Being a hard worker is excellent. However, it may drain you out quickly as an employee. Meanwhile, working smarter will help you utilize your time better. It will allow you to maximize your skills without putting too much stress or tipping your work-life balance.
These tips will help you enhance your performance by working smarter as a remote or office employee.
Hacks to Improve Performance
1. Communicate Better
Collaboration is essential for a smoother workplace with better productivity and a high success rate. Suppose you keep all your ideas to yourself or don’t listen to what others say. If this is the case, you can say goodbye to collaboration.
Open communication ensures that team members form an idea that everyone agrees will reach the company’s goals. It also allows employees to improve their skills by guiding one another, which builds a more substantial work relationship.
2. Prioritize Difficult Tasks First
If you think multitasking is the way to do your work, experts will tell you that it will only hinder you from being more efficient. Studies believe that the more our minds switch gears from one task to another, the more likely we are to become less productive.
Always go one task at a time. Create a to-do list and rank it according to urgency. Find out what you need to finish today and what you can move for tomorrow.
After making a list, try to complete the most challenging tasks first so you can have time to address revisions and make changes before you clock out.
3. Eliminate Distractions
Distractions or interruptions are inevitable, whether working remotely or in an office. Urgent intrusions, like major revisions or emergency meetings, may be difficult to avoid. But there are those that you can reduce or minimize.
Stay away from your phones, particularly from social media, while working. Turn off your notifications or set them for emergencies only. Refrain from chit-chatting with co-workers, whether in person or online, during work hours.
If you’re working remotely, never turn on the TV, even as background noise. Always do these things during your allotted breaks.
However, if you need to move away from your work to refresh your mind, you can do so. Avoid doing any activities that may consume most of your time, though.
Try time management practices like the Pomodoro Technique. It allows you to have short breaks to ease your mind. It also prompts you to return to work to maximize efficiency without too much stress.
4. Utilize the Latest Tools
If you’re running a team, there are various tools you can use to improve your member’s productivity.
You can champion workplace automation, a concept where companies utilize modern programs to boost productivity by taking over repetitive or unnecessary tasks. The beauty of it is that various tools are available for every department and different types of work.
For instance, human resources have a lot of ongoing, repetitive tasks compared to other departments. Finding and implementing the right HR tool can save a lot of time for your HR specialists. Human resource platforms are gaining popularity and are the hottest topic discussed on HR podcasts and publications.
Implementing any automation software helps unload some of the tasks that take too much time off your employees so they can do more with their time.
5. Identify Your Limitations
There’s a massive difference between being productive and overworking. If you keep pushing yourself to the limit, you might get stressed or burnt out.
Always go at your own pace. Be realistic about your day-to-day capabilities and stick to them. Never promise too many things at once. Learn to decline if you feel you can’t take any more workload for the day.
Finally, never let your work overlap with your personal life because you’ll be a step closer to burning out when this happens.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Working hard isn’t exactly a character flaw for an employee. But being a hard worker can only take you so far.
The work hacks above will help you become more productive by eliminating all the factors in your work that could hold you back from being an efficient employee. Remember, working hard is good, but working smart is better.
About the Author
Ivan Serrano is an enthusiastic writer who enjoys learning whatever he can about business development and growth hacking. He also enjoys sharing his knowledge of technology and how it can improve business communications on an international level.
