Today, learning how to work smarter and better is an absolute must. However, changing lifelong poor work habits can be even more important.
It’s time to shake things up in your daily habits and practices. Do you take pride in your ability to slack off on the job? Do you value being a couch potato? Instead, do you make good use of your time? If you work smarter and better, you won’t have to work as hard.
The most difficult bosses are those who work for themselves. However, the vast majority of us are not self-employed.
In the next years, the vast majority of employees will be required to work under supervision. There may be a supervisor. Perhaps it will be a manager, an algorithm, or even a robot. These are the things we’ll have to deal with in the future. Therefore, we’d best get used to it and learn to work smarter and better. While we’re at it, we might as well not whine as much.
With the correct strategy, even a sluggard can turn things around and work smarter and better.
Sometimes, even if we believe we are working hard, our ability to generate value on a daily basis may be severely limited by some of our habitual behaviors. Start by recognizing the key ways you may be wasting time at work. This will get you on the road to working more efficiently and productively. Here are eight ways to work smarter and better so that both our supervisor and we are happy about it.
1. Keeping e-mail in its place helps you work smarter.
When an email alert appears while you’re working on a vital project, you drop everything to answer. We’re all guilty of it. However, email is just a method of communication and shouldn’t take over our lives. Sometimes we prefer new, insignificant activities above critical chores. However, it’s those critical chores that propel us forward. Instead, we become slaves to our email and waste our precious work time.
Furthermore, as we continue to add chores to our to-do lists, checking email serves as a distraction. Therefore, set aside a specific time to check and respond to emails at regular intervals.
2. Control your real-time conversations.
Email, Slack, and WhatsApp were established by creative thinkers to allow us to communicate at our own pace and on our own terms.
However, we’re increasingly relying on them for real-time communication. We should not be endlessly tethered to email during work hours. Furthermore, we needn’t be drawn into a collaboration tool every time someone else in the office edits or comments.
Make use of these tools with careful discretion. Don’t let them control your day.
3. Prioritize your to-do list to work smarter.
When you have a long to-do list, some people like to start with small communication tasks. Rushing through a to-do list like that may distract you from focusing on what really important.
In addition, completing some tasks, however small, might offer you a sense of accomplishment. However, they’re only useful if they provide value to your larger endeavor. Therefore, make a list of your priorities and complete them first.
4. Don’t be a passive meeting attendee.
The majority of meetings are ineffective.
Executives spend an average of 23 hours each week in meetings. As a rule, eight of them are ineffective. In meetings, 90 percent of people daydream. In the United States alone, $37 billion per year is wasted in this way.
Consider how many meetings you’ve sat through without contributing to the debate or conversation. Should you be present if you aren’t willing to contribute? Consider which meetings you really must attend and lobby for opt-in privileges.
In addition, keep in mind that meetings are expensive. If at all possible, stay away from them.
5. Stop wasting time between work meetings.
Meetings also diminish the amount of time available outside of them for true, productive work. Therefore, a morning full of meetings is a recipe for disaster. Suppose meetings are 30 minutes long. By the time you’ve settled in and found your groove, it’s time to go on to the next one.
Therefore, consider scheduling meetings back-to-back. This helps give you a more focused work week. In addition, use a smart tool like Dewo.
6. Use shortcuts and templates to help you work more efficiently.
Even when starting a new project, most of us use the same tactics or methodologies.
It’s a waste of effort to create a different structure for similar tasks or operations. Therefore, it’s wise to use templates and shortcuts to save time and effort.
This helps us work smarter and better.
7. Use automation to help you work smarter and better when you can.
Keeping track of your time? Then why do so many of us still waste time doing menial tasks manually in this day of automation?
Dull chores such as recording costs and taking notes in meetings can be automated. In addition, maintaining your email, and manually transferring data between work tools or spreadsheets are all made easier with automation.
The list of activities that can be automated is growing. Therefore, start looking into what you can outsource. This is one of the most straightforward ways to free up time and mental energy for the task at hand.
8. Keep the workplace buzz out of your space.
It’s true that busyness is frequently linked with productivity.
Rushing around, and getting things done, however, may also be a big-time waste of effort. When we are overworked, we lose focus and refuse to take breaks. We try to persuade ourselves that we’re doing fine when, in fact, we’re not.
Actual productivity necessitates time for our minds to wander, rest, and take breaks. We all need that time away from the mindless work that keeps us busy but adds little value.
