How To Work Smarter Not Harder

Do you wind up your day, slogging at your office desk, desperately wishing you had forty-eight hours instead of the regular twenty-four to catch up with your chores? While time never extends its flanks to accommodate our deadlines, a little organization and time management does ensure that we go an extra mile to beat the workplace blues. How we excel at work most often depends on how we deliver? However, efficiency is not always to be equaled with hard work. In today’s working conditions, where productivity is the catchphrase, producing maximum output in stringent deadlines has indeed got the better of many of us. Remember, productivity is 'not' always about doing donkey-work, with the latest workplace motto seemingly corresponding to the idea. ‘Work smart, not hard’ seems to be the new buzzword at workplace, aimed at deriving maximum efficiency out of the employees, without straining their nerves. The idea behind this is to manage time and work efficiently, without stressing the gray cells. To know more tips on how to get smart results without slogging hard, read on.

Sometimes all it takes is just a bit of planning and prioritizing to get your daily-do’s accomplished smartly, without having to bang your head against the wall, at the eleventh hour. Assessing your tasks each day before you get started can save you the last minute breakdown and put you in a better position to deal with more crucial chores. Just sort through your tasks and get the urgent, more important works done first, while saving the least important for the last!

 

Before you get going with your work, spare some time to jot down a checklist and abide by it, to skip unnecessary slip-ups. This simple task will save you from replicating someone else’s work, redoing a chore and some other minor mistakes that often goes amiss.

 

Once you have the blueprint ready for the day, try and stick to it as much as possible, unless something important turns up. In that case, it is crucial to be up on your feet and depute your responsibilities as per the need of the hour. Agility and flexibility are the two important assets of a competent worker. So be flexible!

Saddling yourself with more obligations than you can handle can put you in a soup. Say ‘no’ to extra work, if you can’t accommodate, rather than take it on and fail to deliver, which is worse. So, the next time your manager delegates you some extra task, remember to say a ‘no’ or just enquire if the new task can wait till you are finished with your on-hand chores.

 

Often the most meticulous of us tend to expend most of our time trying to get a thing perfect, thereby neglecting the need of the hour. Perfection is important, but getting your work done on time is equally important and sometimes even more. Focus on results rather than perfection. This will help you wind up with your responsibilities on time.

 

Stressing yourself over your job security is one of the biggest bloopers most workers tend to commit that in turn affects their efficiency. Take heart to the fact that you were hired by this particular place, not just to fill in the vacancy, but on the grounds of your experience and expertise. As long as you are able to deliver what is expected of you, you have no reason to fear. Give your cent percent to everything you do and take a chill pill when it comes to fearing the pink slip.

 

Never let your work eat up on your - I, me, myself time! While it is most important to give your best to your work, never allow the work hours to interfere with your personal space. Just because your company has given you a laptop or cell-phone doesn’t mean that you have to be accessible to them 24x7. The best way to deal with this work pressures is to let your office know in advance when you are going to be unavailable.

 

“Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ is not that bad after all. A recent study has shown that workers are more productive when they are able to do non-work stuff online, occasionally though. This helps people zone out of their work for a while and boost their drained concentration. Short break helps the mind to rest and boosts higher concentration, which means better yield. So, the next time you feel zonked out, just get that search engine on.