It is true when it is said that working smarter is more important than working harder. The art of accomplishing more by doing less simply lies in doing that work first which is the most important and ditching the work that wastes your time. The key elements of this approach are focus, priority, and dedication. Distractions, procrastination, and overthinking would not help at all but rather ruin your productivity.
Hard Work vs. Smart Work
Smart work is defined as the discovery of effective means to carry out one or more tasks while controlling time and quality. Smart work does not require the conventional set of talents because they vary between individuals and take time to develop. While smart work is mostly based on quality and a planned approach to a certain objective, hard work places more emphasis on quantity and effort.
In simple terms, hard work means putting in long hours consistently, tenaciously, and passionately. In some cases, this job may be emotional, mental, or physical. Some individuals define it as making an additional effort, while others define it as working nonstop to accomplish their goals.
Learning to work smartly is a first step, but one should never lose sight of the importance of working hard as well. By combining both types of work, one can attain great heights and lead a better and more comfortable life. This will eventually assist you in receiving the appreciation and attention that you deserve. To attain your goal, you’ll need a well-planned strategy that combines diligence and intelligence. As a result, it is advised that hard labor and intelligence be combined whenever possible because they both complement and substitute for one another as needed.
Tips that Can Help You Accomplishing More by Doing Less
As many people don’t understand how to do smart work as our system always focuses on hard work we think of smart work as just a fancy term. We have a few tips to help you understand how you can do that smart work and achieve greater goals without facing much hassle.
A few suggestions for doing the smart work:
1. Stay Focused
The most significant factor for accomplishing anything is “focus“. If you get distracted and lose your focus then it becomes difficult to fulfill the goals and accomplish the tasks. When you have full control over your mind and you tell yourself that you need to focus on this particular task or work and complete it within a specific time, nobody can stop you from achieving it. When you get distracted easily, you give space to unnecessary waste of time and energy, and your set goals or tasks are not completed. Do not let anyone or anything distract you. Focus on the things that you can do and can control. If there are any distractions, shift to a silent or empty place where you would be able to concentrate on your work.
2. Get Yourself a To-Do List
No matter if a to-do list sounds silly or old school but it is the ultimate driving force to accomplish your day-to-day goals with ease. A to-do list helps you to plan your day and prepares you for being more productive. Make a to-do list for yourself and list down those important tasks that need to be completed before you call it a day. This way you will have your important tasks listed right in front of your eyes and you can go on to tick each one of them one by one as you start executing your tasks for the day. The only thing is that you must ensure that your to-do list does not have any unnecessary tasks that take too much time and are not that important to be done at that moment. Prepare your list short and precise while mentioning the most important tasks to the least ones.
3. Prioritize Your Tasks
Not every task is your priority. You must understand that prioritizing your tasks can help you accomplish more by doing less. There are tasks that are more important than others and if you perfectly prioritize your tasks as per their importance and deadlines, more than half of the work gets accomplished right there! There’s a theory that says that 80% result of accomplishment is achieved by doing the first 20% of the work on your to-do list. This means that the first 20% work that you’ll do should be the work that is the most important and needs to be your number one priority to accomplish your set targets or goals.
Keeping doing the work continuously as it comes without prioritizing it can also lead to less productivity overall even though you may have completed more tasks than usual. This is because the work that was of utmost importance or that needed priority treatment might not have been accomplished yet and by the time that task comes on your list, you would have been left with little or no energy at all to accomplish it.
4. Learn to Say “no” to Others as Well as Yourself
It is important for you to learn to say no to others as well as yourself. It is important to say no to unnecessary tasks and distractions. It is important to say no to others when you have your own deadlines to complete and deliver work on time. It is important to say no to all that overthinking and stress. It is completely okay to say no to those other alternate brilliant ideas which were rejected while choosing the best ones. Prioritizing yourself is important and focusing on the important things rather than entertaining unnecessary things is significant for you to accomplish your goals.
5. Hire People with Skills that You Lack
The thinking that you can do everything yourself is not an ideal one. Instead of wasting time learning a whole new concept in order to perform a task, you can hire people who already have those required skills and can help you to achieve those goals. You cannot work around all the fields therefore getting on board the talented people with who you can leverage your work is a great move to accomplish more in less. The productivity will also increase and you will also get time for yourself to focus on better and more important things.
6. Take those Much-Needed Breaks in Between
People believe that working endlessly like a machine means more productivity. Ironically, working nonstop does not guarantee any success. It drains your energy and decreases your energy levels. It also highly affects mental and physical health. This is why taking frequent breaks in between work is very essential. Taking short breaks ensures that your energy levels keep boosting up and your stress keeps getting relieved. Taking breaks recharges your battery! After taking a break, you feel refreshed and charged up. This contributes to high efficiency and more productive results.
7. Do not Procrastinate Due to Stress
Procrastination is not a good habit to start with. It often happens that there’s a lot of work stress and people end up procrastinating. It will only increase the workload and nothing more. Completing the important task at the earliest is the way to go. That way, half of your stress and work will be done and dusted and you’ll have less work to procrastinate and stress about!
Conclusion
These were a few important pointers on how you can work smart and accomplish more and more in less. Saving your time and energy while accomplishing the most important objectives is the ultimate win. This will not only help you achieve more success but you’ll also be able to lead a balanced personal and professional life. Your hard work and smart work both will be credited with appreciation, rewards, and success and you’ll end up achieving your desired goals.
