However, people who work \u201csmart\u201d understand the power of pausing in creating the \u201cfreedom to think, plan and innovate,\u201d Gratias said. \u201cWorking smarter is the pursuit of productivity coupled with a respect for downtime and rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gratias cited an equation that\u2019s central to success from the book Peak Performance<\/em> by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness: \u201cStress + Rest = Growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellen\u00a0Faye<\/a>, COC\u00ae, CPO\u00a0\u00ae, a productivity leadership coach, noted that working smarter involves being intentional about what you say yes to. \u201cYour yeses should tie to your goals and intentions.\u00a0If something doesn\u2019t serve you\u2014or someone or something you care deeply about\u2014then it should not make it to your yes list.\u201d<\/p>\n Maura Nevel Thomas<\/a>, a speaker, trainer and author on individual and corporate productivity and work-life balance, put it this way: \u201cWorking smarter primarily means accomplishing more important work with less effort.\u201d<\/p>\n So how do you actually do all of that?<\/p>\n These tips can help.<\/p>\n Set clear goals and intentions.<\/strong> Having clear goals and\/or intentions makes it \u201cmuch easier to choose how to spend your time,\u201d Faye said. Because you know what\u2019s important to you.<\/p>\n Faye noted that goals have specific outcomes, whereas intentions focus on how we want to be in the world.<\/p>\n To set short-term goals, Faye suggested jotting down three to four things you\u2019d like to accomplish in the next 6 months (possibly one goal per life area, such as business, self, family and service). To set long-term goals, do the same but change the time frame to 6 months to 3 years. Then rewrite each goal so it\u2019s measurable.<\/p>\n To set intentions, Faye suggested focusing on SMART intentions:<\/p>\n Honor your need to pause\u2014without technology.<\/strong> The problem most of us face when trying to be productive is that we interrupt ourselves\u2014a lot<\/em><\/a>, Gratias said. This often happens when we don\u2019t honor our need to pause and collect our thoughts during the course of the workday, she said.<\/p>\n Instead of genuinely pausing, we check email, scroll social media, send a text or make a call. Whatever the specific action, it interrupts our train of thought\u2014and our focus fractures.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is essential to allow yourself to sit back in your chair, take a breath, and then resume work on the primary task,\u201d Gratias said.<\/p>\n Use a timer. <\/strong>This is especially helpful when you\u2019re procrastinating on a task or are having trouble focusing, Gratias said. She suggested setting your timer for 15 minutes, and trying to race the clock. See how much you can tackle in that time. Plus, you just might get in the flow and work well after your timer dings.<\/p>\n Control your environment. <\/strong>One of the biggest mistakes we make at work is believing the myth that \u201cconstant distraction is just a fact of business,\u201d Thomas said. She helps clients with attention management\u2014which she believes \u201cis the most important business skill for the 21st century.\u201d She\u2019s written a forthcoming book called Attention Management: Breaking the Time Management Myth for Unrivaled Productivity<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n A potent way to manage our attention\u2014by decreasing distractions\u2014is to control our environment. Thomas suggested closing your office door; putting a \u201cdo not disturb\u201d kind of sign on your cubicle wall; and wearing headphones. This creates boundaries and broadcasts to others that you can\u2019t be interrupted. As she said, \u201cOnce someone says, \u2018Do you have a minute?\u2019 you\u2019re already distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n Control your technology.<\/strong> In her work, Thomas teaches people just how powerfully persuasive technology is. A client sent her this quote from Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe<\/em>:<\/p>\n [Professor BJ Fogg\u2019s] insight was that computing devices allow programmers to combine psychology and persuasion concepts from the early twentieth century, like propaganda, with techniques from slot machines, like variable rewards, and tie them to the human social need for approval and validation in ways that few users can resist. Like a magician doing a card trick, the computer designer can create the illusion of user control when it is the system that guides every action.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When you really need to focus, it\u2019s critical to work offline, Thomas said\u2014without watching email downloads and hearing notifications dinging. In other words, \u201csilence your devices and put them out of sight.\u201d<\/p>\n Regularly re-evaluate. <\/strong>Many of us continue saying yes to things we\u2019ve clearly outgrown, because we don\u2019t stop to consider if these tasks actually serve us, said Faye, past president of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals.<\/p>\n She shared these examples: You keep attending a networking event that no longer contributes to your business development. You do your own bookkeeping, even though you hate it and don\u2019t do it well. You keep books, training materials and files that you never reference and can\u2019t find the things you actually do need to use every day.<\/p>\n When you re-evaluate, you realize that instead of attending the networking event, you can spend those 2 hours taking a special client out to lunch, or having dinner with a friend. You realize you have the resources to hire a bookkeeper, and you \u201ckeep a few mementoes and clear [your] space for the things that will make [you] successful today.\u201d<\/p>\n Faye recommended running your calendar commitments through this filter list:<\/p>\n If the answer is no, she said, \u201cthen the answer is no.\u201d Work only on today\u2019s important tasks.<\/strong> It\u2019s very easy to feel unfocused when you don\u2019t have a priority list. What do you work on first?<\/em> Similarly, without a priority list, we become reactive, and let others dictate our schedule.<\/p>\n Faye suggested dividing a notepad into quarters and classifying tasks by level of importance: today; next few days; sooner; later. Then write out that day\u2019s tasks on a Post-It note, and keep it in front of you.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also helpful to consider these questions when creating your task list, she said: \u201cWhat would happen if I didn\u2019t do it? Can the time I\u2019m spending be shortened? Can I delegate it to someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n In Juliet\u2019s School of Possibilities<\/a><\/em>, Laura Vanderkam\u2019s parable about time management, one of the characters regularly mentions two sentences that encapsulate working smarter and serve as a vital reminder: \u201cYou are always choosing. Choose well.\u201d<\/p>\n Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We often hear the phrase \u201cwork smarter, not harder,\u201d but what does this phrase actually mean? What does it look like to take a smart approach to everything you do at the office\u2014and outside it. According to Melissa Gratias, a workplace productivity coach and speaker, people who work \u201chard,\u201d put <\/p>\n Read More<\/a>\n
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\nCheck in with your boss. <\/strong>If you work for someone else, Faye stressed the importance of periodically checking in with your supervisor to make sure that the work you \u201cthink is most important is the same work [your] boss thinks is most important. Priorities change from day to day and no one has time to waste working on the wrong things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Shared by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., Contributing Blogger<\/a> February 25, 2019<\/p>\n