How to Work Less and Get More Done

Online, March 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Streamline Goal Setting

Without an end goal or destination in mind, a journeyman is simply a wanderer. How do you know you are making progress toward your goal if you haven't defined your goal? In this economy, does it matter in which direction you go if you don't know where you are going?

While it is nice to have several goals, and multi tasking sure sounds nice, it actually is counterproductive as you end up spreading yourself too thin. Set a single goal at a time until you achieve it. Focus your concentrated energy on the current goal until it is achieved.

Cut Down Checking Email & Web Browsing

Though we may not realize it, checking email throughout the day, even if it is for just a few minutes each time, distracts us and takes concentration away from our current task on hand. Keep in mind that the more you email the more responses you will you likely get.

Get in the habit of drafting clear and precise emails with if/then scenarios if necessary to ensure minimal back and forth.

Batch Process Tasks that Can Wait

Schedule routine tasks at your convenience, not at the conveniences of others. Other than calls to my cell phone from family and some very important people in our lives, anything and everything else can wait. As I've learned overtime, there are seldom any emergencies. The world will go on just fine.

If you disagree, you can focus on batch processing other less "pressing" tasks such as checking mail, paying bills, routine paperwork, laundry, folding clothes, etc. Schedule a set time to do all these tasks instead of spreading your time doing a little bit of each throughout the day.

Cut Down the Commute

Working from home is a dream come true for many employees. That dream however is increasingly becoming a reality in today's economy where businesses are actually paying employees to set up their home offices so the companies can save on rent, utilities, office supplies and parking that it would otherwise have to provide to their employees.

Gasoline, car depreciation, toll charges, dry cleaning bills and expensive lunches are just some examples of expenses where you will save when you work from home.

While at home, work hard and accomplish more than you would in your office. When you go back to work, take some time and communicate to your boss your increased productivity. You may just get the approval this time around.

Wake Up and Commute Early

Get in the habit of waking up early and hitting the road before everyone else does. You will save a lot of time commuting to work, be a lot less frustrated due to avoiding stop and go traffic all while earning brownie points from the boss for getting in early.

Getting in early has other advantages as well. There are less distractions from coworkers, and as a result you can get more done and finish your day well before everyone else.

Pack Your Lunch

I know I know this involves waking up half hour earlier and doing work in the morning when you are still half asleep and cruising like a Zombie. BUT - packing your own lunch has several advantages.

You can work through lunch rather than getting out in the middle of a war zone. Lunch time commute is absolutely horrendous. Not only does it waste a lot of time, but it also builds a significant amount of frustration.

Take in Work Like You Would Reese's Pieces

Approach projects in bite size pieces, particularly if you are someone who gets overwhelmed easily. Treat each project like a goal, with the final deliverable as the end goal. This will allow you to set intermediate milestones, or smaller goals along the way to the end goal.

So start getting into the habit of splitting up major projects into smaller tasks to avoid intimidation and paralysis. Focus on one task until it is done before moving on to the next.

Eliminate and Delegate

Study Pareto's principle, also referred to as the 80/20 rule in modern day. Cut out all activities from you day to day routine which you can live with and which do not add much value or bottom line results to the overall goal.

Take some time and analyze what 20 percent of your activities yield 80 percent of the results and simply focus on those.

If you are in a position to do so, avoid doing everything yourself. All successful business men and women have to start trusting others and delegate work at some point, whether they like it or not. It is inevitable if you are going to succeed.

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This next one is a huge issue for me personally. I think I'm particularly sensitive to distractions, so I have had to learn to monitor my environment and work to avoid distractions. I've found that when I'm really focused (not distracted) my productivity easily doubles.

-- Morgan

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Prevent and Block Distractions

Do not let your environment interrupt your work. This is a lot easier said than done, especially today when everyone and their dog owns a Smart Phone.

Send all incoming phones calls to voicemail. If bugged by an occasional call or a personal visit from a shameless coworker or boss despite seeing you with earphones plugged in, indicate that you are in the middle of something and that you have a few minutes to help them. Simply say "hi so and so, I am in the middle of something that I need to get done, but how can I help you?"

The point is to get to the point and get them out of there. You can always catch up on life, family and friends during your breaks and lunch time, or on the phone while driving during your down time.

Make The Most of Meetings

The best way to get nothing done is to have meetings all day long. Set the agenda before entering into a meeting and stick to it without derailing. Set a limited amount of time for the meeting, communicate it clearly to all constituencies involved and most importantly stick to it.

Try to get out of meetings as much as you can, but make sure you get a lot of work done so you can tell your boss about it. It will be much easier to get out of future meetings if you consistently prove that you are getting a lot more done than those who are busy killing their brain cells in useless meetings.

Because most meetings can truly be avoided, try to get as much done over email, communicating as clearly and specifically as you can (but stick to doing email only twice a day at most).

Source: The Extra Money Blog

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I'm sure your first instinct is to blow these ideas off thinking that they won't work. It's ok...that was my reaction. I encourage you to look a little closer and give one or two of them a try.

I think you'll find that you can pick up a little bit of extra time here and there. Pretty soon, those little bits of time start adding up into big chunks of time.

Let me know what you think are and please take a minute to Like my page on Facebook. I'd appreciate your help in spreading the word.

Think wealthy,

Morgan Kimble

MorgansMoneyMatters.com

Like this? Take a look at my last article: Making A Million Bucks Is Easy... Isn't It?