We all want to get more things done in less time, both at work and at home. We look for productivity hacks, apps to jump queues, freelancers to delegate tasks to, with the single view of getting more done. But I reckon we can actually do more than that – a big claim, I know!
I still remember a valuable lesson I learnt during my corporate days, when my manager asked me to review the tasks that I’m carrying out and to question which of those tasks can be carried out by someone else. I was asked to explore if I could ONLY perform the tasks that only I could do and add value. And this is the answer to speed up and calm down.
Another way to look at this is efficiency versus effectiveness. Efficiency is generally defined as getting more things right. Effectiveness is about doing more of the right things. So, if we could improve our effectiveness first and then improve efficiency, we could go faster and calmer. Below are some questions for you to reflect on. Review your tasks for the last two weeks and ask:
- What tasks are not adding value? Stop these
- What tasks can be done effectively by someone else? Delegate these
- What tasks have you been putting off or procrastinating with? Start these
- What tasks are taking way too much effort (frequency/detail)? Change these
- What tasks are taking way too much time? Simplify these
What you say ‘no’ to is more important than what you say ‘yes’ to
