The dream to work less does not mean you want to be lazy. At least it doesn’t have to. Read on to learn how you can achieve it without harming your productivity.
The ability to work less and do more is a talent that has to be cultivated. It’s not something we’re born with. While some are more talented than others — at school, at business, at life — the truth is that our successes rely more on what we learn than what we’re born with.
In the following article, we’ll be covering the seven steps that will enable you to work less and accomplish more. Let’s roll up our sleeves and begin!
1. Figure Out What You Don’t Need
Productivity is not about doing a lot of things. It’s about doing the things that are the right things to do. To be more productive, you need to be more intentional with how you spend your time. That means you need to be more strategic about how you spend your time and what you choose to do.
Time is the one thing you can’t get more of. You can’t go back in time and get more hours in a day, but you can spend your time more efficiently and productively by cutting out the activities in your life that don’t matter or don’t move you forward.
The best way to find more time in your day is to eliminate any redundant or unnecessary steps from your daily routine. For example, stop checking your work email on your phone during the weekends. You might find that you have more time in the evenings to do whatever you want.
2. Stop Watching the Clock
When you’re working out, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutes that you’re exercising. It’s easy to find yourself looking at the clock to see how much longer you have to go. That’s why it’s so important to focus on results and not the time. It’s important to be aware of how much time you’re spending on your project and to make sure you’re being productive.
It’s easy to spend hours and hours on something and not make any real progress. Clock-watching makes you less productive. The minute you stop focusing on the work you’re doing and start focusing on the time, you’re not doing the work anymore. You’re not present anymore, and you’re going to be less efficient.
3. Be Positive
Being positive and focusing on the good things in life not only improves your mood and makes you happier but it also makes you more productive. A study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that happy people are more productive and more creative than their more negative counterparts.
When you have a positive outlook, your brain releases endorphins, which are hormones that make you feel better about yourself and your life. Having a positive outlook can also help you think more clearly and tackle projects with a sense of excitement and focus.
But the people who tend to do the best are the ones who are positive and the ones who are passionate about what they do. The people who are always trying to do better, who are always pushing themselves, and who are always trying to find ways to be better. That’s what gets you ahead in life and in business.
4. Keep Open the Lines of Communication
Whether you’re collaborating with colleagues or with your clients, if you can find a way to work together, you can get more done and the quality of the work you produce will be better. If you’re a leader, you have to be able to communicate clearly and effectively.
You need to be able to get your point across so that your team knows exactly what’s going on, what their goals and objectives are, and how to get there. One of the best ways to do this is to create a visual roadmap. Help people see the end result. And when others try to help you, visualize along with them.
When it comes to communicating with people across cultures and time zones, it’s valuable to be aware of some of the common communication pitfalls that can occur. For example, certain words and phrases may mean different things in different cultures, and miscommunications can occur because of this.
5. Embrace Routine
Routines should be viewed as something that helps you save time and energy so you can put it into the things that really matter to you. It’s important to have a routine and it’s important to have your own routine rather than following someone else’s.
Our lives are so chaotic that we’re always running from one thing to the next. It’s easy to feel like we’re always running behind and that we’ll never catch up. But the truth is that you can make your life a lot easier by establishing a routine.
One of the keys to building a routine that’s flexible to change is to structure it from the outset. This is because while routines are meant to be structured and static, you have to leave room for flexibility in order to accommodate the changes and fluctuations that are inevitable in life.
6. Deal With Stress
Stress is a part of life. It’s part of working in the tech industry. There’s a saying that goes, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.”
If you’re stressed, you’re not performing at your optimum level. If you’re not performing at your optimum level, then you’re not making the most of your time and that’s time that could be better spent with your family, friends, or doing something you enjoy.
If you’re working too much and putting in too many hours, you’re going to be less productive, and if you’re trying to power through stress, you’re going to end up damaging your physical health. It’s important to take time for yourself.
We live in an increasingly stressful world and the best we can do is try to manage it. Exercise, meditation, and mindfulness are all important things you can do to manage your stress levels.
When you’re stressed, you’re not as productive as you could be in other areas of your life, and it’s important to deal with stress to keep your productivity high. If you don’t have a healthy relationship with stress or don’t know how to manage it, it will hurt your productivity because you’ll be worn down and feel like you’re not being effective because you’re not being efficient.
7. Focus, Automate, and Procrastinate
When you have to work hard on something, you should focus on it. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by anything or anyone. When you’re at work, you need to focus on work. When you’re spending time with your friends and family, you should focus on them.
If you find yourself having to do the same thing over and over again, then it’s probably a good idea to automate it. It might take some upfront work to set up the automation, but once it’s in place, you can sit back and relax while it does all the work for you.
Finally, you should procrastinate on things that can wait. Procrastination is really just a word for prioritizing the most important things and not putting out fires. You might even find, when you procrastinate, that the things that really need to get done are unimportant and can be eliminated altogether.
You Can Work Less Without Harming Your Productivity
Believe it or not, it is possible to work less and get more done. In fact, it’s probably the best way to stay productive. That’s because it makes the brain more creative and the body more energetic at what it has accomplished in such a short period of time. If you’re having trouble staying productive, put these 7 tips to work, and we think you’ll see a huge difference.
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
