Does soaring high, in terms of good productivity, always has to go parallel with long hours of exhausting work? Perhaps this is the very idea which was instilled in our brains in our teen days or maybe it still is. Being 17, working and studying for prolonged hours is a normal attitude because we want to achieve big but as we grow older, a different thinking pattern might just take over this conventional one. On a casual working day, it may just strike you, that working tirelessly for long hours is not always right, or the sole path to gain success.
Take a look at the small business owner who works tirelessly. Flinty stares at work or exhausting himself at work won’t really make things work out for him with his corporate competitors. That is pretty much because in today’ raging world time is an insufficient commodity. A struggling entrepreneur can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but still, his or her or competitor can effortlessly spend more capital, gather a team and make them work collectively on the same project and sweeping away others in the market. Then is it really a good choice for small startups to work on something that bigger corporations cannot achieve? Instagram now, is under Facebook, a company which had only 13 employees. Snapchat, a startup with 30 employees, was turning away all the offers from Google and Facebook. A significant part of each of their success was based on, efficiency and luck.
Which leads us to a certain point, that in order to gain success working hard is not as important as working smart. There is a striking distinction between being productive and being busy. A less commonly known fact is, being busy and being productive are not directly proportional. Being productive has to do more with managing your energy rather than time management. That is how business life works. It has more to do with, learning how to use minimal energy but get the most benefits out of it. Try reducing 80 hours of the work week to 40 hours and see the level of productivity. You would understand the importance of, less is more!
Follow these 5 things to increase your productivity
1. Stop working overtime and increase your productivity instead
Did it occur to you from where the 40 hours of work week came from? Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, carried out an experiment with his staff. He reduced their daily working hours from 10 to 8 and had cut down the working days from 6 to 5. And the result was worth the experiment, his worker’s productivity increased.
Thus, the more hours you give into working the less the level of productivity. Also, another prime thing you should bring into your routine is good hours of sleep. You will have a generalized low and irritation mood during the work if you have had less than 8 hours of sleep. The mind’s promptness will shun itself and cut down your level of wanting to work enthusiastically.
2. Don’t say “yes” too often
The Pareto principle states that “20 percent of the effort produces 80 perfect of the results; however, 20 percent of the result consumes 80 percent of the effort”. We, instead of putting in some extra hard work, should narrow our focus to the efforts that will and can produce a hefty amount of good results and neglect the rest, which does nothing but drains your energy. This way, we set blinkers, we have our mind straight and focused on the important tasks. Hence, put a halt at saying ‘’yes’’ to the tasks that offer little or no result.
Seek every task critically, do the math, how much time and effort will the particular task consume? and will its level of productivity be beneficial for you or not? Once you’re done analyzing it then go for it else there always an option for “no”. Use it wisely.
3. Stop doing everything yourself and start letting people help you
At times it is better to share the burden. Not always you can prove to be a jack of all trades, even if you think you can. Let it loose and see how the workers take over the work. To your surprise, they might follow your working style and produce good work. Learning the power community is important and when to use it efficiently.
It is vital for us to come to terms with the fact that seeking help is okay when we need it. At times it can get impossible for us to do everything ourselves. It is always a better option to let someone or a team share your load of work. This also gives you quality time to focus on the essential tasks. Put on blinkers, don’t waste time and energy in overloading yourself with work alone, let others help you out.
4. Stop guessing and start backing up your decisions with data
If optimizing websites for search engines is okay for you, then the growth of your life can certainly be optimized too and reach heights.
Today’s engaging world offers numerous insightful studies on how to optimize your productivity. For instance, were you aware of this that most people are distracted between noon to 4 p.m.? There was whole research that was conducted on this very topic b a professor. But even if you are having trouble finding data on a particular query, it doesn’t take hours to carry a simple test and examine your own results.
5. Stop working, and take some time to do nothing at all.
It is commonly practiced by all that we don’t realize that when we have all our mind into something, we are primarily confining ourselves in a closed box which can turn out to be counterproductive to our work and the results which we want to fetch. It is essential to drift away from work every once and a while and have some time alone which will prove to be beneficial for the mind and soul. Will give a refreshing start.
