Working smart means working effectively
ONE of the most common stresses that people present to me with is that there are not enough hours in the day – a problem of fitting it all in etc.
There are 24 hours in the day and 168 in a week. We spend around 50 hours sleeping and it is most important that we do not short-change ourselves on that. We are left with 118 to do everything else.
We have a home life, a work life, a social life and an internal world. We also have to get to work, eat, do the laundry, shower, shop, take care of ourselves and all our other responsibilities in our families and our communities.
For things to grow, they all need care and attention.
Our internal world which is often forgotten is so important. This is why meditation and self-reflection is key. For a business to grow, they say that we have to devote time to working on the business and not just in the business. It is the same for ourselves. If we want to grow in life and we want our home, work and social life (and all the other areas of life) to be good and go well, we have to take care of our own internal world (connect, be true to ourselves, our values, reflect and make sense, plan self-improvement) and consistently work on and take care of ourselves.
What if we could use the hours we have most effectively? Just like a machine will not be at its best if it runs 24-7, neither will our mind. Multi-tasking is a myth. Although it seems like it, we don’t actually do more than one activity at once but quickly switch between them. This is exhausting. It uses up oxygenated glucose in the brain using up the fuel we need to focus on a specific task. The tired feeling often makes us eat more and take more caffeine when what is needed most is a break!
Staying hydrated is also key to sustained high performance and clear thinking.
If you have a job that demands you to have the phone with you and stay on top of many things, keep the switching to a minimum. When we switch a lot and are frequently interrupted, we develop a shorter attention span and begin to self-interrupt !
Incredibly, the average person touches their phone a few thousand times a day and latest research says we spend 145 minutes on the phone daily. How much of that is effective? Apple report the average iphone user unlocks their phone 80 times a day.
For more challenging work, studies show we should spend 25 minutes to two hours working at a time. Spending less than 25 minutes is not effective as we are only getting into it and then quit.
People that take a 15-minute break every couple of hours are more productive.
Effective breaks must give room for mind-wandering. We all do this differently. Howver, surfing Facebook is not helpful as you may presume as it ‘produces more fractured attention’, as you bounce from one thing to the next, which prepares you to mind-bounce when you go back to work.
Technology can be a great support or it can waste time and add stress. It is up to us how we manage it.
Reflect on what is taking up most of your time day-to-day. Can you simplify things and minimize distractions? Are you being as effective as you could be? Are you losing time to melt-downs or over-multi-tasking or technology. If you are it is time to make a few changes. Being more focused more of the time also makes us happier as well as productive and effective.