1616: When Less Becomes More at Work by Paige Donahue with No Sidebar on How to Be More Productive

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily. When Less Becomes More at Work by Paige Donahue with NoSidebar.com Any work environment is comparable to a battlefield when it comes to accomplishing responsibilities. Too much work to handle and you'll feel like a lone warrior battling against hundreds of opponents. You have to choose your battles or else you risk a high probability of defeat. Right now I'm going to list a few tips that can help you become more productive by doing less.

[00:00:28] 1. Work Smarter, Not Work Harder While hardworking lends a positive tone to one's character, being busy does not necessarily translate to productivity. While one may exert much effort on a task, the work done may not be too efficient to arrive at the desired results. One tip for optimizing productivity is to maximize your energy. Save most of your energy on the more important things you do and stop wasting it on dilly-dally.

[00:00:55] Not only will you save yourself from mental and physical fatigue, you will also find yourself with some extra time to spare for relaxation at the end of your workday. 2. Take Baby Steps You have your eyes on the prize. You know exactly what to do to achieve that. But step back for a minute to reflect on how you are going to reach your goal. Do you race ahead to the finish line like the hare? Or do you go slow and steady like the tortoise?

[00:01:21] It is best to emulate the latter to ensure that you are right on track towards accomplishment. Small, sure steps to your big goal sounds better than huge, rushed ones. Kayla Matthews of Productivity Theory shares, Quote, Setting micro-goals or small goals that are a part of your larger habit goal is just a good way to break down a more complicated process into attainable benchmarks. End quote. 3. Set aside time to list your tasks

[00:01:49] One way of breaking down your goal into smaller tasks is by identifying the immediate concerns that need to be addressed. Segment your workload by writing down all that needs to be done and choosing the top three tasks that you need to accomplish at the end of the day. Leadership coach Neen James swears by having a to-do list. James says, Quote, My number one success habit professionally is investing 15 minutes of every morning to identify my top three non-negotiable activities for completion today.

[00:02:17] I do it every day and write on a post-it note that says, Today I will, and I list my three. 4. Ask for help When responsibilities on your table become too overwhelming for you, do not attempt to do them all by yourself and risk missing the deadline. It doesn't hurt to ask for help. Everyone needs some kind of help at some point in their lives. Not only will this ease your workload, it also gives you the chance to nurture relationships with your coworkers.

[00:02:45] 5. Don't be afraid to say no Do you know about the 80-20 rule? The Pareto principle, or the law of the vital few, states that most of the time, 80% of results come from 20% of the causes. In relation to work, it means 80% of your output is produced by only 20% of your efforts. While it's okay to say yes to, say, a colleague's request and accept other responsibilities, too many will burden your own workload.

[00:03:13] Filter the additional commitments and decline the less important or urgent ones. 6. Stop multitasking While some of us wish to have superpowers, let's admit we're humans. Sometimes, no one can handle 15 tasks at a time. So, better drop some of them and do things one at a time. Focusing on a single task at hand allows you more mental energy to accomplish the task. 7. Take breaks once in a while

[00:03:39] Going divide and conquer on your workload is also applicable to your working hours. It's good to take a quick break in between tackling your to-do list to recharge your mind. Kenneth A. James of Resumes Planet finds that following the 50-10 rule makes his work more manageable. Quote, The 50-10 is the simplest yet most effective productivity tool for me. It requires me to do uninterrupted work for 50 minutes, then spend the next 10 minutes for mental rest. End quote.

[00:04:07] He observes that breaking down his work schedule in hours gives him a clearer picture of how he should go about his work. He adds, Quote, Sometimes I spend my short breaks to take a peek in my email, which adds to my productivity. 8. Celebrate small accomplishments Got task one done in 50 minutes without checking Facebook? Accomplished major tasks before lunchtime? Laud yourself for each of those. Give yourself some positive reinforcement by acknowledging your small victories.

[00:04:35] There's no better motivation than knowing you are ticking off tasks on your list and progressing towards your goal. Reducing the energy spent on minor side activities gives you more to handle the major ones, the important ones, and eventually maximizes your day for productivity. You also lessen the stress and anxiety over missed deadlines when you focus and work consistently.

[00:05:01] You just listened to the post titled, When Less Becomes More at Work by Paige Donohue with Nosidebar.com And big thanks to Paige for today's article as well as the team at Nosidebar for letting us share their articles. Nosidebar is all about getting rid of the excess and focusing on the essentials, basically the topic of minimalism in a nutshell. And that is one of the main topics over on one of our other shows in our podcast network, Optimal Living Daily.

[00:05:27] So if you like this kind of content, if you like minimalism, definitely check that show out for a lot more. Now, Nosidebar features a lot of different authors. Most of the posts there actually are from guest writers covering minimalism both at home and at work so that we can have lives full of purpose and simplicity. And Paige is one of those guest authors. She is a blogger and editor from Resumes Planet. And you can come by the original article on Nosidebar for more info about her. I have that linked in this episode's description.

[00:05:55] And please do visit nosidebar.com for a lot more content. And again, to hear a bunch of articles from Nosidebar being narrated to you for free, you can check out the podcast Optimal Living Daily. But that's going to do it for today. I thank you, of course, for being here and for subscribing. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.