Do you feel like your to-do list is endless?

As soon as you hit done, new tasks and projects are coming at you.  Do you wonder how some people can achieve more if all of us have the same 24 hours a day?

I always believe that you don’t need to work harder or longer to achieve more,  but you need to work smarter. So what does working smarter means to you? Have you been reflecting on this lately?

Work smart does not come naturally to me before I have kids. I try to cramp up everything and make sure I do all the things perfectly. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not into sloppy jobs and taking things for granted. But before, I was struggling with perfectionism. And the more time I have to complete a certain task, the more I try to make it perfect. And again, do we want to live our whole life like this? Attending to every task and perfecting things that may or may not be perfected?

Especially if you are inexperienced and junior or still new to the role, and you want to prove yourself, you might think that it is important for you to work harder. Working hard is really nothing more than maximizing the amount of time and sweat you devote to your task, but doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the most efficient way to get the job done. You might work all night long to deliver a great result that someone working smarter could have produced in two hours.

So let say if you have more time and energy to devote to a job, you definitely can work hard – or appear to be doing so. But smart working is what could help you reach your goals and complete tasks with less time and effort.

Work less but achieve more might sound a bit impossible right? But it is not at all. It is a matter of knowing yourself and your strengths, your skills and applying them to the maximum at your most productive time of the day. It is not only time management, it is energy management too.

I know, you might ask, what does this have to do with achieving anything?

It totally does. When your body works at its best, your brain also works at its best. Your abilities and capabilities expand and your productivity and efficiency increase as well.

After having my first son, I thought I would never have my sleep back again. Because that’s what people around me are saying. I hear everyone is talking about how many times the baby is waking up at night. I was shocked, and I remember thinking that, oh man… this is going to be my life after this. And it’s true. I was not sleeping enough. I need several cups of coffee to focus during the day. This is okay for a while. But then I started to feel really exhausted and the only thing that I wish to have on my birthday is to sleep all day long. This is true. You can ask my husband.

So when I birthed my 2nd baby, my first priority is to improve my sleep. I know I can’t operate like this forever. Among anything else, I track how much I slept every day. I wore the sleep tracker on my wrist every night. And also during the day. I want to know how much I have been sleeping, every day. It is obvious that at night, I don’t have enough sleep with a newborn, you have to wake up many times to feed them. But I tried as much as I could, to nap during the day. This really helps me with making sure that I have enough sleep, and I do not have to feel guilty about sleeping so much during the day, because I know how much I slept that night so I need to take extra naps during the day.

With being totally recharged, we can think clearer and this would help us to make smart decisions and complete tasks in a shorter amount of time.

Now as I mentioned earlier, achieving more in less time is about energy management. So some of the best ways to boost energy are by eating right. In order to have the capacity to think smarter and make smart decisions, choose to eat food that fuels your brain. I have been on this quest for years now. Although sometimes I fall out from the track, I know how I would perform when I prioritize what I’m eating, and that feeling of energy is what I crave and why I always try to prioritize eating healthier every day. Not to forget, make exercise a priority too. Move your body and sweat! It helps with reducing stress and anxiety and in turn, you’ll sleep much better.

For me, my most productive time is early in the morning. I get so many things done when there are not many distractions. And my mind is well-rested. So I always use this time for the most important tasks that I want to get done that day. Some people might be more productive later in the evening. So use this productive time for your most important tasks.

Create an “Ideal Week” for yourselves. What work schedule would be the best for you. Identify your weekly tasks and make sure you schedule them in your weekly planner. “If it’s not scheduled, it’s not going to be real”. Let your priorities dictate your schedule – not the other way round.

According to the Japanese Kaizen principle, small improvements on a daily basis lead to much bigger improvements over time. This can be applied to every area of our life.

To go after the life of our dreams, to achieve the things that we really wanted, we have to work towards them and to do this, we must start by taking one small step. Sometimes the step may frighten us and it feels terrifying.  When I feel like procrastinating or making an excuse for not taking a step forward, it usually because the step that I’m taking could be the biggest step of my life. So start small step today, and then a small step tomorrow, and the next and next. You’ll feel amazing once you’ve taken that small step and that feeling of achievement, that “small win” of taking that small step will help you take the next step.