One of the great challenges for most professionals is to achieve high performance in their work. And to achieve this, most of them are committed to working longer hours. Getting up earlier, leaving the office later, working on weekends … And usually, working more is not the right solution to improve performance. On many occasions, although working more may lead to some improvement in performance in the short term, it is not sustainable in the medium and long term. People need not only to rest and sleep well … but also to alternate our professional life with leisure activities (such as practising sports, watching TV, reading, going for a walk …) and various family activities.
I have seen in my career some people who have worked so hard that they have hardly had time for leisure and family… and most of them have paid dearly for it; both on a personal level and in many cases also on a professional level.
For this reason, I propose in this post, 10 IDEAS FOR YOU TO WORK LESS (or the same, but not more) TO IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE.
1) Organize your work well. It is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects. Before any challenge or task, think carefully before starting how to organize it well. Many people are so busy that they often start working on the task without having had time to think about how to organize it properly. Serious mistake.
2) Learn to say no. Very important. Check if the requests you receive are aligned with the tasks or challenges you must face. And if they aren’t, learn to say no.
3) Delegate with ease. Identify on your team who you can delegate some tasks to. It doesn’t hurt to give up work and prominence … if it allows you to focus your efforts on those tasks in which you add more value.
4) Streamline meetings. Without a doubt, one of the most important challenges to improve your productivity. Verify that the meeting you are going to hold is necessary. If not, don’t do it. In meetings, start with a clear end in mind. Do not get lost and focus on the goal you want to achieve. Define a clear agenda. Choose your meeting participants wisely and summarize the main conclusions at the end.
5) Prioritize what is important over what is urgent. On too many occasions we tend to work more on what is urgent than what is important. If it happens to you frequently, analyze why it happens to you and what you should do to change it. Maybe some of the ideas in this post will suit you.
6) Focus. Be very clear about your objectives and define well the actions and tasks to be carried out to achieve them. Do not get lost. Focus on a specific action and move forward with force. Put your phone aside for a while. Turn off email and social media until your homework is done or you take a break.
7) Don’t multitask. That is, do not change activities too often. It is better to focus on one activity and save the other activities for later.
8) Do not lose the global vision. You must combine your ability to focus with not losing the global vision. What people call “big picture”. That is, every so often, look up and analyze with perspective if you are going in the right direction, if you are getting closer to your goals.
9) Measure your performance. You often need to monitor your own performance indicators. To check if you are on the right path. So, you can learn which actions improve your productivity and which do not.
10) Rest. Last… but not least. Take your breaks. Don’t work too many hours. Spend time on leisure activities and with the family. (May be my past post Rest can help you)
10 ideas, 10 suggestions to improve your productivity. Because as the well-known quote says “Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort is what makes all the difference”.
