5 Simple
Cures to Work Smarter and Save Time
Matthew Toren
You’ve heard the expression “work smarter, not harder”
before, but what does that mean exactly? When your inbox is packed, there's a
giant stack on your desk
and the phone keeps ringing, how are you supposed to get it all done smarter?
The truth is many of our common ways of doing things
aren’t actually productive.
When you focus too heavily on the act of doing over the
brilliance of planning,
you can be spinning your wheels with a lot of extra
activities that aren’t driving any results.
That means lots of time wasted on things that aren’t
worth your attention,
or that could be handled in a more efficient manner.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “an ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure.”
Here are five simple cures to help you work smarter in
the days ahead:
1. Structure.
The wealthiest entrepreneurs know that having some
structure to your schedule creates
a routine of success. If you’re running around
willy-nilly stomping out fires
instead of planning your business’s future, you’re going
to burn out and fall behind.
The key to an effective workday is setting some structure
in place. Get up at the same time Monday through Friday and carve out a
routine, for instance; wake up, work out, eat breakfast,
answer emails,
phone calls, block out time for actual planning and work,
check your email
again, phone calls again, then be done for the day.
When you break out of your structure and start answering
emails and phone calls all day
and all night, you are actually wasting a lot of time.
Having structure allows you to prioritize
your day, trains your staff and clients when they’re
going to have access to you
and also allows you to carve out dedicated time for
family, friends and yourself.
Structure makes you a smart entrepreneur.
2. Drop the myth
of multitasking.
Perhaps for a few of the world’s most talented mothers,
there is such a thing as multitasking.
But for the rest of us mere mortals, drop the idea that
you can multitask and be effective.
The brain isn’t wired to do two tasks well at once. Focus
on talking, typing, working or thinking,
but don’t try to do more than one. You end up wasting
more time trying to correct your words
or rewrite your email. Your brain is losing efficiency
each time it jumps to a new task.
Focus on one thing at a time, complete it fully, then
move to the next.
This will help you gain much more time in the long run.
3. Urgent does not
necessarily mean important.
Part of being an entrepreneur is using sound judgment.
You have to know your business model
and products. You have to trust your judgment to hire
vendors and staff.
Apply that same sense of good judgment to the urgent vs.
important tasks that arise everyday.
Part of the brilliance of working in a structure is that
in many ways,
it eliminates this urgent vs. important issue.
If you check your email or return calls in scheduled
batches of your structured routine,
it trains your staff and clients to figure out their own
problems. Have the judgment and discipline
to step out of the easy habit of thinking every urgent
thing is important -- it’s not.
Learning to let urgent go will save you a tremendous
amount of time and stress,
so you can work smarter and focus on what’s important
instead.
4. Turn it off.
Smartphones and wi-fi are amazing. It’s easy to take them
for granted now because
they’ve become a part of life that wasn't around just 10
years ago.
Yet entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson still managed to build
billion dollar empires with a landline phone.
All this connectivity is convenience at its best, but it
can also be incredibly disruptive
to your workflow. To work smarter, you need to find times
in the day when the instant message options are off, the email notifications
are blocked and the phone is on do not disturb.
All those pings, chimes and vibrating distractions take
your brain out of a creative process.
Only you have the power to turn all the distractions off
and focus on blocks of time
devoted solely to work, the creative process and your
business.
5. Take lots of
breaks.
How can you take lots of breaks and still get anything
done? Easy! It’s all about structure again. When you plan out your day to have
moments of time between tasks for breaks,
you’re setting yourself up for success. When you go, go,
go, you end up burning out big time. However, if you set up time for short
walks, meals and other small blocks of time
to reset your brain and fuel your
body, you’ll have the energy
and juicy brain matter you need to go strong all
day.
Don’t feel guilty about getting up from your workspace
every two hours for water, a snack
and a few laps around the block. Keeping your body fuelled
and rejuvenated
will keep you working smart for a long time down the
road.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232755
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