We all have been told many lies as kids like more work is equal to more rewards, and to get better at something, you need to invest more time. Know that working 12 hours a day will not ensure you a promotion over a guy who works for exactly 7 hours. There’s no guarantee that studying for 6-8 hours will get you better grades than the guy who sits and study for not more than an hour every day. I strongly believe that working hard alone won’t take you anywhere far unless you work and think smart. In some cases working extra can jeopardize what you have accomplished so far. So it is advised to be cautious and plan well before doing what you are doing.
The truth is to maintain a balance between optimum hard work, and smart work is not that easy. It requires a lot of creative efforts and thinking out of the box. Before anything, you need to open up to the possibility that your way of doing things is not as efficient as it can be. Once you acknowledge this fact, you sure can accomplish much more without increasing points on your to-do list.
In fact, it is very much possible to get all of the work done in a limited time without being too burdened or overwhelmed. When you follow the suggestions mentioned below, you will be able to get things done quickly and will be able to reclaim more of your effectiveness.
1. The 80/20 principle
This rule states that most of your outputs/ rewards come from a small number of inputs. It is about being smart about choosing the right input that fetches the maximum output. You need to constantly focus on minimizing the relatively less productive 80 percent of the inputs. Practically, you are not supposed to cut off everything that is not highly rewarding. Some things need to be done regardless of how trivial they are. This principle should highlight the areas that contribute little, and hence you can evaluate and strike them off. Here are a few suggestions:
- Cut all the technological distractions like checking your WhatsApp (and other social media notification) and emails now and then. Instead, focus on the projects that you are currently working on. You can check your email in a fixed dedicated time slot in your low productivity hours.
- Learn to say no to people if you have things on your own plate. It is essential to realize and understand what the other person is asking from you. Suppose you think that the other person will not contribute any value to you against your commitment. Probably it is best to say NO.
- Instead of focusing on the core concepts, we often get engrossed with minor details and insignificant aspects of things. It is essential to study things from a 1000 ft view and then make the decision whether knowing about it in greater detail will help or not.
2. Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s law says that “work will automatically expand to fill the time that is available for its completion.” This one thing is a big downside of solely focusing on working and not getting things off your list. You must focus and pay attention to finishing the projects you have on your plate. Give yourself a strict timeline to follow and get done with the work in hand. It is also important to develop and cultivate the desire to strike off things from your to-do list.
3. Use the Pomodoro technique:
The technique typically uses a timer to keep track of time and break the time into several intervals (traditionally 25 minutes in length). Each of the intervals, separated by brief brakes (of typically 3-5 minutes).
It improves productivity by ruling out the scope of distractions and helping the practitioners focus better. Most of the users break down the total time into intervals, followed by a break. These sessions rotate regularly, and after some time, the user can take a more extended break (usually 30 minutes).
4. Break tasks into smaller chunks:
You have to ensure that the steps you are adding help you accomplish the desired set result. Often, even remarkable hard work does not fetch the right result if the steps followed were not crafted with the utmost care. It is like setting the route of the ship before it starts to sail. Even if all the care in the world was taken to follow the route and navigate the sea, if the checklist itself is “off,” the final task results will also be off.
5. Focus on Energy Management before Time Management
Energy management forces you to think of the work and plan, keeping the energy investment in mind instead of time management, where time is at the center of everything. Energy Management is about working with high intensity in a short period of time. It helps you accomplish tasks which you’d take days to complete if you are tired or distracted. Therefore, it is important to take a rest and conserve energy. It is really cool to think that you can work for 7-8 hours at a stretch. But it is impossible to work continuously for hours and produce high-quality work, especially when on a deadline.
It is essential to take a downtime and unwind. It is essential to take a break, think creatively, and work effectively. Although it can be a little hard to take a break when in the flow of work, you can set the alarm or schedule a break right in the beginning. You can do anything in the break time, go on a walk, have a cup of coffee, or sit and practice deep breathing.
6. Work in sprints
Try and segregate your work and free time very distinctly. When you have rest, ensure you are just in the resting mode only and vice-versa. Constantly switching between two things will do no good for your productivity. It would rather slow you down and feed on your limited energy.
7. Follow the 2 mins. rule
Never put off a piece of work that can be dealt with in just two minutes or less. Write and send that email, make that call, update your colleagues but do not let these things pile up. If you have a pile of work on your desk, pick up the work that takes exceptionally low time. If you complete it right away, you save a great deal of time returning at it later. Or you will have to schedule those tasks for another time.
8. Schedule wisely
You must find your rhythm. Some are morning people and wake up with a blast of energy. Others feel a sudden surge of energy when the sun starts to set. You need to know what suits you the best. Accordingly, make a plan and schedule things based on that. This way, you will be able to schedule the most important or gratifying work in your peak hours and other important stuff that is not that important for the other part.
9. Create your own deadlines
We are aware that we often tend to procrastinate a lot. When we are given a project, we think of the latest possible time to start the work. Instead, if you start imposing deadlines on your own self, you will be amazed to see the results.
If you abide by the deadline, you will note your progress with time and eventually be more productive. It also nudges you to complete work in time and not falling for the trap of thinking “it can be done later.”
10. Turn off your notification
According to a study, most people get interrupted by their colleagues turning up at their table almost every hour. Over the top of it, “Digital Distraction” is a no joke. It would help if you made it a point to turn off all your notifications from your personal emails and social networks. Try not to open your browser or touch your phone. Once you do all this, you will see a significant change in yourself towards being more productive.
11. Pick work wisely
Never waste your time doing things that you do not intend to be excellent at. If you happen to stumble at such a piece of work, try and delegate it to someone else. Finally, when you find something that can help you master something, make sure you gather the right skills and make it happen.
Most people make mistakes when they overestimate their potential. They take up voluntary projects and tasks without paying heed because they already have their hands full. From a distance, it may seem right that you are taking the initiative and taking up tasks while pleasing people by not saying ‘no.’ This can sometimes fall back on the person.
It is just impossible to do everything at once and please all the people out there. It is important to protect your rights if all it takes from you is to say “NO” wherever necessary. When you know that you have to say ‘No’ to someone, find common ground where you both can have a win-win.
12. Stop multitasking
There have been multiple pieces of research in place, proving that humans can not multi-task well. Albeit, we boast about this particular skill of multitasking a lot in our job interviews, but the truth is we are never good at true multi-tasking.
A plethora of research on this matter suggests that by focusing on just one thing alone, you will be able to siphon all your energy to that one task. You will be shocked to see how much work you can get done each day, the increase in the quality of output you are generating, and how well you can communicate overall.
13. Do not rely much on assumptions
Assumptions are one great reason why we get most of our time wasted. Often, what we think to be right is not the right estimation of time for a particular piece of work. This consequently leads to wastage of time. You can never be highly productive if your intuition does not match the real-world numbers. The only thing you can do is to test your true intuition with the numbers. This way, you can save yourself hundreds of hours. There are a few examples that you can try your hands on:
A/B Testing: Test two methods in a single go. This way, you will know what works better with greater accuracy and what works the best with you.
Track numbers: Closely follow the numbers. People often record the numbers, and that is it. It would help if you did more than that, track the numbers. Keep track of even the small things like your weight, calorie intake, etc., instead of just recording it once in a blue moon. Analyze the trend, how it is going up or down with time.
14. Marginal Rule of Quality
We always strive to be perfectionists, but somewhere we know that being a perfectionist has its own downsides. Know that you can not simply finish a project, and there is always some need for repair no matter what. The answer is simple: if you are sure that your inputs exceed the output gain, stop working on it.
Or in other words, you should put effort into things that have stopped giving you output. Or when the output is much less than the input, and there is something else that will give you better results with the same inputs. You can use the following application:
Take a week and give2 days each, trying to dedicate 30, 60, and 90 mins, just on emails. Compare the effectiveness and overall better use of time at the end of the week. You will clearly be able to notice the change in overall effectiveness. The question to you is if you can justify spending 1.5 hours daily just in e-mails when you can actually put in that work that needs that kind of energy and time.
