Three ways to get more done. Working harder is not one of them
What matters is what you get done, whether it was hard or easy should not matter. Working harder can actually make you less efficient.
Parkinson’s law says “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Parkinson made his observations while working for the British Civil Service. It is true no doubt, but the opposite is also true, that work constricts to the time available. If you only have a minute, then it only takes a minute, as someone else has said.
The real key is to work smarter, not harder, which is another cliche that holds a lot of truth.
Working harder is not the answer to being more productive. Working with efficiency and focus is a good answer. There are no bonuses for doing something the hard way, or for making anything harder than it needs to be. There are no bonus points for taking three hours to do something you could have done in two hours.
There are no bonus points for taking three hours to do something you could have done in two hours.
There are three points that I think can help one be more efficient, get more done in less time and have a life outside of work.
- One is the counter-intuitive idea that you only have so much time to get something done. If you don’t control the time, it will control you.
- Second is to focus on the job at hand, and have strict boundaries that you enforce.
- Third is the reality that at some point your effectiveness goes down because you are tired. There is no point in working beyond that amount of time.
Point One: Planning
Turn it upside down. Plan by starting with the time available.
Early on as a newspaper reporter, I learned the importance of deadline. We had to make deadline. Period. Maybe we could bust deadline if the President got shot, or if there was a tornado that destroyed half the town. Those were the only possibilities for not making deadline.
Often stories could have been a little bit better if I had 10 more minutes to make one more phone call, but those extra few minutes were not available. Also when we were near deadline, there was a set amount of space. There was room for 200 words, not 190, and not 210. You could always do a follow up the next day. Time and space were finite properties, and that really controlled everything else.
This reality taught me to work with efficiency. It taught me to plan ahead, to focus as much on the time available as I did on the job itself.
Of course I am not saddled with perfectionism, which is a subject for another post. I’ll just say if you are a perfectionist, we wont play well together.
The takeaway from that experience was that you have a certain amount of time to get a job done.
It is just human nature perhaps. If you have all day to get something done, you may not go all that fast, feeling you have plenty of time available. But, if you get a rush job and have only a few minutes, you will probably surprise yourself by how fast you can work when you have to.
Start with the time you have available, and make the job fit that, instead of making the job the starting point.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but to be most efficient, start with the time you have available, and make the job fit that, instead of making the job the starting point.
Planning is crucial. Taking 10 minutes to think through how you will get something done in the time available, will save you well over twice that amount of time on almost any task.
Also let go of the perfectionism. There is always more you could do. You could go over that paper for typos for the 18th time, even tough you have run it through seven spell check programs already. If it is as good as you can possibly do right now, that is good enough.
Point Two: Focus, and have boundaries
Focus is a key point. You have to have focus, and boundaries can help.
I also have a healthy case of ADHD, and really, ADHD is perfect for that environment. It is easy to get very distracted and do nothing worthwhile all day while starting 500 projects. But it is also not that hard to get hyper-focused. It may take me an hour to get focused, but once I am, it is very hard to distract me or even get my attention.
This is very valuable when you have a deadline. I can tune out conversations, music playing, or whatever else there is once I get focused.
A second part of this is boundaries.
One drawback of being efficient at work, is that if you get done before others, the boss may expect you to pick up the slack of other people, or the other people may expect you to help them.
If it was before quitting time, I would help out. I want to be a team player, but this has its limits. And if one day I am in need an they don’t help me out, that is the end of my going the extra mile of bailing them out. It is a judgement call at times, but you do have to have boundaries.
“poor planning on your part does not create a crisis for me.”
Realize too that you need boundaries within yourself. It is just as important to have internal boundaries as it is to have boundaries outside yourself.
I used to keep a sign on my desk that said, “poor planning on your part does not create a crisis for me.” and at times I would point to that sign. Some people will think you are a jerk at first, but after awhile they will understand and will even appreciate your resolve.
But as I said, there are times when you do want to something extra or help someone who is having trouble. It should just be intentional on your part, not something you are guilt-tripped into doing. A lot of work is balance. There is a balance between being supportive of the team, being a good team player, and having your own life.
Part of focus is also avoiding time wasters. Here are a few:
- Meetings. Ask how long it will last, and what the purpose is. If you can get out of it, do so, and just avoid them as much as possible. (A hack is to just happen to get a phone call from a client 30 minutes into the meeting, and you have to take the call).
- Stay off social media and email. Don’t even look at it unless it is part of your job. If you have to as part of the job, do it quickly and get off.
- Avoid excessive chatter and small talk. So people think you are aloof or rude. You are getting stuff done. You can still go out to lunch and for drinks after hours to socialize, but idle chatter is a terrible waste of productive time at work.
- I used to always keep my filled up calendar posted beside my desk. When people see that, they are not as likely to ask you to do stuff. You have to produce though, for this to work.
Point Three: Don’t work too hard
Take care of yourself. You are not efficient when you are tired.
The third point I want to make is that you really are efficient for only a certain amount of hours a day. Sure you can go the extra mile and work 12 hours or more when there is an emergency or a really good reason, but that should be the exception.
Over a period of time, you do slow down and are less efficient. If you work 12 or more hours a day, before long you will slow down and not be as efficient as you would be if you got proper rest, nutrition and mental renewal.
The company is there to make money, and you are only a part of the machine. They will use you until you wear out, throw you aside and plug in someone else. That is sad but it is the reality. It is important to have boundaries so that does not happen. The ironic thing is, if you do, you will actually be more productive, more efficient and do a better job for the company.
Also realize if you do a great job and get a lot done, the powers that be are much more willing to put up with your boundaries and respect your time. If you are doing that and the bosses do not respect your time, find another job. There is no job, and no amount of money, worth sacrificing your health, family and overall well being for. Of course if you are doing a crappy job, you don’t have much ground to stand on, so you need to start becoming efficient.
But it is true that you are more efficient if you take time away, get rest, eat right and take care of yourself.
But it is true that you are more efficient if you take time away, get rest, eat right and take care of yourself.
Once I worked beside another reporter. He was always stressed out, worked 15 hour days often, and on weekends. Was always tired, and never took any time off.
I worked hard for 45 hours or so, had a life outside of work, and got my sleep most nights. I was much faster than him because I was rested, and always got a lot more done. I also did better quality work because I was able to function as a rested, healthy person.
Conclusion
This is my plan for efficiency in the workplace. There needs to be balance, and there needs to be mutual respect between employees and bosses, as well as between employees. This also applies to life in general. Working harder does not make you more productive, and it can actually make you less productive.
Working longer hours will only make you tired, less efficient and more prone to mistakes. Quality will suffer. Instead, plan your work, avoid distractions, and take time off when your body needs it.
Would like to hear your comments or thoughts about this.
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