: an absolutely amazing trip, right? However, at that stage in my life, my mind was fixated on frugality: don’t spend any money, save all I can, keep more for later. When my friends went out for dinner, I stayed in; when they went to a pub, I was checking my email. As a result, I wasted an amazing opportunity to explore London because of my extreme frugality.

Fast forward a few months, when I took a five-day trip with a few friends to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. While we were there, I simply didn’t think about money: if I wanted food, I bought it; if I wanted a souvenir, I also bought it. I enjoyed the stay there an incredible amount, but when I returned home and checked my balance, I was shocked: hundreds of dollars more spent in five days than in the previous month.

What I learned from these two experiences is that there exists a happy medium between these two extremes: one shouldn’t be too frugal, but one should also not spend too much! Given that this is a personal finance and investing blog, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that we have as many over-savers as we have over-spenders. The funny thing is, personal finance blogs almost always chastise people for overspending, but in real life, being too cheap is just as bad.

Don’t forget to live life. If you are saving every penny you earn, but you don’t need to, would it improve your life to loosen your purse strings every once in a while? I found that by creating a set of bank accounts solely dedicated to specific purposes, I was able to automatically deposit a set amount of money into these accounts and spend it guilt-free. I now have a predetermined amount of money dedicated to traveling, to vacations, and to purchases I want to make in the future. Having these accounts protects me from over-saving and not taking advantage of life.

If you are a big saver, good for you: it’s a much better problem to have than spending too much. Don’t forget to take the time to make sure you are living as well, though. Don’t waste your weekend in London hiding in your hotel room, afraid of the conversion rate of the British pound: set a reasonable budget and stick to it.

Are you an over-spender or an over-saver?

Like most people, I love a great deal. Unfortunately, there are times when an apparent deal is not a deal at all. Here are some typical types of non-deals.

When You Spend More to Save

Many deals only come into effect when you spend a certain amount of money. Saving $20 off a $100 purchase is great if you were planning to spend $100, but doesn’t make sense if you have to buy more than you want to get the deal. The same holds true when shopping sales. If a store is having a 20% off sale, should you buy what you would have bought without the sale (and spend 20% less) or buy even more so that you spend the full amount you intended, or more?

When Non-Deals Are Less Expensive

A coupon that reduces the price of a movie rental from $4 to $2 sounds pretty good until you consider that Redbox, or a similar alternative, may offer the same movie for $1. The important thing is not how much you save over a regular price but the reduction in spending that a deal offers when alternatives are also considered.

When it Generates Waste/Lacks Value

At fast food restaurants, you are typically offered a larger drink for only a few cents more. An extra 20 cents for a significantly larger cup sounds great, but only if you actually want the extra amount and you are going to drink it. If you end up throwing it out, the deal leaves you worse off. Even if you don’t plan to waste it, the value you get might be reduced by taking the deal. Many places offer unlimited free refills on fountain drinks. If I can refill my small cup as often as I like, I can get just as much as someone with a larger cup, for less money.

When You Know It’s Too Good To Be True

This is a case I covered in How Good a Deal Can You Ethically Accept. When you know a deal is only due to cashier error, computer glitch, etc., you may only be able to accept so much of a discount before you start to feel guilty.

What other examples of non-deals have you encountered?