Written by Lizanne Dsouza- Founder Liz Lyn Careers
How many times have you heard people say this? several times right? but what does it mean? what does it mean to work smart and why is hard work not necessarily the right way to go about things? Let me tell you why...
We only have 24 hours a day and during that time let's be honest we work for only 6 hours, and during those 6 hours, we have meetings with other teams and clients so how then can one expect to complete all their given tasks on a day-to-day basis?
Work smart maybe?
Working smart doesn't mean that you have to cut corners or be unethical to get work done, working smart means that you need to find ways to optimize the limited hours in the day in order to be efficient and productive, here are a few things you can do to work smart.
Stay on top of things- try to not let things pile up, emails can now be answered from your phone if you are not at your desk, and if the task is allocated to someone all you need to do is look over it and make sure you are aware of what is going on.
Use your calendar effectively- The Gmail calendar tool is a great way to make sure that things get done in a timely manner, and make sure that every task you have is allocated on your calendar and completed during that time.
Learn to say no- If you have a lot to do on a given day, its ok to say no rather than taking on something and not being able to give it your 100%
Ask for help- It's ok to ask for help from a teammate who has the expertise that you lack, once you learn it yourself you will be able to complete that task faster
Continuous research- Try and allocate time to educate yourself by listening to podcasts, reading blogs, or watching YouTube videos, if you invest in your own learning you will always be able to problem solve in a quicker manner
Always focus on the end goal- Its easy to come up with solutions on the spot, however, those solutions need to be effective and resolve a problem, hence focusing on the end goal will give you a better path in order for you to make those decisions
Be ok with failing- it's not bad to fail, what is wrong is to not learn anything from it. The way to accept failure is to understand that you are only human and at times you will make mistakes, start by taking accountability and commit to improving
Stop making excuses- the more excuses you make the more people will stop listening to you and you will sound like a broken record, if you want to work smart and find solutions even through the hurdles, problems are not solved by excuses they are resolved by timely decision making
Sometimes hard work is what gets you to the place that you want but even then if you aren't working smart you will take longer to get there.
So go ahead and try a new way of looking at things, the smart way!