Smartness at work arises from a range of practices that we follow in our daily work life, that improve our effectiveness at various tasks. How do we achieve this smartness? What are the skills that make us a successful person in our career? How do we focus on our work and yet have fun at work? Let us explore some of these techniques practiced by our colleagues who successfully deliver tasks on time without worrying about their pending list of tasks. Here are 5 best practices that can help achieve this smartness at work.
- Let the tools work for you!
All of us agree that in practically every work environment there is a computer in front of us on our desk. Or perhaps you are in a job like sales or on the shop floor where you need to keep moving and are usually not seated in your office or cubicle? Well, regardless, we all have these smart phones and tablets that can work for us! All you need to do is schedule your day into important milestones and prioritize them for execution – a) must do, b) should do, c) do if I have time, and d) not sure, if I’ll do it today.
- Don’t get caught with the crowd
In our daily cubicle life, we share our work space with others and we often get sidetracked by chats with colleagues or phone calls. Aside from these, we also have smart phones which are a bigger distraction than anything else! Learn to put up a visible “Do Not Disturb” sign to safeguard your time. Making the DND a little humorous would help it go over well and not appear rude to your colleagues.
- Gain efficiency between tasks
There is always a loss of efficiency when you finish a task and start a new one. This is what we need to keep focus on; try to put similar tasks together which would reduce the amount of loss. Taking quick breaks between tasks can help you regain focus tremendously. Consciously and intentionally shift the focus onto something that’s totally different, but remember to keep the break short and return to work before too much time lapses.
- Do it Now!
We tend to postpone tasks or carry them forward for many reasons. Most often, procrastination happens due to personal factors rather than other external factors. Identify the reasons that make you postpone tasks, create a micro action plan for the day, reward yourself for finishing on time, take early decisions, and gather information on tasks well in advance. Work against procrastination, beat it!
- Barriers to achieving smartness
There are a few internal barriers like strongly believing that we are handling too many things at a time, doing things for a reason but not for a purpose, believing there is no room for improvement, raising doubts instead of objections. These internal barriers can be easily worked out to achieve smartness by finding the most productive part of the day and utilizing it to the fullest. Improve your concentration and try to utilize tools for repeated tasks. Mastering the art of working smart can help you get a lot more done in your day. While it’s important to work hard, it is far more important to work smart.
Trikonic is a fast-growing design automation company providing end-to-end design automation solutions for the engineering design process. Our CAD customization services for 2D and 3D CAD software and design utility development simplify your design process, improve how your design engineering team works, increase efficiency and cut costs.
