Careers – Shrink your workload
Long nights, early mornings, lunch at your desk – sounds familiar? Stop putting yourself UNDER PRESSURE. Here are solutions to WORK SMARTER.
Sadly, men in South Africa still outearn women by a staggering 33,5%, according to the International Trade Union Confederation. It might shock you even more to learn that we’re putting in more hours than men. Recent research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that women work an average of 34 hours a week, while men’s average work hours fell. According to the South African Revenue Service, women earned nearly a third less than men in South Africa. The Mail & Guardian further reported that in 2013, the average taxable income for women was R193 908 a year, but men earned on average R254 347 a year. This puts South Africa at the very top end of the global gender wage gap.
Instead of a pay rise, we are being rewarded with stress and heart disease. Work stress is increasingly taking its toll on our health, with cardiovascular disease killing 82000 women in the UK each year, compared to 79 000 men. The good news is, you don’t have to work yourself into an early grave. In fact, the more you look after yourself and stay healthy, the more efficient you’ll be. Here, experts reveal their top time and energy saving tips to help you work smarter, not harder.
1. CATEGORISE YOUR TO-DO LIST
Not sure how to tackle your to-do list? Narrow it down into four general categories, says Magdalena Bak Maier, author of Get Productive!: Boosting Your Productivity and Getting Things Done. These include self-care, career, family and life logistics, which are things like grocery shopping and picking up the kids at school. “Tackle one top priority in each area,” she says. And if you begin to feel overwhelmed by having too much to do, stop. “Refocus on the list and work to complete it,” she adds.
2. TACKLE PROCRASTINATION
As the old saying goes: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today”, but sometimes that’s easier said than done – especially when it comes to that one report that’s been nagging you from your in-tray for months. The best way to tackle procrastination, says Bak Maier, is to figure out why you’re putting off getting that particular task done. “If you’re delaying because of a lack of will, interrogate your true motivations and real wants. If it’s a question of ability or skill, get the necessary information, training or hire an expert in this area,” she advises. And, if your buzzing phone is distracting, switch it off. “Lock yourself away from your phone and email for some time. Take what you need with you and work in a space conducive to producing your best work.”
3. WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT
Not sure where to start with a particular task? Dive in head first with a quick first draft or mock-up, which you can perfect later. Bak Maier says you should complete a first rough draft within an allocated time frame that you can expand on afterwards. “Work to a time clock or an hourglass,” she suggests. “Aim to complete a ‘dirty draft’ in five minutes or some short chunk of time and then focus on improving it,” she says. When you’re deep into a task, resist the urge to check emails. “Instead, set a time when you check emails and log out,” says the author.
4. DO ONE THING AT A TIME
Women are infamous for being multitaskers – we want to get more things done in the shortest time possible. When you’re faced with a to-do list longer than a supermodel’s limbs, the feeling of panic can be overwhelming. But instead of staring open-mouthed at the list, break it down into manageable chunks. In other words: tackle one thing at a time. “Start with the tasks you are most attracted to (assuming they’re all key tasks to be done). Complete one, and then move on to the next,” says Bak Maier. You can learn to do the things that need to be done without getting distracted by all those things that don’t matter as much, she adds. “If you follow your heart and work on things that really matter and understand why they matter, your needto-be-done tasks transform into tasks you want to do.”
5. USE A FILING SYSTEM
Streamlining your email inbox and clearing the masses of loose papers and post-it notes off your desk might sound as appealing as separating white clothes from the colours, but if you invest in a bit of organisation up front, it will pay off. Spend a couple of hours creating a document structure that makes sense to you,” Bak Maier advises. “Draw it out. Then park a few files in it with post-its. Leave it for a week or two and check whether your file structure still makes sense. If it does, implement it. One thing worth keeping in mind is having files organised by logical criteria that reflect your way of working be it by year, client or project,” she says. “Regarding email, aim to clear your inbox to zero at the end of the day, and set up blockers for junk,” she adds.
6. END BAD LIFESTYLE HABITS
When you’re consistently working late or working through lunch, it’s easy to let bad diet and sleep patterns creep in – a late-night greasy takeaway here, a pre-packed sandwich scoffed on the hop there. But the more you invest in self-care, the easier it will be to tackle your burgeoning workload, says Karen Meager, a leadership development consultant and co-author of Real Leaders For The Real World. “Don’t underestimate the importance of fgetting enough sleep, eating well and taking regular breaks,” she says. “Poor diet can lead to irritability, decreased energy and even losing the ability to think clearly. Lack of sleep is often cited as being as detrimental to performance as being drunk. Regular breaks will help restore both your body and mind from a heavy workload. Pin up a page of desk stretches next to your computer and make sure you do them throughout the day. Your body and mind will thank you,” she adds.
7. WORRY NOT ABOUT THE DETAILS
If you’re a perfectionist, it’s easy to get bogged down in the nitty gritty of a task, which could mean it takes six hours to complete something that should take an hour. “Perfectionists have the tendency to get endlessly stuck on a task, retracing their steps, making huge numbers of minor improvements and never feeling what they’re doing is quite good enough,” says Meager. “One way to beat perfectionism is to starve it of the time it needs to thrive. If you create your own deadlines and set yourself a number of tasks to be completed before the end of the day, you’re aiming towards being driven to complete within a sensible time frame rather than letting tasks become ongoing.” And remember, there’ll always be time to get back to a task to fine tune the details.
8. BE A TEAM PLAYER
Whether you’re too independent to ask for help or not confident enough to delegate, women are increasingly guilty of trying to do everything themselves, which is to our own detriment. Meager says that learning to delegate – without feeling guity – and say no when it’s needed is crucial to effectively managing your workflow. “Make better use of delegation and try not to micromanage every single project yourself because you will drive yourself crazy,’ she says. The team is there to make your work easier to and get things done efficiently and smarter. And, when you say no, mean it,” she concludes.