They say you can do anything if you
just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
November 3, 2015
You can accomplish anything with
hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion,
master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not
always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it
as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair
of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for
the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work
more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional
effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1.
Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task
might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive.
Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and
gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem,
your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind
is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your
mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back
refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.
2.
Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you
don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing
plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently,
open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc
to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just
tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just
got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it
breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought,
possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several
times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.
3.
Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you,
artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from
more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker
emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website.
Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract
you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later.
The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them
altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and
don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate
concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same
for high-priority tasks.)
4.
Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after
they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically,
something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to
update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing
you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming
habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the
action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally
(some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).
5.
Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete
an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a
certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project
or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead,
allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh
and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your
ability.
6.
“Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there
are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should
“multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch
break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into
work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some
voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these
negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.
7.
Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than
anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re
going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks
that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to
do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the
burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do
best.
They
say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
- See more at:
http://www.success.com/article/7-shortcuts-to-work-smarter-not-harder#sthash.t9S7RSWE.dpuf
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
- See more at: http://www.success.com/article/7-shortcuts-to-work-smarter-not-harder#sthash.t9S7RSWE.dpuf
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion, master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
- See more at: http://www.success.com/article/7-shortcuts-to-work-smarter-not-harder#sthash.t9S7RSWE.dpufExcept working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1. Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.2. Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently, open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought, possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.3. Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you, artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website. Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later. The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same for high-priority tasks.)4. Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally (some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).5. Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead, allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your ability.6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.7. Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do best.Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion, master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
- See more at: http://www.success.com/article/7-shortcuts-to-work-smarter-not-harder#sthash.t9S7RSWE.dpufExcept working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1. Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.2. Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently, open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought, possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.3. Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you, artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website. Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later. The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same for high-priority tasks.)4. Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally (some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).5. Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead, allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your ability.6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.7. Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do best.Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion, master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
- See more at: http://www.success.com/article/7-shortcuts-to-work-smarter-not-harder#sthash.t9S7RSWE.dpufExcept working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1. Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.2. Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently, open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought, possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.3. Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you, artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website. Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later. The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same for high-priority tasks.)4. Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally (some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).5. Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead, allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your ability.6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.7. Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do best.Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
7 Shortcuts to Work Smarter, Not Harder
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion, master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1. Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.2. Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently, open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought, possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.3. Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you, artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website. Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later. The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same for high-priority tasks.)4. Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally (some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).5. Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead, allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your ability.6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.7. Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do best.Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
7 Shortcuts to Work Smarter, Not Harder
They say you can do anything if you just work hard. Well, they’re wrong.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, earn a promotion, master virtually any skill… if you just work hard.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
Except working your butt off is not always enough. Need proof? You can’t inflate a flat car tire by blowing into it as hard as you can, the same way you can’t effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You need to work smarter, not harder.
How though? By finding shortcuts.
Here are seven tips to help you work more efficiently and more productively without expending any additional effort—aka here’s how to work smarter, not harder:
1. Walk away.
Walking away from a complex task might seem counterintuitive, but breaks can actually make you more productive. Removing yourself from the work environment immediately reduces stress and gives your brain a chance to “catch up.” If you’re working on a hard problem, your subconscious mind will continue working on it even if your conscious mind is trying to relax—which is why sometimes, solutions magically pop into your mind when you aren’t thinking about the problem. Either way, you’ll come back refreshed and in a healthier, more focused mental state for work.2. Recognize and eliminate distractions.
This should be obvious, but the most dangerous distractions are the ones you don’t even realize are distracting. Maybe you’re working on a new marketing plan with a couple tabs of research open, and a third tab that’s, conveniently, open to Facebook. You get a new notification, so you click out of your Word doc to check it real quick. You spend 20 seconds looking at the post you were just tagged in (or the event you were just invited to or the “like” your status just got) before you minimize it again. Twenty seconds isn’t a long time, but it breaks your focus and forces you to restart your last train of thought, possibly costing you a few minutes or more. Compound that happening several times an hour, and you’ve instantly reduced your overall productivity.3. Ignore low-priority items.
Low-priority items sneak up on you, artificially increasing the length of your to-do list and distracting you from more important work. Say you’re working on a big project when a co-worker emails you about a quick change you need to make on your company’s website. Logging on and making the change won’t take much time, but it will distract you from the project and stress you out if you have to postpone it until later. The best way to fight against these low-priority items is to ignore them altogether. Go into “do not disturb” mode by working offline if you can and don’t write them down on your to-do list—they aren’t worth your immediate concern, so you’ll get to them when you get to them. (Just don’t do the same for high-priority tasks.)4. Create routine habits.
Habits happen naturally after they’re formed—they become a ritual, something you can slip into automatically, something you don’t even have to think about. For example, if you have to update an editorial calendar every day, make it an unconscious habit, sparing you the necessity of remembering it in a desperate scramble. Forming habits is the hard part—a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to commit the action every day, with no breaks from the routine, until it comes naturally (some people say it takes 30 days, but the evidence is iffy and subjective).5. Work in chunks.
Instead of sitting down to complete an entire project, sit down to accomplish one goal element or work for a certain number of hours. Forcing yourself to complete the entirety of a project or complex task will stress you out and make you less productive. Instead, allow yourself to work in shorter “bursts” to keep your mind fresh and reduce your anxiety. That way, you can work to the very best of your ability.6. “Multitask” (not in the traditional sense).
No matter how busy you are, there are always “negative spaces” in your day—and these gaps are when you should “multitask.” Try to fill the empty spaces with productive work: On your lunch break, watch a tutorial video or catch up on your emails. On your drive into work, listen to audiobooks or podcasts. During your workouts, catch up on some voicemails or watch a TED Talk. The more you learn and work in these negative spaces, the more you’ll get done overall.7. Work around your strengths and weaknesses.
You know yourself better than anybody. You have strengths and weaknesses inherent to your being, and they’re going to affect how you work. Navigate around these by taking on more tasks that you’re good at and staying away from ones that slow you down; don’t try to do them all yourself. Delegate or work together with others to shoulder the burden of your weakest tasks or skills, and spend more time doing what you do best.Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend. Learn 8 ways to balance your workload and make the most of your time on the clock.
