 10 Ways To Be More Effective At Work It's easy to assume that your day was productive because you work 12 to 15 hours daily. However, this might just be anything but the truth because most of the time hard work doesn't equate effective work. Henry David Thoreau, an American essayist, poet and philosopher said, It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? Nearly everyone knows some of the best tricks to employ when it comes to working smarter in place of working harder, such as manage your time, take strategic breaks, get enough sleep. However, it still feels like we are not getting the result we earnestly desire, even though we are following all the rules, at least to the best of our abilities. Well, you see the thing about working smarter as opposed to working harder is that you have to first know where you are going to, know the road that leads to your destination, and also know some of the best tools or equipment that can help you get to your destination in good time, while minimizing errors along the way. It's about getting the best of your goals by focusing on the actions that bring the best possible result. Saint Francis of Assisi said, Start by doing what is necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. However, to do what is necessary, you must first find out what these necessities are. It is only then you can begin to generate the result you desire. When you do, you can conveniently say that you are working smart, not hard. Anyway, in this video, I'll share with you 10 ways to be more effective at work by working smarter, not harder. If you're new here, consider subscribing so that you won't miss other interesting videos like this. 1. Prioritize your task Blascoz said, Hard workers want all the possible work to be done, while smart workers don't bother with most of the work they should do. Instead, they brutally focus themselves only on the task that bring the biggest long-term impact, and those are all the tasks connected with creating, delivering, and capturing as much value as possible. You see, getting so many things done within a short period isn't the same as getting the important things done. For instance, say you want to begin a shoe business, and because you want your brand to be one of the biggest shoe brands, you spend your time creating the perfect logo, Instagram page, packaging materials, and the likes. You end up achieving very little at the end of the day, because not only are you wasting time trying to work on so many things at once, when you can give each two experts in the field, it means you've completely neglected the most important thing of all, which is the quality of the shoe itself and the quality of production. To be productive, you need to learn how to focus on what is important to you, and focus on getting work done on those instead of focusing on the less important stuff. Two, learn how to delegate. Once you've identified what you are good at, find people who are good at the others, and give everyone the necessary task needed to obtain maximum productivity. Don't try to do it all. Jessica Jackley, an American businessman, said, deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. Also, according to John C. Maxwell, an American author and speaker, if you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate. Number three, do not multitask. Joanne Tom Bracos, a storyteller, personal brand advisor and coach, said, multitasking is great in the kitchen, when you are trying to time the chicken to be ready at the same time as the potatoes, but do not assume it is a great way to manage a work day. It's easy to assume that when you multitask, you can solve more than one problem at a time. Well, guess what? Multitasking only helps you succeed in leaving every task half done, and most of the time non-effectively. In the end, you always have to redo them. So you end up spending double the time you ought to have taken to complete all the tasks if you had taken them one at a time. Do one thing at a time. Wolfgang Mozart, a classical period composer once said, the shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time. I'm guessing you've heard a popular saying about multitasking. It is the art of doing twice as much as you should, half as well as you could. Number four, set strict deadlines for different tasks and projects. Do you know what Parkinson's Law states? Tasks expand to the time allotted. If you have all day to write a blog post, it will take you all day. If you have all day to make sales calls, they will take all day. You get the idea. Setting deadlines for your tasks helps to eliminate procrastination and also free up some time to use in achieving some other things. Number five, communicate effectively as often as possible. Learning how to communicate effectively will help you eliminate unnecessary rework and wasted time from straightening out any misunderstandings and miscommunications. Also, learn how to enhance your active listening skills and try to stay on one topic when communicating instead of digressing now and then. Number six, turn off your internet. If you work with the internet, then a good idea will be to turn off your mobile phone and every social media app on your phone, as well as tabs that can end up serving as a distraction. The thing about distraction is that they eat up an ample amount of time. So before you realize, the whole day is gone and you have barely achieved half of your to-do list. Number seven, follow up on each task. That you completed a task yesterday doesn't mean that you have completely achieved your goal. You have to follow on the task to be sure that it is doing what you want it to. Also, when you follow up, you can tighten up any loose ends that could cause headaches down the road. Number eight, manage your time properly. Time management is another effective tool in ensuring that you work smarter and effectively. Stephen R. Covey, an American educator, author, businessman said, the key is not spending time, but in investing it. Learning to effectively use your time is vital, so that instead of spending time doing urgent things, you spend it doing important things. It is only then that you can be productive and achieve your goals. Number nine, make your plans visible, either right or draw them. Whether you choose to write it down or draw it, it doesn't matter, as long as you put it in view so that you are constantly reminded what your goals are and the strategic plans you have set to achieve them. JD Deshpande, a field and corporate marketer said, use a whiteboard. Draw a Venn diagram describing your problem. Find intersections and work on those first. You'll have bits and pieces of everything, and it's just a matter of time to put it together. Number 10, stay focused. One good way to achieve success is to have a laser focused goal. This will, in turn, help you set strategic plans to help you achieve your goals. According to Tony Robbins, an American author and life coach, one reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus. We never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. Thank you very much for watching our videos. If you like this video, watch more videos on our channel and subscribe. We love you.