What are some uncommon ways to work smarter instead of harder?

Quora great question of the week

Answered by Nelson Wang, Co-founder at Habby.co

Pull a Mark Zuckerberg: Did you know that Mark Zuckerberg wears a grey t-shirt all the time? Here’s my point: simplify your life. Reduce the amount of trivial decisions you have to make every day so that you can focus your energy on the really important ones.

Use the 20 feet rule: If your cell phone isn’t absolutely critical to your job, put it somewhere that is 20 feet away from your desk. This forces you to do quite a bit of walking to check your phone and helps you to focus on the work at hand. Use the Top 3 rule: To make your day ultra focused and productive, ask yourself, “What are the three key things I really need to accomplish today?” Before you do anything else, make sure you crush those three objectives first. Prioritise ruthlessly.

Learn to batch tasks: For tasks that are not urgent, batch them. If your job doesn’t require an immediate response on emails, batch and check them every three hours throughout the day. This way, you won’t be constantly reacting to every email that comes in and you can prioritise your activities for the day. Don’t let email run your life. #OperationInboxZero

Leverage the team: If someone else is more talented and skilled than you in a certain area, collaborate with them to drive better results. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work.

Work on what you’re passionate about: Life’s short. Do you really want to work on stuff you don’t enjoy? When you work with passion, your energy will be better, your focus will be more intense and you’ll have a sense of purpose in what you do. It’s a game changer. Don’t underestimate the power of happiness in work.

Constantly test: Your ideas are just that: ideas. Don’t spend too much time trying to come up with the perfect idea. At the end of the day, the only way to know if it’ll work is to test it. The data will tell you if it’s a good idea or not.

Bonus tip: Surround yourself with inspiring, sharp and positive people. Want to know why? It’s simple. Awesomeness is contagious. 398.1K views, 6.2K upvotes