Work Smarter, Not Harder

There are so many people in this world thinks that we are working very hard but we are not getting what we deserved in terms of appreciation, in terms of increment whatever it is! But do you know working hard is not enough. You all know that world is moving to an AI (Artificial Intelligence) in each and every aspect so each one of us needs to find our own ways to work smarter. Let me share once common story here,

There was a very strong woodcutter got a job in timber merchant. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area. The first day, he brought 18 trees and boss appreciates and said “Keep it up!” Very motivated by the boss words he tried harder the next day to impress boss but he could only bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder but he could only bring 10 trees. He thought I must be losing my strength! He went to the boss and apologized saying that he could not understand what was wrong! Then boss asked him “when was the last time you sharpened your axe?” and he responded that I had no time to sharpen my axe! I have been working very hard trying to cut more and more trees!

Moral of the story is: Productivity and results matter more than being busy!

Many of us are doing hard work and we think we are not being paid enough for this. Technology is moving too fast and in most of the industries humans are replaced by robots or with other automated tools. We have already written one blog on this i.e. ‘The Importance of New Technology’. For instance, a child may study for 10 hours for exam, but if he doesn’t know the right way to write answers, then he might not get expected results.

We never sit down and look at how to work smarter. There are many factors we can keep in mind like,

• Eliminate distractions- Improve time management skills by setting up a top priority task, you need to switch off the phone and ignore email first as by doing this you ruin your focus. Make and return most phone calls at a set time. Set aside a portion of your day as telephone time.

• Work in Chunks- Allow yourself to work in chunks to keep yourself fresh and reduce your anxiety. If you force yourself to sit down to complete complex task at one go will stress you out and make you less productive.
• Empty Spaces- No matter how busy you are, there are always some empty space in your day so try to fill the empty spaces with productive work like on your lunch break, catch up your emails, listen to audiobooks while drive into work. The more you learn and work in these empty spaces, the more you will do overall.
• Automate- Many of us are still doing same exercise/task again and again. Reuse what you have which gives you speed and efficiency without reinventing the
  wheel every time we want. Automation can be great personal and organizational productivity method.

Smart work is really important as it saves time and allows you to reach your goals faster! What you prefer?