Become more productive
People in an effort to earn more money try to work harder. They remain on overtime hours, moonlighting as freelance specialists, and seek additional income. But working for days is almost impossible to become successful. Giving less time to work, but doing it more productively, you can get returns many times more.
Imagine an individual entrepreneur who non-stop works for the sake of his business. No matter how good he may be, competing with corporate competitors fails.
An entrepreneur can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if he refuses to sleep. But the company, which occupies its niche, but hires a team to work, will be more successful. Each individual employee devotes less time to work, and the result of the total activity is higher.
But why then do small startups manage to do things that giant corporations fail. For example, Facebook bought Instagram for $ 1 billion when only 13 people worked there. Similar purchase offers have been received by Snapchat. The company staff included 30 employees. Part of the success of these startups is based on luck, getting into the right moment, but the effectiveness of a small team is more important.
The key to success is not to work hard, but to become more productive. There is a noticeable difference between employment and efficiency. This is not obvious to everyone, but productivity is the ability to produce the best results in the least time. An effective person is focused on managing not time, but energy. Any of us can shorten the work week by 1.5-2 times, spend less time on work that gives the same result.
1. Stop working overtime – work productively
Ever wondered where the five-day 40-hour work week came from? In 1926, Henry Ford, an American industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company, conducted an experiment with staff:
Ford gradually reduced the number of hours from 10 to 8 and reduced the working week from 6 to 5 days. As a result, workers showed increased productivity.
The more you work, the less productive you become, both in the short and long term. This is evidenced by the report of The Business Roundtable for 1980 – “The planned impact of overtime on construction projects”.
“If a work schedule of 60 hours or more per week is used for more than two months, the cumulative effect of reduced productivity arises. It leads to a delay in the completion of the project. And at the 40-hour week, the planned end date is shifted, but the work is still faster than in the first case “.
Importance of good sleep
In an article for AlterNet, editor Sarah Robinson refers to research by the U.S. military. They showed that “a reduction in sleep of 1 hour per night during the week leads to a decrease in cognitive degradation equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.10.” You will probably be fired if you come to work drunk, however, with a lack of sleep, a drop in productivity will have an equal effect..
No matter how well the day goes after night with a short sleep, you are unlikely to feel optimistic. This is not the main enemy of good work. Worse, in this situation, the desire to think, make creative decisions, actively act, control impulses, and maintain self-confidence is reduced. Lack of sleep leads to a loss of emotional intelligence, and a decrease in the ability to empathize with others.
It turns out that there is a simple pattern. To become more productive you need not to overwork and sleep well. Therefore, in order to work less, but work better, you need to rest more and better.
Lack of sleep is a massive problem for modern humanity. According to James Mass, an American sleep researcher, 7 out of 10 people do not get enough sleep in the United States. Think about it when you look for causes of inefficiency in the workplace..
A few facts about a dream in the life of famous personalities:
• Leonardo da Vinci practiced polyphase sleep – several short sessions night and day.
• Napoleon never denied his desire to take a nap during the day.
• Thomas Edison regularly practiced daytime sleep, even though this ritual was a little embarrassing to him..
• Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, slept before public speaking to gain energy.
• US President John F. Kennedy dined every day in bed, after which he dozed. And his colleague Lyndon Johnson broke the working day into two shifts – a short daily sleep in his schedule was scheduled for 15:30.
Among the famous and successful in the daytime dream, Winston Churchill and John Rockefeller did not deny themselves.
2. Don’t say yes too often
According to the Pareto principle, 20% of the efforts yield 80% of the results, and vice versa. Instead of working hard, focus on activities that are more effective. Thus, there will be more time to concentrate on important tasks. Just stop saying yes to no good.
“The difference between successful and not very successful people is that the former say“no“Almost everything” – Warren Buffett
When to say yes and when to no? If it’s hard to figure out what activities are worth your time, do research. Track the tasks you perform. Record the time spent on them and the result. So, you will collect information about where, by default, you work efficiently, and where you need optimization.
Most of us say yes more often than necessary for a number of reasons, including guilt and strain. It’s easier than giving up because no one wants to be a bad person.
In 2012, Consumer Research conducted a study. They divided 120 students into two groups. The first one had to say “I can’t” when discussing options for action, and the other – “I don’t …”.
Students who said: “I can’t eat X”, in 61% of cases chose the opportunity to eat a chocolate bar. And those who said: “I do not eat X” – only 36%. A simple change in terminology increased the percentage of healthy lifestyle choices..
When you need to refuse, say “I do not do this” instead “I can not do it”.
3. Stop doing everything yourself and let people help you
It is important to realize that we can ask for help when needed. It is impossible to do everything yourself. Delegate individual processes to focus on the tasks that you perform best. The simple presence of relatives or colleagues helps many people, even if they do not provide tangible help..
“In the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder there is the concept of a“ double body. ” Scattered and distracted people show better results when there is a person next to them, even if he does not help them. When you are faced with a task that is boring or difficult, for example, cleaning a workplace or sorting out accumulated papers, ask a friend to be your “second body” – from the book “Influence of friendship: how our friends shape us” (Karlin Flora).
4. Tie with perfectionism
Dr. Simon Sherry, a professor of psychology at the University of Dalhousie, conducted a study of perfectionism in relation to performance. It showed that the more a perfectionist a person is, the less his productivity becomes. This will seem counterintuitive, but this is the pattern:
• Perfectionists spend more time on a specific task.
• Perfectionists put things off and wait for the perfect moment. In business, this approach almost always leads to collapse. Better to start before ideal conditions than after..
• Perfectionists do not appreciate the big picture because they pay a lot of attention to trifles.
5. Stop performing repetitive tasks and start automation
Do not be afraid of automation if it pays off. When you are a marketer, it’s best to spend an hour creating a Python bot that collects data from your audience’s Twitter pages. This will allow you to get the result in a few minutes, which previously required 1 day of manual work.
If you do any operation or task more than 5 times, think about its automation. Do not invent your own solution – with a high degree of probability it already exists.
When there is no automatic option, hire a specialist to help with your routine work. Such work is paid. But it’s worth it if in the long run you earn more and free up time for productive work on what you love..
6. Stop guessing and start exploring yourself
There are many studies that give an idea of how to become more productive. If it is important for you to work less, but to achieve more, use the available information. Did you know that most people are easiest to distract from 12:00 to 16:00? This conclusion was made by Professor Robert Matchok from the University of Pennsylvania.
7. End work and take a break for idleness
People do not understand that in a period of strong concentration, we actually lock ourselves in a box of counterproductivity. We narrowly think, apply skills worse, get tired faster and move toward the goal more slowly. Paradoxically, for good work it is important to periodically drop it to give the body and head a rest.
One Harvard study says solitude enhances empathy with other people. And although no one will argue that strong isolation at an early age has bad consequences, it was proved that spending time with oneself improves the mood of adolescents and improves their learning outcomes. It is important for a person to have time for reflection. It leads to the solutions that we are actively looking for..
Do not think that you can become more productive right away. It requires patience, practice and diligence. Change does not come to those who are just waiting for them.
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