If you are an entrepreneur searching for success, you know that this involves a lot of time, money and energy spent. That’s why we tend to think that the more hours we put in, the faster our results will come to us.
This is simply not the case. Studies have shown that after 50-55 hours of work a week you begin to hinder your productivity.
That being said there are many entrepreneurs who work 70 hours per week but end up feeling like they are always busy but aren’t getting as much done as they think they are.
Here are a few tips that will help you work less and get more done.
Learn what tasks you need to put your time into
So there are many things that need to be done right for any business to be successful. Many of these are small tasks that you need to repeat every day for example: responding to emails, taking phone calls, social media scheduling etc.
As previously mentioned these are simple but time-consuming tasks. You can spend hours sifting through emails and talking on the phone without really progressing your business all that much.
That’s why highly productive people tend to work on more important tasks and outsource or delegate any other tasks.
Finding the right balance is key. Consider spending 80% of your time on high-growth tasks and only 20% on non-essential tasks.
This can be done by setting a timer for 2 hours to get busywork done every day and follow it religiously. By always spending no more than this time you are forcing yourself to be as productive as possible in this 2-hour window.
You can also split this up into two 1-hour windows one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
This way you keep the day fresh and can work on these things with a clearer mind.
Take care of your body
There is a reason highly successful people tend to include working out into their weekly routine. Being an active person has quite a few very important benefits that can improve your overall productivity for example:
- Healthier body
Exercising consistently will keep your blood, oxygen and glucose levels high.
- Healthier mind
Exercise has a huge impact on your hormones and brain chemistry. This will make you feel better and therefore work better. Exercise is also a great stress reliever.
- Energy capacity increase
When working out and pushing your limits consistently, your body will begin to accommodate to this and increase your energy levels naturally.
This is why we must take time to exercise even if it’s walking 30 minutes a day.
Now when it comes to taking care of ourselves we must not forget nutrition.
Nutrition is what allows you to wake up every day let alone exercise.
Without the proper nutrients in your system, your body will not have enough energy to accomplish anything.
That’s why we recommend talking to a nutritionist to get a diet plan that accommodates to your needs. But remember keep it simple.
Also, keep in mind that having proper nutrition will not only ensure you have enough energy to be able to work. But will also keep your mind clear and effective therefore increasing your overall productivity.
This is the first step you should consider taking to increase your productivity while working less
If you want to learn more about achieving a healthy work-life balance click here.
Rest is an important part of the process
Rest is a huge part of getting more done while working less.
Yes, this may sound counterintuitive but remember that after around 50 hours of work weekly your productivity takes a huge hit.
This is why it may even be better to take a nap and get back to it full throttle instead of dragging yourself to finish things while not being able to function properly.
Sleep is the reset button for our bodies and minds. There is no point in dragging your feet if you are not getting anywhere anyway.
Rest does not only mean sleep though. We must learn to take efficient breaks and use them wisely.
Breaks are also great ways of breaking your workloads into smaller fragments and keeping your mind sharp throughout all of it.
You can even take it a step further and use your short breaks to meditate or stretch therefore getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to spending your time effectively.
Track your time
If you want to work less and get more done …
A very important tip you can start implementing right now is tracking your time.
By this, we mean figuring out exactly how much time you take to do certain tasks. By knowing this you can begin to better structure your day and have a good idea of exactly how much work is needed for that particular day. This will help you keep organized and reduce the great amount of stress that comes with the uncertainty of finishing a task on time.
A great way to do this is by using a time tracking software such as:
- Toggl
- Harvest
- Hubstaff
All of these share the same concept of tracking exactly how much time you are putting into a specific task.
After tracking your time for a solid week you will begin to know when is the perfect time to finish certain tasks. Therefore, skyrocketing your productivity and allowing you to work less and accomplish more.
Knowing how much time you will take to do a task will also likely reduce the chance of you postponing this problem which leads us into the next tip
Finish what you started
If you want to work less and stay productive you can not afford to leave loose ends.
Understand that when you sit down and start a task you need to finish it when at all possible this way it will not take up your time in the future.
We tend to waste a lot of time fixing things that could have already been addressed the first time the task was addressed.
These recurring problems are what make you feel busy but you are not really maximizing your time from a productivity standpoint.
You won’t always be able to finish your projects when you’d like to but if you are not able to, a great way of compensating for this Is scheduling a time to do so. Instead of waiting for the problem to arise on its own as an emergency, it’s better if you consciously set a time to make the final decision and end this task the right way.
Following this tip will eliminate future headaches and is a big step in the direction of increasing your productivity while being able to work less.
Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t.
“If your doing something you love you won’t work a day in your life” when it comes to being productive, doing things you enjoy is the best-case scenario. Simply put doing things you enjoy makes them easier to do and also has a positive effect on your mindset. This is why some successful people get to do more work less and stay incredibly productive.
But how can we accomplish this?
Outsourcing can be a great way of overall boosting productivity in your business but if working less and reducing stress is something you can’t seem to accomplish on your own consider giving outsourcing a try.
There are a few things to keep in mind when starting:
- You must find the right team
- Be very communicative with your team that way you can avoid misunderstandings and be as productive as possible.
- Make it a habit to check every once in a while to offer guidance but don’t overdo it.
If you think this may be too expensive or you don’t have the time to look for and hire the right team. Consider using DoneMaker, we provide you with a 1 task a day system that will assure you get the job you asked for, done in 24 hours without having to search for a professional.
Check out the tasks we offer here and start yourself off on the journey to productivity and getting more done while working less
