How to Work Less But Get More Done
I’ve started working just 4 hours per day now
In November 2020, it dawned on me that I was working a whole lot more than I’d signed up for, especially considering that I was working for myself.
Yes, as a solo entrepreneur, one of the chief reasons for even diving into this business was to be more answerable to myself. At the same time, I began to feel that I was a more terrible taskmaster than any boss I’d had in the past. Ever!
Breaks from work? I rarely took them.
Weekends? Always working.
Quick sneak checks on client e-mails/ social media tags on every coffee break through the day? Guilty as charged.
And for all of that extra time I was spending, did I actually have a great deal to show for it? Nope, quite the opposite.
I was trying to put out multiple fires while keeping others burning, all at the same intensity and the only two things getting burnt were my energy and my productivity levels.
It was time to make the change and start looking at ways that I could leverage my time spent on my business and actually turn it into a proper and sustainable model for income generation.
As of mid December, I’ve managed to start working for just 4 hours a day.
What’s more? I’ve managed to build a decent income while doing that.
This practice has ensured I get more time for myself to do the following:
- Read more books
- Meditate regularly
- Go for walks
- Get in a workout
- Stay in touch with family and close friends
- Practice my music
- Cook more dishes from scratch (which is a feat by itself)
- Spend more time unwinding at the end of a long day
So, how did I do it?
Started Chalking out Time on my Calendar
Calendars and schedules are lifesavers when it comes to running your own business, especially if you don’t have a virtual assistant.
I started putting everything on my calendar: Workouts/ Reading time/Content creation/ Social media engagement/ Email checking and Replies/Networking/ Cooking/ Cleaning.
The minute it was on the calendar, I felt so much better.
That’s because I had dedicated time slots for each item on my to-do list. I was neither sitting around wondering what I should do next nor was I aimlessly picking up my phone to scroll through social media.
Calendars? Your best friend. Take it from me.
Started using Focusmate
I don’t know if you’ve heard of Focusmate or started using it yet, but if you haven’t, now is a good time to check it out.
Focusmate is an accountability tool that helps you stay on track with your chosen goals and tasks for the day/week/month.
You can block out 50-minute sessions and work with your camera turned on, while an accountability partner keeps you dedicated to your task.
I use Focusmate for ALL of my work-related tasks: From writing blog posts, to drafting emails to creating social media graphics to responding to client questions inside my courses and even my social media tags.
I generally do a minimum of two Focusmate sessions per day, every weekday.
For a more in-depth review of how Focusmate works, this fabulous article by Gracia Kleijnen will answer all your questions.
Started observing how much time I was spending online
This was a tip I picked up from a blog post I read on the topic of ‘How to change an unwanted habit’.
In it, the writer references a tip he picked up from David R.Hawkins’ book, The Map of Consciousness Explained.
The fascinating learning using this tip was to just use a calendar at the end of the day and record how you performed a particular habit that day. No judgment; just observation.
For instance, if you spend too much time on your phone daily, this technique will ask you to record how many minutes/hours you spent on your phone each day.
- Just use a calendar or a notepad.
- Write down the number of hours you spent on your phone/looking at screens
- Repeat
You’re just recording the stats; not actively trying to change them.
The beauty of it? You start observing a pattern or a graph of usage. After about two to three weeks of this exercise your mind automatically switches into what I refer to as ‘kick that habit’ mode.
Knowing that there are certain triggers that make you pick up your phone, you learn to consciously avoid them.
You start looking for ways to actively pursue other, more fulfilling tasks.
Read more on how I got back more time in my day and the 5 things I stopped doing online
Started working on more income generating tasks
This was the biggest shift of all. I learnt to understand that there were certain tasks in my day that were merely filling up my day with empty tasks that led nowhere.
For instance, if I noticed that I’d spent an hour looking at Instagram, was it spent usefully?
That would mean I engaged with clients, actively helped them with solving a problem and studied insights to see which posts got the best traction and conversions.
If, on the other hand, I had spent time on Instagram and come away feeling like I’d gone down a rabbit hole, that was good time wasted.
Income generating tasks don’t appear as such on the surface of it, all the time.
For example, you can tell that if you spent time working on a specific course that would help your audience, then you know that it’s time well spent.
On the other hand, if you spend time on Instagram talking to a potential client who ends up paying for a coaching session, that’s also time well spent because that’s resulted in income for your business.
See what I mean?
Started retiring early to bed every night (including weekends)
I know. Sleep is for wimps!
But it’s the best decision I’ve made.
Lights out at my end happen between 9.30 pm and 10 pm every night. What I do instead is to wake up early, between 5 and 5.30 AM and find more energy to get through my work for the day.
Putting sleep on the top of your priority list is something I’d recommend for everyone, not just entrepreneurs and business owners.
Started a nightly wind down ritual
Carrying your devices into your bedroom (or worse, your bed) signals to your brain that you’re not done for the day.
Your brain then stays primed for continuing work well past your bedtime.
If you work from home, like I do, it’s very easy to blur the lines between work and home.
When does work end and when do you make time for yourself?
News flash: You can never get everything done, every single day. It’s a fool’s errand.
If you have a specific cut off time, stick to it every night. In other words, once the clock strikes 8.30 PM or 9 PM, turn off the laptop, switch off the phone and don’t look at them again until the next morning.
Instead, write in a journal, fold your laundry or read a paperback at the end of the day to let your body gradually and naturally slip into sleep mode.
Working for yourself (or for someone else) doesn’t mean that you have to burn yourself out to the point of overwork.
The truth is, the more you work doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re working more productively.
Instead, work with happiness, work within reasonable limits and work on those tasks that actually help move your business forward.
Before you know it, you’d be writing about how you’ve switched to working just 4 to 5 hours per day on your job.
What’s more; you’d be loving the work that you do.
*I follow the principle of task batching to get through all my relevant tasks for the day. Try it. You’d be amazed!
Productivity is something that fascinates me no end. I talk about it rather often on my website, Blogging and Social Media Simplified, where I help bloggers, content creators and social media users grow their organic audience without the overwhelm.
