Career Advice for Job Seekers

8 Convenient Ways To Work Smarter And Not Harder In The Workplace

William Frierson AvatarWilliam Frierson
April 23, 2015


Portrait of stressed businessman with too many tasks to do at office

Portrait of stressed businessman with too many tasks to do at office. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

There is not a single soul in this world who does not want to earn well without working hard. But, with every job comes great responsibility of working on important tasks and completion of projects before deadlines. Office environments can become very hectic sometimes and it may seem impossible to meet the deadlines, but you can still achieve your targets at the workplace by working smarter, and not harder at all.

Take a look at the following few ways to learn how you can smartly make the workplace a heaven for yourself:

1. ‘To Don’t’ List

You heard that right! Sometimes, you have to come up with a ‘to don’t list’ to remove things that may waste your precious time. It can be anything like making a worthless phone call, replying to an unimportant email, attending a meeting not related to your work or completing a useless task. In short, you need to draw a line between things that are very important to those that are least important.

2. Be Organized With Your Work

Learning to be organized is one habit that saves significant amount of time at the workplace. Start by unsubscribing from the mail and email lists that you do not wish to receive. Put everything that is of importance within your reach so that you do not have to waste minutes or even hours to look for them. Come up with your very own filing system to manage important papers and documents.

3. Complete Tasks In Batches

Switching back and forth between two different tasks can waste more time than you can imagine. Why not try batching the similar tasks together? If you have a few personal calls to make or a few emails to check, finish them up in your lunch hour so that you can save your work time. Picking out the perfect time to complete similar tasks together can increase your efficiency and productivity.

4. Saying ‘No’ Is Sometimes Good

You are, after all, a human being that can become tired with too much work load and responsibilities. It is important that you do not expect too much from yourself and let the things go that are not under your control. If you think you cannot do a job, gather the courage to say no to it. Be realistic about the tasks that you can accomplish so that you do not over-schedule yourself. Don’t forget those days when you were given dissertations that you couldn’t handle on your own. You must have said no then as well and tried to seek any dissertation writing service UK to get the job done. So, start saying NO to things your mortal shoulders can’t bear.

5. Save Your Time By Giving Complete Instructions

Be as clear and specific as you can while assigning jobs and responsibilities to your team. Giving proper directions help people complete the tasks well in the first place. Team members may not ask for more details due to the fear of looking incompetent, so it is your duty to spell out all the relevant information regarding the project or task. Remember, being a leader, you will be responsible for the time wasted if the task is not completed due to the lack of proper instructions, and you certainly would not like that.

6. It’s All About Learning Shortcuts

Shortcuts are a real lifesaver if you work a lot at your PC or laptop. You can take a short course or learn from a colleague about how to use quick shortcuts so that you can stop doing the work long way round. You will be amazed to see the time you can save with this little tip at your workplace.

7. Go Old School While Taking Notes

As much easier as the mobile apps and tools are making our lives these days, there is nothing better and convenient than taking important notes using a simple paper and pen. Grab a paper and make a list of the things that you have to work on. Taking notes this way would help you save a lot of time as it does not require you to switch from app to app or to get busy with the app settings. Taking notes on a piece of paper would also weave your creativity and spark more ideas.

8. Assign Tasks To Right People

Pick an efficient person for a task that is urgent and required immediately. You will be wasting time if you put a person who works slower, as compared to others, on a job that takes the longest time to get done. Try to delegate jobs based on the skills and capabilities of people and save significant amount of time smartly.

Drusilla Richards is a career specialist who helps client with finding their passion and developing key skills that contribute to their professional growth. When not working, she loves expressing her thoughts and opinions on career development through blogging or varied social channels.

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