It may sound paradoxical, but you can boost efficiency if you work smarter, not just harder. In other words, do less, but less of what's draining you.
It's the way our brain is wired, "which is why we struggle with activities that do not immediately spark our interest or why we tend to lose interest in things over time," said Stefan Falk. Falk is a former McKinsey employee who has trained over 4,000 leaders.
Fortunately, our brain becomes good at what we enjoy and even strives to achieve perfection on those things, Falk adds.
Maximize your efficiency by spending more time on what matter most to you.
Perform Brainless Tasks Right Away To Work Smarter
Say you're in a meeting and it's decided that another meeting is required — send out the invite immediately. If someone requests readily available information, send it pronto.
"Adopting these habits will help avoid a backlog of simple, brainless tasks," Falk said. Brainless tasks sap energy from the work you are itching to do.
Falk wrote "Intrinsic Motivation: Learn To Love Your Work And Succeed As Never Before."
Document Your Mistakes To Maximize Efficiency
People on average make three mistakes an hour during any given task, Falk said.
At the end of each day, he suggests writing down the mistakes you remember making. "Based on my client experience, I've found that by doing this exercise, we can reduce the number of mistakes we make by as much as 50%," Falk said.
Documenting mistakes helps you to avoid them in the future, he says. Knowing you're expecting yourself to write down new ones helps with focus to avoid them in the first place. "This will allow us to effortlessly identify what we need to work on," he said.
"Our energy-saving brains find it more attractive to erase mistakes since not making them is associated with keeping us safe and out of harm's way," Falk said.
Take Nothing For Granted To Work Smarter
Falk says his clients who are superstars are also overachievers. "They take nothing for granted, which makes them a bit anxious," he said. "This is good for learning and performance as a certain level of anxiety sharpens our senses and attention."
He suggests making it a habit to think ahead and ask, "What could go wrong?" at the end of each day. By looking at our calendars and thinking through tomorrow's events, we identify potential risks.
"This helps us be prepared to deal with whatever comes up, which is a great stress reliever," he said.
Embrace Experimentation Mentality
The necessity of trying new things combined with the fear of failure can paralyze us from action and drain our efficiency, said Jason Feifer.
Feifer, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, wrote "Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan For Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, And Future-Proofing Your Career."
The way to counter anxiety of challenges or outright abject fear is to change your perception. Feifer recounts his experience with Wharton professor Katy Milkman.
Due to thinking of all changes as permanent ones, we hesitate to explore new directions or engage with new concepts, he says. Milkman told Feifer "'We need to be more comfortable actually labeling it: This is an experiment. It's not the end. It's not my end goal. I'm exploring.'"
Work Smarter: Take Stock Of Your Assets
Whenever you're facing a challenge personally or professionally that's draining your efficiency, Feifer advises breaking the situation down into three categories of information.
First, assess what you have: What are your current assets? What do you have, or know how to do, or have access to?
Next, assess what you need: What is the gap between your current state and where you want to go? Why are you unable to cross that gap yourself right now?
Finally, move toward what's available: "This is the most important part," Feifer said. "We often imagine what's available in the future, with more resources. But that's counterproductive."
Feifer adds, "The question really is, what can you do today to make a change? What is actively within your reach right now? That is the only thing that matters, even if it is very small and tentative."
