As an owner of a growing business, it is important to make sure that your productivity levels are always on top. Of course, it is every business owner’s dream to run a business that gets a lot of projects and gigs. But with more work comes a strong need to get the work done quickly and efficiently so that you will have more time to focus on other important things in your life. So how do you work smart?

Most people believe that a business is successful because you put in a lot of hard work. Although this may be true, people have mistaken “busy” or being “occupied” as working hard.  The truth is that you get more work done when you work smarter and not harder.  Here are 6 ways you can achieve more by working smarter and not harder.

Plan everything in advance

This has been something that has helped me in my business. I plan everything! From all my activities for the day, what I wear, the content I put out on social media and on my blog to even the pictures I’ll use for the articles, several days in advance.

I make weekly, monthly, and quarterly plans and goals. Planning in advance works as a guide to help you know what to do next. It saves you time and keeps you focused on getting the work done. If you like, you can make use of software to help you plan more effectively.

Build an efficient and trusted team

There is only so much one person can handle. That is why it is important for a business owner to have an efficient and trusted set of team members to whom he or she can delegate work. Your team members will help you do the work while you gain time to work on something else. When you have a formidable team, you can rest easy knowing that everything will be done to precision with a lot of care. Software such as Qualtrics can empower employees to own their development and learning, with feedback and personalized reports, helping to build the team further.

Get organized

I think one of the things that are a hindrance to a smooth-running and efficient business is a lack of organization. When you have all the information, stationery, or data you will need organized, it makes working easy. You save time that would have been spent looking for something you need or being worried about not finding what you’re looking for. The workflow is swifter when your office is organized and everything you need is within your reach. If you are looking to organize your work a bit better, try this scheduling software to improve efficiency and time management.

Time yourself

This is a pretty useful hack to help you work smarter. Although not many people like deadlines in their 9-to-5s, having a deadline will help you be more focused on only what is important and thus, make you work smarter.

Keep a timer close by whenever you want to start working. Try to finish each project within 45 minutes. This will help you push away all distractions. As you get used to having work done within 45 minutes, you can reduce the time allocated to 30 minutes and work accordingly. This way you train yourself to work faster and more efficiently.

Stop being a perfectionist

There have been debates about the pros and cons of perfectionism in business, but when it comes to working smart perfectionism loses. When you want to get everything perfect the first time you end up spending a lot of time bothering about insignificant details and you either don’t get the work done or you are unable to start at all.

To work smart, your main preoccupation is to have work done. Perfection and attention to detail can come at the end. For now, you have to focus on completing each task. You can always tweak it along the way when you’re done.

Automate

Thanks to automation tools, you can get your work done for you with one click. So if you create your content in advance, your automation tool can help you publish your content on your blog and on social media all by itself. This is what I do when I want to schedule all my posts for the week.

How do you work smart? Please share your tips in the comments section below.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy!