Many of us have heard the common phrase to work smarter not harder but learning to work smarter can be difficult for some but it’s worthwhile to take a look into and adopt as a new approach. It helps you stay on top of your work, organized, increase your job security and help your overall job satisfaction as a whole. Implementing a few of these strategies will help you work smarter, although it does take some practice. Hopefully, the goal is to help save you energy, working in shorter bursts for example allows you to accomplish challenging tasks with greater energy and produce better results, increase your productivity overall and motivate you to keep taking on challenges throughout the day.
- Create A Morning Routine: One of the biggest challenges for those of us who are not morning people is starting a routine. It could be as simple as taking a short walk to move your body before you sit at your desk or reading a book that discusses important brain development in your field. Meditation can also be a great practice to start your morning with. It’s been shown to increase your concentration, improve your overall mood, and combat any anxiety you might be feeling about your day. Similar to this, ending the day with meditation can also help increase your sleep after a stressful day.
Image: Columbus Express Laundry
- Keep A Short To-Do List: If you can keep your lists short to at least three to five important things a day that should help you complete the tasks. Challenge your tasks throughout your day and focus on them one at a time before moving on to less important tasks. For instance, if you hate doing laundry because of folding (and let’s face it we all hate the folding part and leave them in endless piles around our house) one of the goals I have is to work smarter in this area. I found a family-owned laundry called Columbus Express Laundry, which allows me to wash all my clothes in a very clean and professional setting. This laundry service near Columbus is dedicated to providing the best service and offer machines in a variety of sizes to handle even the biggest of loads and enough dryers to handle washing, drying, and folding needs. Because I’m usually out and about running errands, this also forces me to fold my laundry, put them in the baskets I brought, and put them away as soon as I get home along with the other items I bought along the way.
- Block Your Calendar: If you need help staying on top of your work or tasks for the day,
try blocking out your day. Blocking your calendar will help give you the time to get work accomplished while also ensuring your day is from any distractions. I typically block my calendar out from 9-12 to work, have a break from 12-1 for lunch, run a few errands and then start back up at work again from 2-4. This also helps keep me focused on the task on hand, taking my time and zoning in on what needs to be accomplished during the hour or half-hour I have to do it.
- Stop Multitasking- I used to be the queen of multitasking but realized that it wasn’t helping me but actually hurting me. Did you know that as humans, we aren’t capable of doing multiple things at once, even though we try to? We wimpy shift our attention from one task to another very quickly. Switching actually isn’t allowing us to pay attention to everything around us. You’re not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously but switching between them very rapidly. Researchers have even found that they can actually see the brain struggling when you attempt to multitask. The next time you try, take a deep breath and go back to focus on one thing that needs to get done right that minute and once it’s complete then shift your attention to your other task.
There are so many other great techniques and tips to help you work smarter not harder so be sure to write out what are a few things you struggle with doing lately, figure out how you can solve that problem, and try it to see if it works. Do your best to give yourself grace as you are trying to figure out a new normal for yourself, a routine that will not only help you physically but mentally as well.