Want to learn strategies for getting more work done in less time without burning out and skimping on quality? You’re not alone. Most of us feel like we’re always in a rush, and our lists never get any shorter.
The good news? With some simple strategies and know-how, we can get a lot more done, even completing an entire day’s work in time for lunch. In this article, we will share science-based, expert-endorsed, and real-world-tested strategies for working smarter and faster.
1. Work in Focused Time Blocks
Time blocking is among the best methods for getting more done in less time. This is when you divide your day into blocks of continuous work time and short breaks. A great example is the Pomodoro Technique, 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break.
As seen from research done by Draugiem Group using productivity apps, high performers did not need to put in more time. On the contrary, work efficiently meant using 17 breaks after each 52-minute work cycle.
This recharges your mental batteries and prevents burnout. Planning your breaks keeps your focus fixed on one task, hugely boosting effectiveness.
Start with morning blocks of time before checking email or having meetings. You will be surprised at how much deep work you can accomplish before lunch!
2. Work in a Distraction-Free Environment
Your surroundings play a huge role in how quickly and efficiently you complete your work. If distractions are all around you, phones, notifications, and clutter, then focusing is almost impossible. To perform work more quickly, set up a distraction-free area.
Silence your phone or enable the do-not-disturb mode. Use apps to disable non-work-related websites. Clean your environment so your brain does not waste mental energy filtering out visual distractions.
A University of California study revealed that your brain takes 23 minutes to refocus from a distraction. By eliminating distractions, you free your mind and are able to get things done much faster with total focus.
3. Set Specific, Day-to-Day Objectives
One of the reasons people are always busy but get nothing done is that they do not prioritize. Do the important, not the urgent.
Start every day by making your top 3 for the day a list of high-leverage activities that will move your goals forward. Let’s hear what productivity expert Brian Tracy has to offer about this topic:
“Every minute you spend planning saves 10 minutes in execution.”
Don’t have too many items on your list. Having less will keep you focused and clear-headed. Having a clear idea about what you need to do will get you into production quicker and avoid procrastination.
4. Group Similar Work in Batches
Shifting between different types of work (e.g., writing, emails, and meetings) results in cognitive friction. Each context switch slows you down.
Instead, group similar activities together in batches. Get all your emails done at one time in a block of time. Get all your phone calls done sequentially. Write several blog posts or reports together.
The method, known as task batching, minimizes context switching and increases speed. The American Psychological Association conducted research that supports the claim that multitasking decreases productivity by up to 40%.
With batching, you are in the same mental state, and therefore, you work more proficiently and get your job done quicker.
5. Employ the 80/20 Rule
Pareto’s principle, or the 80/20 Rule, says that 80% of your outcome comes from 20% of your effort. Identify and focus on those activities that deliver maximum impact.
Not all work is equal. Prioritize assignments into urgent/important quadrants using frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix. This means that you should outsource or remove low-value work.
Tim Ferriss from “The 4-Hour Workweek” promotes this process. His recommendation is simply to continue asking yourself, “Is everything I’m doing a means of avoiding the important work?” When you’ve identified your 20% tasks and are working solely on those, your productivity increases dramatically.
6. Employ an Early Morning Routine That Evokes Focus
Your morning routine will dictate how your day will go. Instead of starting your day in chaos, establish a routine that prepares you for focus and high performance for the rest of your day.
Some examples include waking up early, exercising, journaling, and planning your priorities. Hal Elrod, in his work The Miracle Morning, offers a six-step system (Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Scribing) that is geared to maximize mental clarity.
If your day begins intentionally and in order, you’re less likely to waste time and more likely to get into deep work sooner. That’s smarter working.
7. Set Definite Deadlines With Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s Law teaches us,
“Work will expand to fill the time allowed for its performance.”
And if you give yourself an entire day to get something done, you will use an entire day for it. But if you give yourself just 1 hour, you will get it done in less than that time.
Create micro-deadlines for your task and treat them like scheduled appointments. Use timers to keep your focus well-maintained. Pressure gets your brain into focus mode.
It’s used in behavioral psychology too, that artificial constraints lead to efficiency. You would be amazed at how fast you could work if there’s no room for procrastination allowed.
8. Say “No” More Frequently and Have Shorter Meetings
Meetings are sometimes one of the biggest time-wasting culprits in today’s workplace. According to a survey done by Atlassian, average worker attends 62 meetings a month and considers half of them to be unnecessary.
Protect your focus by saying no to unimportant meetings or requiring agendas first. Schedule group meetings for given days or time slots so you’re not interrupted mid-stream.
Successful people differ from highly successful people because those highly successful people say no to just about everything.
9. Optimize Your Energy, Not Your Time
Working faster is not only about better scheduling, it’s about managing energy. Your physical and mental energy levels fluctuate throughout the day.
Identify your peak times (for many people, that means early morning) and perform your toughest, most important work at that time. Save your lighter work, like administration or email, for your low-energy times.
Make breaks, water, healthy snacks, and exercise priorities in your daily routine. Harvard Business Review informs us that even a short walk will enhance your focus and creativity. Work improves when your energy is high, and less effort is needed.
10. Log Your Time and Learn from It
So that you can be more productive at work, you need to know where your time goes. Use time-tracking programs to track your activities.
Examine your data for a week. What do you waste time doing? How long do certain activities take? What are your best working hours?
This self-awareness allows you to organize your schedule and your habits. You’ll be able to identify time wasters and set realistic plans based on how you actually work, not on how you wish you worked.
11. Eliminate the Necessity for Motivation
A thought that hits most people in a way that is uncomfortable to them is that motivation is not dependable. Rather, stick with tendencies and systems.
Creating habits that eliminate choice from the equation, i.e., starting work after getting into a trigger activity (e.g., coffee + music + timer), ends procrastination.
As James Clear, who is the author of Atomic Habits, has put it,
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Therefore, you have to build systems that allow you to get started easily and stay on track automatically.
12. Clean Up Your To-Do List
A lengthy list will hold you back and get you bogged down. Rather, shorten your list down to the essential few.
Put down at the end of every evening the six most important items for which you will need to work the following day, and list them in priority order. Complete number one first and then proceed to number two.
It dictates priorities, eliminates decision fatigue, and increases speed. Simple is often the shortest path to productivity.
13. Master Keyboard Shortcuts and Automations
Time spent repeating yourself accumulates quickly. Keyboard shortcuts, text expanders, and automation through software are all worth learning so you can get your work done without even realizing it.
Brainscape says that working with shortcuts saves you 8 working days annually. Streamline e-mail, scheduling, and data entry, just about everything repetitive.
It’s not just working faster, but knowing your instrument as well.
14. Avoid Multitasking
Multitasking appears productive, but actually, it is a productivity killer. The human brain cannot focus on more than one complex task at a time.
University psychology professor David Meyer at the University of Michigan found that productivity will drop as much as 40% when we multitask. Multitasking increases errors as well as stress.
Concentrate on one task, complete it, then move on to another. Single-tasking is the method of high achievers to work smarter and faster.
Focus Is a Strategy
Faster working doesn’t come from otherworldly willpower but from smarter strategies, stronger boundaries, and focused attention.
With these methods on the topic of how to work faster, you will find that task batching and time blocking all the way through eliminating distractions and making a priority hierarchy, you get done in less time without burning out. With routine and strategy, quicker work comes naturally.
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