Here Are Seven Ways To Work Smarter

99-SECOND READ

"Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy."

Robin Sharma


Working smarter allows you to achieve better results in less time. It means moving away from simply being busy, towards productivity and effectiveness. Cultivating this behaviour is critical to achieving a successful career and a happy balanced life.


Working Smart Mindset

Working smart is focusing on working on the right thing, at the right time, in the most effective way possible.

You can get into this mindset by imagining you had just 1 day a week to do your job. Really imagine it as a reality – what would you do differently? Apply the ideas below and see how you get on.


7 Ways To Work Smarter

  1. Manage expectations of colleagues, customers & clients – don’t commit to tight deadlines unless absolutely necessary – reduce your time pressure, creating space to prioritise wisely and focus on what is important.
  2. Don’t waste energy on things you can’t control – if it’s out of your hands, forget about it. Work only on what you can influence.
  3. Revise your methods, routines and processes – don’t keep doing things the same way just because you always have, constantly check to see if there’s a more efficient or effective way.
  4. Choose the best communication method – there’s so many available these days. Sometimes one short phone call can save a long back and forth on messaging apps. On the other hand – don’t pick up the phone to that person you now will waste your time.
  5. Say no to meetings you don’t need to attend – they are a huge time waster. Unless you’re really adding value or gaining value, don’t go. Maybe another attendee can summarise the outputs/actions later?
  6. Work on a smaller number of higher value activities – doing fifty small deals will take longer, cost more and yield less than doing one huge deal.
  7. Do not multitask – turn off your emails / notifications if you have to, don’t get side-tracked by emails or WhatsApp and don’t jump from task to task, it’s a huge time waster! Do one thing at a time.


I’d love to hear any thoughts or ideas you have and how these points help you. Why not drop me a line?

If you found that interesting, you can subscribe to the 99-SECOND BLOG to stay up to date with insights and ideas on how to live a balanced life.


Written by Simon Tomkins

15 November 2021

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