How to Work Smarter
How to Work Smarter
Those of us at the Support For Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, are constantly helping students and others develop their skills to be a success in life. If you strive to be a business owner, an executive moving up the corporate ladder, or if you are a student trying to balance school, a social life, and perhaps a part-time job, there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. The reality is that you find yourself with seemingly unending tasks you have to plan for and complete on a daily basis. Without effective tools to establish and prioritize worthwhile goals, to navigate proper time management and interacting with groups of peers you can easily end up bogged down, distracted, inefficient, unproductive, alone, and ultimately unproductive. This can seriously affect your chances of being happy, successful and slow the pace at which you make progress. Here are tips you should use to effectively manage your time, set worthwhile goals and complete tasks, and be a functional part of dynamic and productive group of others looking to be high achievers.
Work with far shorter deadlines than you are used to and stick to them
One thing that fuels procrastination is the illusion that you have more time to work on activities. To avoid this, create shorter deadlines to create a sense of urgency on the various tasks you need to complete. You should not struggle with perfection, as when you get the tasks done you will have adequate time to brush through the work. Shorter deadlines also allow you to fit more tasks in your daily schedule.
Establish your priorities
In order to have time in your day to do the things you need to do and those tasks you really want to do, become expert in establishing your priorities. Quite often very well meaning people get distracted by the unimportant things. To prioritize like a pro: make a list of all your tasks, identify the most valued tasks, make a list of tasks from the most urgent to the least urgent, establish how much time should be used for each task, adapt to the unexpected, and know when to let something go that proves to not be as important as you once thought it might be.
Learn not to procrastinate
Most of us would prefer to eat our desert before our vegetables. Life experience has shown us that nothing will help us complete a task faster than by taking action. Overcome procrastination by doing the most difficult tasks first, chunk large projects into smaller, meaningful pieces, and just keep doing the next part. Delegate all tasks that do not require your direct personal input and those outside your area of expertise. Learn how to effectively delegate to free up your time for more demanding tasks.
Become a “Group Master”
Being an excellent listener is arguable the most valued trait of being a strong group leader. Those of us who are productive in groups are careful to pay attention to what others are saying so that we can be responsive to the group dynamics. Strong group members and leaders leave themselves open to constructive criticism and use this feedback as opportunities to better themselves.
Save unimportant but time-sucking activities for the end of the day
All activities that need to be done but take most of your time should be set towards the end of the day. This allows you to focus more on the valuable and more productive tasks during the peak business hours. You can deal with social media and mails as well as return personal calls at the business end.
Develop your executive functioning and soft skills
Being able to plan, organize, and complete tasks are essential executive functioning skills necessary to be productive in all aspects of your live. If you are deficit in any of your executive functioning skills, you know how challenging life can be. Reading articles about executive functioning, taking classes, and seeking professional assistance are some ways to enhance one’s executive functioning skills.
Having the “hard skills” is of little value without the “soft skills”
We go to school to learn the “hard skills”, how to do the math, how to read and write, how to do scientific activities. You need to be able to do the skills required to be a valued employee. If you want to be an accountant, you need to be able to do the math. However, many of you lack in the soft skills, the ability to deal with conflict in the workplace, how to manage your time, solve problems, knowing how to prioritize, and so on. Studies conclude that soft sills are just as valuable or more so than hard skills in predicting future success.
Dr. Eric Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D. Certified
Developmental and Behavioral Specialist
For more information about our online “student success” courses visit our website at: https://drnachonline.com/
Learn How to Work Smarter
For more information about the services available at the Support for Students Growth Center in Boca Raton, FL, visit our website at: https://www.supportforstudentsgrowthcenter.com
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