FMOOD 0292: Work Smarter, Not Harder - a podcast by Tom Merlino | Tom is inviting you to follow him on his journey to get out of debt and get into prosperity.
from 2018-07-16T07:00
Are you looking to claim more time for yourself? Do you need to spend more time with your family and friends? It's time to change the way that you approach work in of itself and in all of its forms.
We've all heard this little saying that tells us to work smarter, not harder. It has appeared in books, magazine articles, and even other podcasts. I've said before that I prefer working smart and hard, and I truly do believe in this, but today I'm exploring this concept a little more thoroughly so that we can really gain some effective time management skills when it comes to how we earn our living and spend our time.
To start out with, we need to keep away from what I call decision fatigue. Simply put, we have too many choices that we have to make in our day-to-day lives, and we find ourselves spinning our wheels and spending more time making those choices than actually taking any real action. For example, many of us have a monstrous to-do list that includes tons of separate actions to take. In reality, we just need to be able to focus on what we need to do for the here and now.
I recently replaced a to-do list productivity app on my phone. I refused to blindly transfer everything that was on my old to-do list over to the new app. Instead, I only transferred what I felt was truly important and kept things simple for my own benefit. This equated to a much shorter to-do list and much more time to focus on that which I feel is truly helping to move me forward in the goals that I have set for myself. I highly suggest that you do the same.
Next, I recommend me time. Yes, the all-important me time. I'm not just referring to having time to do what you like to do; I'm also talking about being alone with your thoughts in complete quiet and solitude in order to escape the noise of the world. You will be surprised by how many more good ideas you will come up with by simply setting aside some time to do absolutely nothing at all.
I also want you to listen to your body. When you feel tired or exhausted, it's time to take a break. You don't have to stop working completely, but I think you should refocus your attention on the less important tasks when you feel a wave of tiredness coming on. Tidy up your house. Clean out your car. Mow the lawn. Do any other tasks that don't require a lot of mind power, so to speak.
Doing this will also prevent you from succumbing to laziness by heading for the couch to binge watch programs on Netflix or Hulu for hours on end. Doing the mindless tasks while you're sleepy will actually help you to perk up, keep you away from the trap of laziness, and once you're re-energized, you'll want to get back to your more critical work.
I also recommend getting up as early as you can. Getting an early start to your day will naturally help you to not only get a jump start before most other folks, but you'll also find yourself getting to bed a little earlier because you'll naturally become tired a little earlier in the evening. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially since you'll train your body to want to start the day as early as possible.
Even if you're not an early riser, you can train yourself by setting your alarm ten minutes earlier every other day until you are waking up bright and early. The important thing is to get up early but still make sure that you're getting enough sleep, as this is equally as important.
Now, while this may sound counterintuitive, the last thing that I want to mention is the importance of working for a certain amount of time, taking a break, then repeating the process. We've gone over this in great detail in episodes 176 and 186 when I talked about the Pomodoro technique. Give those two episodes a listen if you want to learn more about this or need a refresher.
I'll tell you that working with scheduled breaks will highly increase your focus, and you'll get much more done by having a plan of attack that includes planned breaks throughout. Trust me on this one. We weren't meant to burn the midnight oil or to work until we drop. We are built to instead focus and take strategic breaks in order to reenergize and recalibrate so that we can produce better results in whatever it is that we're doing.
Hopefully today's topic will help you to improve your work flow, give you more time with your family and friends, and allow you to truly work in a way that will benefit you in a multitude of ways. God bless!
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