How can I get my efficiency to the peak?
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Editor’s note: Modern society seems to have a fascination for “efficiency”, so that we are inevitably pursuing efficiency maximization. But in fact, we have misunderstood efficiency. In fact, we should practice the principle of “less is more”. For example, halving your list of tasks and having a good breakfast in the morning, there is no need to bother with emails. you. This article is translated from medium, article author George Wakerley, original title Achieve Peak Productivity With These 8 Habits.
Image source: Andrew Neel on Unsplash
We know that you opened this article because you have a very urgent desire in your heart: to become more efficient. In fact, almost everyone is looking for the answer to the question “How to become more efficient.”
Unfortunately, madly drinking coffee and listing a list of things to do every day won’t let you maximize efficiency.
We should start by analyzing the love of modern society for productivity. My feeling for this is that in this era of digital expansion of consumerism, focusing on one task, staying away from interference, is even harder than the work itself.
So, it’s great to focus on one task and have an efficient day.
We are constantly pursuing maximum efficiency, but the result is some misconceptions about efficiency. In addition to checking the tasks from your to-do list, there are more things to do to improve efficiency.
Those who are truly efficient don’t try to increase their workload, which seems to violate the intuition of “efficient”. In fact, if you really want to improve your productivity, you need to do fewer things.
I know this sounds weird. But in order to attract your attention and interest, I specifically wrote it here, but I will talk about why I have to do fewer things to improve efficiency. Today’s attention is paid to the eight habits of efficient people.
Let’s see which eight habits are.
1. Halve your list of tasks
Have you heard the phrase “less is more”?
Well, since you’ve heard it, you should start putting this idea into your daily work, rather than trying to stuff as many things as possible in your 8 hours of work per day. Yes, I am serious.
Do you really need to complete 30 tasks at any time?
Some of these tasks are definitely more important than others?
So I advise you, it’s best to figure out what needs to be done and focus on what really matters.
2. More rest
After a few hours of intense work, your brain starts to faint. You try to figure out the ins and outs of things, but the result is even more faint.
This is your brain telling you that its energy is running out. In other words, it is no longer working. No one can accomplish a task in an efficient manner while the brain is paralyzed.
At this time, you should go for a walk, eat lunch or snacks, give yourself a chance to recharge and restore your brain. Even some simple meditations can be of great help.
Image Source: Pexels on themes
Your body is good at telling you what it needs, but we often choose to ignore these signals. Therefore, it is best to pay attention to the information that the body passes to you. In order to improve efficiency, rest during the break.
3. Adhere to the “two-eighth rule”
The “two-eighth rule” seems to be everywhere. In my marketing work, there is another “two-eighth rule”, that is, you should put 80% of social media content on education and entertainment, and the remaining 20% can be placed in your business.
In terms of efficiency, only 20% of things per day can produce 80% of the results. This is the famous Pareto Principle.
In fact, this has something to do with the first habit we talked about earlier, because you should get rid of things that are not important at work and reduce the impact they may have on your efficiency.
For example, when you start a task, you should break it down step by step. Then you start to eliminate all the trivial steps, until the remaining part of the “two-eighth rule” isstop.
4. Focus on your own things in the morning
Do you check your mail and calendar every morning? Be aware that this is the most influential thing, because it means letting others decide what you should do in the morning.
So I advise you not to check your mailbox every morning and ignore those emails. You can have a hearty breakfast, meditate or exercise for a while. This will prepare you for a happy and productive day.
5. Doing difficult work before lunch
Your brain is always awake before lunch. Therefore, you should focus on more challenging work during this time.
Any meeting or simple task should be left in the afternoon. By arranging your day like this, your work efficiency and quality will improve, your stress level will drop, and you will be able to manage your time better.
6. Use email only when necessary
I still need to emphasize it once again: E-mail is very influential. Because it will distract you from really important tasks.
Have you ever been disturbed by a colleague who has an insignificant but frustrated reminder email or a ridiculous email?
If you open the email, you lose. You are forced to pull out of important things and waste precious time reading things that don’t help you in terms of your productivity and quality of work.
If you don’t want everyone to be distracted by you, when you receive an email with a lot of recipients, it’s best to click “Reply” instead of “Reply all”.
Generally, your response is simply a confirmation of the message being conveyed. No one wants to see your reply except the sender.
In addition, if you have a lot of emails to reply, I would recommend you to call directly.
7. Develop good habits
There is no doubt that over the years you will develop some bad habits that affect your work efficiency. If you want to improve efficiency, it is best to change these bad habits and gradually develop good habits.
For example, if you are obsessively checking your mail all day, you will often be distracted. In addition, according to a study by King’s College London University, checking your emails often will drop your IQ by 10 points!
