This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
10 Tools to Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder
When your focus is only on work and moving forward, your body, mind, and spirit suffer from fatigue, which, in time, can lead to severe imbalances and health problems. As such, a new concept emerged: work smarter, not harder.
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
The concept of working smarter instead of harder describes the struggle every high-achieving CEO and entrepreneur has to go through.
When you’re looking to improve the skills you have and gather new ones the logical solution would be to invest more hours and work harder. However, this path only leads to burning yourself out to a point where it will be difficult to even function.
That’s why it’s best to take some time and find solutions that will make your current work schedule more efficient. And, to give you a head start, below are two types of solutions to employ when things start piling up.
Software Tools
1. Market Trends Analyser
The world is constantly changing, and this is a powerful reality for marketing people and modern online entrepreneurs. If you don’t keep up with the trends, your sales may drop together with the traffic and other important metrics for the business.
However, it is difficult to constantly be ‘up on the wave’ all the time without analysing the market and graph its tendencies (which is an exhausting task for most human beings). So, to avoid hiring an entire department just to be up to date with the trends, try using a platform like SpyFu.
The platform will give you the most profitable keywords and other important data from a competitor site only based on their URL.
This will shed hours of hard work and keep you in the loop!
2. Content Creation Platforms
Content creation is one of the most time-consuming tasks for today’s influencers and online businesses! After all, it is extremely difficult to come up with creative and engaging content week after week!
The first solution would be to start looking for freelancers, but this also takes time and it can be frustrating.
The second (and best) solution is to outsource your content creating services to a platform like ClearVoice. They will be the ones looking for the talent you need and providing the results you require, while you can take care of other business-related aspects.
3. E-Learning Platforms
In today’s day and age, it’s quite easy to acquire new skills and continue improving the ones you already have. It’s also a bit of a necessity, given the fact that employers now have access to talent from all over the world!
For example, someone who wants to improve their communication skills has the option to take an online marketing and communication course. The advantage of using an online platform is that you can learn in your own time and you have access to resources (videos, texts, and teachers) from the best universities in the world.
4. Time Monitoring Apps
It may sound like a weird choice to include time monitoring apps on this list. But it was proven that observation over a task makes you more conscious about its effects on your day and makes you want to find ways to improve it.
For instance, if you monitor the time spent while working on an article, you may find that it actually took you longer than it should. In this case, you’ll be tempted to investigate and learn why this happened and how to avoid this problem in the future.
5. Automate the Little Things
Steve Jobs was (allegedly) wearing only black turtlenecks to avoid deciding what to wear every morning.
It does sound a bit far-fetched right? However, according to an Israeli University study, decision fatigue is a real thing. This means that we can only make so many good decisions before our brain runs out of energy and starts affecting the overall level of productivity.
So, make sure to save energy for important decisions and let the small things in the hands of capable apps that can keep track of groceries, bills payment, and more.
6. Email Marketing Automation Tools
Speaking of automation tools, nowadays there are several platforms capable of completely automating the emailing system for marketing in a company.
This means that you can set the platform to send specific emails for specific customer actions on your site. As a result, the customer feels you’re offering a customised user experience and you’re shedding time off your schedule and saving money at the same time.
Personal Tools
7. A Good Night’s Sleep
Sleep is a sophisticated process that requires the participation of various systems in the body. When we sleep well, the toxins are drained out, tissue is being rebuilt, and most importantly, the brain gets some rest and a chance to put things in order.
A good night’s sleep is the best tool you can use to improve productivity, make better decisions, and find creative ways to work smarter, not harder.
8. Meditation and Fresh Air
Recent studies proved that meditation and time spent in nature work wonders for our productivity!
In fact, CEOs and high-achievers all over the world recognise the positive effects of meditation on their work and find ways to include it in their daily routine.
But, if you don’t like to meditate, a walk in the park or a hike can be just as beneficial!
9. Set Hard Deadlines
According to Parkinson’s law, work tends to expand to fill the time. Meaning, if you have 10 hours to do a project, this is how long it will take to do it, even though you could have finished it in 3 or 4 hours.
Therefore, each project or task should have a strict finish line (which should be within reason). The idea is that knowing when you must finish (no matter what), it will get you more focused and will make you more efficient.
So, learn from this experience and find ways to make it difficult to move the deadline.
10. Find the Best Time for Productivity
Some people circulate the idea that we are the most productive early in the morning. This is why well-known CEOs like to wake up at 5 am and do their most creative work.
However, science says this is a complete myth and each individual has their own internal clock that’s tailored to their needs. So, don’t force yourself to wake up in the morning if you’re dreading the idea!
Find the time of the day when you’re most productive (through observation) and schedule your day accordingly.
In Conclusion
As you see, there are lots of ways to make your activity more efficient; you just need to look!
Start by keeping yourself healthy and in tune with your own body and continue with modern tools that can cover most of the nitty-gritty stuff that eats your time away.