Strategies to Help You Work Smart Rather Than Hard
Life hacking is the art of finding out easier and faster ways to do things in life while achieving the same or even better result.
You can hack your metabolism, your sleep cycle, confidence, productivity levels, even relationships. There are simple ways to do more in less time, to use more of your potential, to accelerate your learning process, and get rid of anything that’s stopping you from finding focus or managing your time well.
We’ll now focus on one other area of life hacking – work. There are proven strategies people use to work smart rather than hard. That means making the most of the time you spend on each project, never losing sleep over work, always being on time, and being satisfied with the end result.
Let’s see how you can start working smarter:
1. Create the ideal work environment.
The environment you’re in is directly related to how productive and focused you are. For example, by simply decluttering your workspace you can also organize your thoughts better and start getting more done each day.
Another thing you can do is let more light in, it’s a natural mood and productivity booster. That might simply mean moving your desk close to a big window, if possible.
The temperature in the room is important too. Whether it’s too hot or too cold, you’re ruining your ability to perform at your best. A study found out that the ideal temperature is around 21-22 degrees. With a change like that, you can boost your performance.
2. Make the most of your evenings.
Waking up and wondering where to start is a waste of time, energy and focus. Instead, smart workers prepare the night before.
That means never leaving a small task for tomorrow but getting it done now, especially if it takes 5 minutes or less.
Additionally, you must use the evening to relax, empty your mind and thus re-charge and get ready for a good night’s sleep.
Right before your rest, however, you should prepare your clothes for tomorrow, maybe even your breakfast, see exactly what needs to be done the next day, write everything down, and prioritize by putting the key tasks on top.
All this will ultimately help you wake up and get to work tomorrow morning. Also, it will save you so much time throughout the day as you will simply be taking a look at your to-do list when you aren’t sure what’s next and will be following that order.
We often waste time trying to take the best decision or have doubts when there’s a lot to do. This leads to procrastination. But by preparing for the day the night before, you’re avoiding all this.
3. Use technology.
Ever find yourself completing the same tedious tasks over and over again, or having to go back and forth with an employee/colleague? Skip that part and instead focus on doing better work by leveraging technology.
We live in the digital era where there’s a tool for almost anything. You just need to find it, customize it and start using it regularly.
That could be Google calendar and its amazing features, or Slack to help you collaborate with team members effectively and always stay up to date with the latest projects.
Use Zoom for video and screen sharing if you’re working in a remote team, or to host webinars for your business.
If social media is part of your work, then stop wasting an hour or more daily for each platform and instead make use of the social media management and automation tools, many of which you can use for free. Some include Hootsuite, Buffer, BuzzSumo, Crowdfire, and more.
4. Have a routine.
Routines and habits help you do your work even when you don’t feel like working, can’t find focus, are procrastinating, or else. It takes some time to find the exact routine that works for you and your lifestyle, but it’s worth experimenting for some time.
The goal is to know the best time to wake up and go to bed and stick to it, to find out when during the day you’re most productive and plan your work for then, to know what distracts you and how to ignore it, to schedule meetings for when you’re most social and in a good mood, to eat food that gives you energy, to have a workout and take care of your health so you can be in top shape, and more.
All this take discipline and sacrifices. However, once you have routines and form the right habits, they will start working for you. You will get anything done in less time, will be full of energy the whole day, will see progress with all areas in life, and reach the next level of your career.
