6 Ways to Work Less but Get More Done

We all have the same amount of time each day yet it is interesting how some people seem to work less but get more done than others. Why is this?

It is all about efficiency. It is good to work both smart and hard. Here are 6 ways to work less and work smarter.

Outsource

A big issue that some have is figuring out what needs to be outsourced and then figuring out who to outsource it to. VA or Virtual Assistants can save you some money and can handle the tedious tasks that soak up your time and your bottom line. It may be a stretch to find someone that can completely replace yourself but I’m sure there is someone out there that if directed correctly can come pretty close.

Delegate

If you have a team or business partners utilize them. Help yourself out and delegate when you can and when there is someone available. Make sure to prioritize what is absolutely important in your business and then delegate the left overs. Also make sure to delegate the right things to the right people. The person you’re delegating to should have the right skill set(s) to get the task done. Start delegating in small increments then grow them over time. Eventually you can get to the point where you’re delegating entire projects to your team.

Focus More. Do Less

It has been said that the key to accomplishing more is doing less. We can get overwhelmed easily and the more you have on your plate the more scattered you can become. Steve Jobs back in 1997 brought Apple’s project load down to 10 from 350. He said, “When you think about focusing, you think ‘Well, focusing is about saying yes.’ No. Focusing is about saying no.”

Say no to more things than you say yes to. Choose your projects carefully and with purpose. Focus on one thing at a time and eliminate the need to multi-task as it has been shown to be very inefficient.

Schedule Breaks

It is good to get into a flow or zone when you’re working and being productive. The problem is staying in the zone for too long can sometimes lead to burnout. Just because you put in more hours does not mean you are putting in more productivity, sometimes it can work against you.

Try scheduling breaks in between your work schedule. Breaks help ‘break’ your work up and gives your mind a shift and refresh. The Pomodoro Technique is something you could take a look at.

Automate

Try and think of what tasks or things in your life could be automated. Emails, social media, invoicing, and scheduling meetings for example. There is a huge amount of technology out there that can literally save you hours on mundane tasks and automate it all for you. For social media there is Meet Edgar, for invoicing there is Invoice Ninja, and for scheduling meetings there is Calendly or Acuity Scheduling (you can see Calendly in action on Schedule a Meeting page). Other good automation tools are IFTTT (if this than that) and Zapier.

Streamline Processes

Take a look at your business and at things you do repeatedly and see if there is a way to streamline any aspect of it. For example if you constantly get the same questions from clients maybe it would be wise to setup an FAQ page on your website and just direct them to that page. Other ideas are shortening meetings or specifying 2 or 3 time slots per day to check email, among others. The key is to eliminate items that can be condensed or streamlined in order to gain more time and be more effective.

If you’re interested in learning about apps that can help increase your productivity check out this great article written by the folks at Cloudwards.