Work Smarter, Not Harder

Overworking is a culture that has been glorified. Long working hours are something that has been held out proudly with a promise of faster growth etc.

But it is unhealthy and unproductive.

Most of us have been living with a work-first mindset where health, fun, family ends up taking a backseat. It may seem that you are doing more by stretching but in most cases you are actually doing less. You could have done the same thing or better in less time.

Yes, hard work is important. But smart work is way more important than that.

If you will give yourself 4 hours to accomplish a task you will take 4 hours even though the same could have been done in 1 hour.

Smart work leads to more work done in a short time. Here are some ways you can be more smart about working hard!

Have small and achievable goals daily. The moment you feel overwhelmed it is time to strike out things from your to-do list that you WILL NOT DO. Do 2 or 3 things in a day. This works most of the days! There are some days you will not be able to but try hard there will be something that you can move to the next day. The goal is not to procrastinate, it is to be efficient, so that when you focus on one thing, you do that really well.

Take Breaks in between. Extremely important! Reward yourself with a fun lunch break or whatever that works for you!

Every aspect of life is important — Health, Family, Learning etc. You ignore one, others get affected. In fact, taking care of every area of your life improves your productivity and your career.

Have focused time. You have a choice — you can give 100% focus for half an hour or 25% focus spread across 2 hours. You decide!

Set boundaries so that you can work the best. Everyone’s boundaries are different and unique to their style. Set the expectations right. Eg, define the meeting time, focused time, working hours etc.

Why are you working? Do you want to spend all day in front of the laptop? Or do you want to live your life and have fun?

Take that vacation you have been wanting to take. Go live the crazy dream that you have been wanting to but never had the time!