In the digital age, distraction is one of the things we have to battle with the most. It’s always at our disposal, unless we have either put precautions in place, or our boss has told us that he will fire us if we keep going on social networks when we should be working. It’s happening a lot more these days.
Working smarter isn’t always about distraction though, there are many ways we can look at it. The most important being the one where we understand that hard work doesn’t always equal better results, in fact – we could be missing out on ways to even out our workflow for the most optimal performance, in the least amount of time possible.
Yishan Wong – who’s been the CEO at Reddit – is suggesting that we take a simple three step approach to tackling our work smarter not harder problems, and he emphasizes that it’s important to avoid putting unnecessary tasks in the middle of doing business. “A particular activity may be very difficult and may take a lot of time, and it could very well be one of the most useless things you could be doing.”
Release the Fatigue
Any profession has some level of repetition involved in it, be it a pattern or a task that needs to be repeated, and these repetitive tasks are usually the ones that gives us the largest amount of fatigue, feeling of tiredness. Learning to take a break is an essential part of your daily routine if you want to become a smarter worker. It doesn’t need to be an hour long break either. Anything as small as 10 to 15 minutes is going to drastically change the way you perform at the desk, stall, or wherever it is you work.
The main thing to keep in mind is that the break should not involve any part of the actual job you have to do, so try to stay away from the workspace when on a break. See if you can aim for 10 minutes every 2 hours, that would be a pretty good start, and should leave you feeling a lot more relaxed.
Go the Extra Mile
You never know when someone is going to ask you a question about something you love, especially at work. Going an extra mile means that whenever you’re learning something new, try and learn some extra history on the subject you’re learning. “If you’re a programmer, and you need a regular expression for email addresses, spend a little time reading up on regular expressions in general.” as recommended by Marcus.
You Love Work!
It’s simple, because if you hate your work – you either need to change it, or you need to fully accept the fact that hating your work and working smarter are to incompatible things. So, work on your work attitude and learn to love the work you do, it’s going to come back at you twice-fold. Go to work as if you would go to a university, ready to learn new things, ready to use those things in whatever areas in your life that they may be necessary.
Always Take Notes
Honestly, taking notes is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Every single day we come across ideas in our minds that are actually legitimate and could benefit us in more ways than one, but far too often we let these ideas slide by, because we think that they’re too much work, or aren’t the right thing for us to focus on. That may be true now, but in the future – perhaps your notes are going to inspire you to create something new and unique.
Your Resume Matters
Your resume is your ticket to new opportunities, new challenges, and most importantly – more rewarding rewards. Don’t settle for one company just because you like it there, or you feel that changing the place where you work is unethical. That’s not the way to look at it. Always challenge yourself, see what opportunities are out there and just send the resume out. It’s not like you can avoid the interview process. You always have the choice.
Work Smarter not Harder
Little things like these can make a huge difference. See which one of these tips resonated with you the most, and then start integrating it in your daily life. You have nothing to lose, but a whole lot to gain. It’s psychology meets common sense. Let us know in the comments how you teach yourself to be a smarter worker.
