19 Tips to Improve Work Performance & Continuously Grow [Updated for 2026]

Improving work performance is no longer just about working harder, it’s about working smarter, leveraging AI, and building a system that helps you and your team thrive. In 2026, with AI assistants transforming how we organize, track, and reflect on work, improving performance means combining traditional best practices with cutting-edge tools.

Here’s how to elevate your performance and make every workday more effective.

19 ideas to improve your performance this year

1. Set clear expectations with AI insight

Start every project or goal with clarity. AI tools can help you define expectations by analyzing past projects, predicting potential bottlenecks, and suggesting measurable objectives. When everyone knows the north star from the start, it’s easier to stay aligned and accountable.

2. Track milestones and goals with smart dashboards

Break big goals into actionable milestones. AI dashboards and automated tracking allow you to see progress in real time, highlight areas for improvement, and celebrate small wins. Regularly reviewing milestones ensures performance remains consistent and measurable.

To build AI-powered dashboards for tracking goals and milestones, you can use platforms like Fellow's API to feed dashboards with fresh meeting insights, Notion, Airtable, or Coda for no-code solutions that combine databases, visualizations, and AI-generated summaries, or business intelligence tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Looker for more advanced analytics and predictive insights. Performance management platforms such as Lattice, WorkBoard, or Gtmhub offer AI-driven tracking of objectives, highlighting trends, blockers, and opportunities in real time. For fully customized solutions, frameworks like Python with Streamlit, Dash, or Plotly allow integration of AI APIs to automatically visualize progress, generate milestone summaries, and provide actionable insights across your team or organization.

3. Organize, prioritize, plan

Effective work starts with organization. AI assistants can prioritize tasks, create smart to-do lists, and even predict when deadlines may need adjustment. Whether it’s daily checklists or quarterly planning, leveraging AI to structure your workflow ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

4. Minimize distractions with AI-powered focus

Distractions reduce performance. Use AI to block non-essential notifications, suggest focus periods, or even create optimal schedules based on your peak productivity times. Tools like Fellow’s AI meeting notes help automatically capture discussions, letting you stay present without missing key details.

5. Focus on one task at a time

Multitasking is a myth. AI can help you allocate time to deep work sessions and manage smaller tasks asynchronously, so you focus on what matters most and deliver higher quality output.

6. Complete tasks efficiently

If something takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. For larger projects, AI assistants can remind you of deadlines, follow up on progress, and summarize ongoing tasks to prevent unfinished work from piling up.

7. Learn continuously

AI can curate personalized learning recommendations based on your role, projects, and career goals. Daily micro-learning—articles, videos, or AI-generated summaries—keeps you sharp and competitive.

8. Communicate clearly and asynchronously

AI tools can help summarize conversations, highlight action items, and even draft clear messages for asynchronous teams. Effective communication in 2026 means ensuring alignment across hybrid or fully remote environments without unnecessary meetings.

9. Identify weak spots and improve with data

Self-awareness is critical. AI tools like Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or ChatGPT can analyze your work patterns, peer feedback, and project outcomes to reveal areas for improvement.

Use this insight to create actionable plans, seek mentorship, or adjust workflows.

Fellow allows you to document performance conversations and reflect on feedback over time, making improvement measurable and consistent.

10. Delegate intelligently

AI can help determine which tasks should be delegated based on workload, skills, and availability, freeing you to focus on high-impact work.

11. Find ways to recharge

Even the most advanced AI can’t replace human energy. Short breaks, walks, and offline time enhance focus and creativity. AI assistants can remind you to take these breaks without disrupting workflow.

12. Manage stress proactively

AI can monitor workloads, detect patterns of overwork, and suggest time management adjustments. A balanced schedule improves both performance and long-term wellbeing.

13. Prioritize self-care

Physical, mental, and emotional health are essential to sustained performance. Integrate routines that energize you: morning walks, short meditation, or reading a book.

14. Seek feedback continuously

Feedback is now smarter and faster. AI can analyze performance metrics, summarize feedback from peers and managers, and even help you ask the right questions. Documenting these insights in Fellow ensures you track growth across projects and performance reviews.

15. Evaluate and optimize workflows

Stop repeating inefficient habits. AI can identify time drains and suggest workflow optimizations. For example, automating meeting summaries or using AI agendas to streamline discussions.

16. Network and build relationships

Human connections remain critical. AI can suggest networking opportunities, recurring check-ins, or collaborative projects to strengthen relationships and knowledge sharing.

17. Share knowledge with others

AI makes gaining new knowledge and sharing that knowledge seamless—automatically storing and recommending insights to the team, helping everyone learn faster and perform better.

18. Promote continuous skill growth

AI can suggest skill-building opportunities and track progress in real time. Encourage your team to adopt these tools to expand competencies across the organization.

19. Engage in regular training

The era of waiting for formal sessions is over—growth happens continuously and proactively. You can create a plan to achieve your goals that involves attending webinars, courses, trainings, watching videos, and using AI tools to research specific topics and skills.

FAQ: Improving work performance

How can AI improve my work performance?

AI can automate repetitive tasks, track progress on goals, suggest improvements, summarize meetings, and provide actionable insights from data, helping you focus on high-impact work.

Can AI help with performance reviews?

Yes, AI tools like Fellow allow you to document and track feedback from managers and peers over time, providing clear records for self-reflection and performance discussions.

How do I use AI to manage distractions?

AI can block notifications, recommend focus periods, and prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance, so you can maintain deep work sessions.

What role does AI play in learning and skill development?

AI can curate personalized learning paths, suggest courses, and summarize new information, ensuring you acquire skills aligned with your goals efficiently.

Is it necessary to combine AI with traditional self-care and focus practices?

Absolutely. AI amplifies your work efficiency, but sustainable performance still requires breaks, self-care, and deliberate focus practices.

How does Fellow.ai support performance improvement?

Fellow can automatically captures meeting discussions, generates agendas, documents feedback conversations, and tracks goal progress—helping you stay organized, aligned, and continuously improving.