It’s a never-ending cycle. We dream, set goals, start achieving them, then end up telling ourselves we are too busy to keep up. “I never have enough time to do this”, says we who are so good during the planning stage, but lack the discipline to stick to it. Bombarded with big loads of tasks, we feel so tired at the end of the day – stressed and drained. When will this cycle ever end? When do we start reaping the fruits of our labor? If you share the same questions, then this article is for you. The answer might be learning some effective ways to do work. So, how do we work smarter not harder? Here are 10 ways you should start adapting.

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10 Ways to Work Smarter Not Harder

#1 Wake up two (2) hours earlier than your usual waking time. Do not touch your phone upon waking up. Use this time for yourself: Pray, do some stretching, exercising, journaling. Condition your mind of what is expected of you to accomplish on that day. List down your goals for that day and prepare yourself to achieve them.

#2 Exercise daily. Even when you think that you have no time, invest a portion of your day on improving yourself through a 20 to 30-minute physical activity. Exercising on a daily basis is essential on optimizing our health.

#3 Practice saying NO. Nowadays, we live in a ‘yes’ culture where a person who is expected to get ahead of others is the go-getter who always says YES to everything that is given to him. Saying YES is easy, but the thing after you give your yes speaks a lot. Especially when you are unprepared, saying YES and going with the flow can make you exhausted, stressed and drained. It will surely affect the quality of your life because you try so hard to get out of a promised commitment.

#4 One at a time. Stop multitasking. I know many of you who are busy bees are good at multitasking. Admit it or not, doing many things at once can affect work quality. Working on several things at once is a trick we play because we think that we are getting more work done. However, the rapid shifting from one work to another interrupts us and during the process, we lose more time. In general, multitasking is doing more at a lesser quality of work.

#5 Be realistic with your goals. Make it a habit to write and track your goals on a daily basis. Don’t forget to limit your to-do list.

#6 Measure outputs, not time. A lot of people believe that their busyness equates to productivity. That’s why it’s necessary not to look on the number of hours spent on a task, but on the quality of the results doing that task.

#7 Respect your body. Do not be a night owl. Respect your body and work in between 5 in the morning till 10 in the evening and not on night shift. Not sleeping at the right time can alter your body clock and may result in sleep deficiency.

#8 Don’t be afraid to take frequent breaks. Rest your eyes. Go for a walk. Respect your natural attention spans. It’s okay to take breaks so you can refresh your mind.

#9 Get enough sleep. Don’t underestimate the benefits of getting enough sleep. Make sure that you are able to sleep at least 8-9 hours daily. Having a quality sleep is one of the best things you can do for your body. Tip: You know you are getting enough sleep if you wake up naturally without an alarm.

#10 Believe in yourself. I know it’s hard. Remember this, you have a choice. You can be the person you want to be as long as you start believing that you can. It’s not bragging if you say you can do it, as long as you are working on it.

Stop working for more hours and start to smarter not harder!

Read also other related articles:
Work Smarter Not Harder by Dan Silvestre
Work Smarter, Not Harder: 12 Ways to Work Smart by Robert Locke

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Cha Esper

Cha of Little Misadvencha is a Filipino Civil Engineer, researcher and a fur mom. She came from General Santos City and finds that everything in life teaches her a lesson. She is inspired to write about and out of her experiences, but later found out that it was her experiences that actually inspire her.