When we examine most of today’s workplace culture, it reveals that long hours and excessive busyness (resulting in a lack of sleep) have sadly become a badge of honour. But the truth is, sustained exhaustion is not a badge of honour, it’s a mark of foolishness.
Actions geared towards less (for example, taking a few minutes to daydream and relax your mind) have the surprising effect of allowing you to do more. This is because these types of actions produce clarity and a sense of calm.
In keeping with this, we discuss a couple of tactics on how to get more done by doing less, and it involves some things that might surprise you, including slowing down.
Ease into your mornings
Waking up early has its benefits, and if you use your time correctly, can really make a difference in your day, not to mention your productivity.
Easing into your mornings allows for a sense of space and calm, and by the time you get to work, you’ll find that there is no need to rush to do everything all at once and no existential fear about answering yesterday’s email at lightning speed.
You’ll also be more aware of your tasks for that day and even for the month. Allowing you to prioritise the things you need to work on versus the things you can delegate or let drop off your radar.
When your mind is calm, the first hour of the day is oftentimes the most productive and when you can do some of your best work. It’s also a good time to prioritise your most important tasks for the day.
Rushed mornings on the other hand (perhaps because of a desire to get to work as quickly and efficiently as possible) can often cause friction and obstacles along the way. Negatively impacting your daily work experience and turning a crazy morning into an even crazier day.
You usually run out of steam earlier in the day when you experience a rushed morning. Which oftentimes can cause you to not get everything done you need to during the day. And so to make up for lost time, you might choose to work late.
The fact is that our brains get tired and if we continue to push ourselves past the point of exhaustion, we end up just sitting in front of our computers, not getting anything worthwhile done.
Ignore interruptions
To perform well, you need to stop thinking about one task in order to fully focus on another. That means you can’t have notifications, emails, and a whole bunch of other things competing for your attention, constantly pinging and distracting you throughout the day.
To ignore interruptions, turn your phone on silent, or disable notifications. Icons, popup notifications, notifications on your lock screen, the whole shebang! Even Slack notifications if necessary. Basically, turn your phone into a less demanding attention hog.
Pick up your phone less frequently and pay more attention to what matters. For instance, that old friend who sent you a message on Facebook can now receive a focused and purposeful reply. Rather than a scatterbrained response because you are trying to focus on too many things at once.
By allowing fewer interruptions to distract you from the task at hand, you will be able to prioritise important things. Bringing more clarity and order to your life.
Embrace not having all the answers
You might be the type of person who feels the need to have all the answers, and in many situations, this isn’t an inherently bad attitude to have. Especially if you have context, knowledge and experience.
But there is a downside to this kind of approach, and that is when team members start to become too reliant on you for all the answers. Leading to more complex problems including the exclusion of different perspectives and opinions.
It might very well be that you have all the answers, but it is better to encourage inclusion and collaboration and avoid being the first to answer questions in meetings. This will not only alleviate some of the demands on your time but also encourage a more collaborative, creative approach from the team.
Conclusion
It’s common to believe that you need to do more in order to get more done. But there comes a certain point where doing more becomes a liability rather than a strength. Our advice? Rather focus your attention on your to-do list, and on your most important and meaningful work. That way you’ll avoid the risk of burnout and increase productivity in the process.
