Coupons. Diet soda. Costco. BOGO. We all want to get more for less—especially when it comes to our jobs. We all wish we could be more productive with less effort. If you’re looking for a simple hack to get more done at work, try a low-tech method: humility.
It’s human nature to get caught up in ourselves a little bit. We get so wrapped up in the tasks in front of us that we can lose perspective. Taking a couple steps back to ask important questions can save you both time and stress. Are you really productive when you’re working 16-hour days? Are you delegating enough to get your most important tasks done?
Here are some helpful things to keep in mind if you want to accomplish more while still maintaining your sanity.
You aren’t Batman. take a break to be more productive.
We all get busy. We’ve all had to stay late working on a project with a tight deadline. But eventually our work reaches a point of diminishing returns. Our minds simply cannot work non-stop without taking a break. Stress and fatigue rarely produce quality work. They create errors that can further cost our productivity. Getting out and taking a walk, having a little chat with coworkers, running to get a snack or watching a few cat videos on YouTube can sometimes be just what we need to reset and give our minds a break. Especially when our work has hit a wall, taking our minds off the problem for a little while can give us the energy to continue.
On the other hand, sometimes absolute focus is what we need to actually get stuff done. The endless parade of emails, phone calls and meetings can chop our day into fractions so short we can’t even blow our nose without interruption. Don’t be afraid to turn off your ringer, shut your door or check your email only once every few hours. Likewise, talk to your supervisor about whether this fifth meeting on TPS Report cover sheets is really necessary for you to attend.
Don’t get addicted to the moral high ground of always being “too busy” or responding to emails every second of the day. That text message isn’t the “bat signal” telling you that the Joker is about to nuke Gotham. Take a chill pill and remember you’re not Batman. The world can survive without you for a few minutes.
You aren’t the only one who can get the job done…
Just like we can feel important by being “too busy,” we can also get a little power trip by acting like we’re the only people who can complete a certain task. But here’s a news flash: there is probably at least one other person on your team who can do any given task that you can. Many of us— especially if we’ve been at our jobs for a while—are doing tasks that we’ve outgrown. This means that we can be distracted from our primary tasks with jobs that could be done better, faster and cheaper by someone else. So maybe you are still restocking the Keurig pods even though you’re VP of Operations. Maybe it’s time to delegate that job to an entry-level employee who can devote far more energy to doing it well.
In a similar vein, don’t micromanage your employees and teammates. Offer guidance or correction when needed, but you have to trust other people to do their jobs. If you rearrange the Keurig pods every time someone else does them, you’re telling your teammates that you can do their jobs better than they can. That kind of overbearing arrogance stresses you out, distracts you from your real tasks and destroys team morale.
… But sometimes you are.
The vast majority of the time, our challenge is remembering that we are not the most important person in the room. But sometimes we are. The mark of professional maturity is understanding when we’re the best person for the job and when we’re not. Sometimes a task may arise that we know we are best qualified to complete—even if it lies a little outside our job description. There’s no point in letting your coworker do a job that you could do twice as well in half the time. Offer your help on work that you know lies within your strengths. Ask for help where you know others have something to contribute.
Sometimes it’s your job to step up; other times it’s your job to step aside. Cultivate relationships with your co-workers so you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This will help you distinguish which is which and will help both you, and your team, be more productive overall.
