Work Smarter, Not Harder: Five Tips That Work For Me
The “American mantra” is to work hard, and eventually, our dreams and aspirations will come true. School prepares us for the real world and gives us a chance to hone in on what we want to do for the rest of our lives and, hopefully, figure it out. Once we’re full-fledged adults, we work hard for a living and live our lives out on our terms; however, with the hard work day in and day out, burnout can creep into our lives, and the balance of it all becomes blurry. For a long time now, I’ve tried finding a balance between work and life, but as you know, it’s not easy.
The term “work hard, play hard” is age-old advice, but lately, I’ve been trying to prioritize my responsibilities and things I want to do for myself; basically, I’ve been wondering if I can have my cake and eat it too. How? By finding a balance between work and play and simmering the burnout/stress. Maybe I’ve been living under a rock because when I dug around and really thought about it, I found a lot of great tips and tricks to do just that. Not only can we get the things we need to get done at work in a more timely and efficient way, but we can also find time to do the things we love, things that are not only good for our mental health but our souls.
While I was at it, I wanted to take a step back and look up the word burnout. According to WHO, the definition of “burnout” is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic stress in life and the workplace that hasn’t been successfully managed. Again, finding the balance is tough when life gets busy, but feeling burnout is even more of an issue. I hope the following five tips help you if you’re in a similar position; I know they’ve helped and continue to help me as I navigate this thing called life.
First things first: why work smarter and not harder?
This way of living promotes the work/life balance we consciously or subconsciously crave
This way of living helps you recover from years of burnout & promotes newfound energy
This way of living provides a boost of professional and personal motivation to reset and refocus
Now onto the tips:
Multi-task no more: okay, hear me out on this one. Have you had a week (or several) with a never-ending list of tasks to do but with little time to do them? Yeah, me too; more times than I can count. I found myself hopping from one thing to another, trying to keep up with the day-to-day tasks, and never feeling like I could complete one task without giving my attention to another. When it comes down to it, according to WebMD, our cerebral cortex only truly pays attention to one thing at a time. Multitasking one too many things strains your cortex, which spreads your cortex thin.
Next steps: if you find yourself with a long list of things to get done before the end of the end, week, etc., take a step back, breathe, and reprioritize. Focus on the first item of importance, complete it, and move on to the next task.
Take a break: sometimes, it may feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, which leads to overwhelming feelings and further stress. It may be enticing to work through lunch, and before you realize it, the afternoon turns into the evening. Time after time, I’ve lost myself in the work before me and wound up not feeling much better by closing time, even though I got through most of my list. Why? Because my brain was in overdrive the entire day, I forgot to let myself breathe.
Our attention spans wear out after a long period of strict focus, so giving yourself that 30-60 min lunchtime and even a couple of morning and afternoon breaks to stretch your legs does way more good than not.
Next steps: set a time limit for yourself, whether on your phone or your computer during times of the day, to take the breaks your mind and body need. Take your lunch break and know you deserve that break in your day to take a breath.
Schedule the important stuff at your best: I like lists, and I like to plan and organize, so this one comes easiest to me, but I definitely wasn’t doing it quite right. To ensure there are minimal distractions and I’m at my best, I’ve been tackling the most important tasks when I’m most productive, which tends to be late morning to mid-afternoon. This way, I know my best focus time is on the items that are more important and will take the most energy.
Next steps: scheduling and blocking focus time on your calendar, as well as the company calendar, helps with distractions and lets those around you know you’re head is down, and you’re not to be bothered.
Stop being a people pleaser: while scheduling and prioritizing tasks was the easiest one for me, saying ‘no’ is the opposite. If you’re like me, you tend to spread yourself thin while trying to manage more things than you can handle. I’ve definitely gotten better at knowing when to cut myself off, but it didn’t come without practice and patience. When the requests are stacking up, or even if your personal life doesn’t leave you a lot of time to recharge, it’s perfectly okay to reprioritize or just say no. Introvert, extrovert, or something in between, everyone needs time to relax, recharge, and re-energize.
Next steps: at the office, when a co-worker or manager comes to you, practice telling them upfront that you already have enough on your place and will have to prioritize your work first before helping them. Now, I know this is situational, and some fires need to be put out immediately, but immediately taking on more or overscheduling yourself will only do more harm than good. Recognize when your work or needs take priority and feel confident about it.
Make a routine: being consistent with a routine can take days to months, but as long as you’re sticking to it, you’ll get there. For example, pre-planning and writing out what you want to get done the next day has been a massive help while working smarter, even spending five minutes before you wrap up the day by writing down items you didn’t get done or want to get done the next day. This act alleviates the stress of remembering it the next morning and will give you peace of mind knowing you have what you need to start the next day right. I find this one hugely beneficial because I can get right to work without having to backtrack. Also, prioritizing your inbox by tabs or folders and cleaning it up by the end of the day will de-clutter your brain and give you a fresh start the next day.
Next steps: do what works for you as far as planning for the next day. It might be a good ol’ sticky note with your to-do’s, an app on your phone, or maybe on your computer desktop. This also helps in your personal life with those little ticky-tacky to-do’s you’ve been meaning to get done for weeks now. Even if it’s just one thing, it’ll be one less item to worry about the next day.
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I’m not an expert by any means when it comes to finding the perfect solution for what works best, but after doing the research and figuring out what I need for my circumstances, the five tips above have done wonders for me. I’m getting things done, checking things off my list, and finding that I have more time to focus, more mental space to take a breather if I need to, and more energy at the end of the day to do what I want to do; not for those around me, but me.
