Ep #35: Get More Done Without Working More

How do we get more done without working harder or longer hours?

This is a topic that is very close to my heart because having experienced burnout myself, I know the temptation to keep pushing to do more. But with limited hours in the day, when our work starts to consume more and more hours, it means that we stop having the time for self-care and for cultivating those relationships that matter to us outside work.

No matter how hard we work or how many hours we put in, there is always going to be more to do. So - it all comes down to how we use our time most effectively. How do we maximize our impact in the time we have so that we have the time and the space and the mental capacity to do other things beyond just our work?

In the episode, I explain the importance of planning our time in order to maximize our productivity, and two techniques that will help you do this.

Developing the skill of applying these techniques will serve you for the rest of your life. This is crucial if you want to have a successful, impactful and thriving career, but they are also key to having the health, lifestyle and relationships you desire as well.

These techniques require us to engage our pre-frontal cortex and look strategically at all the things we need to do and the order they need to get done in. I explain why we need to do this planning in advance so that we make use of our big-picture thinking.

First of all, I take you through the concept of time boxing - allocating the maximum amount of time that it takes to complete a task. This technique holds us accountable to ourselves and stops things from spilling over and eating up more time than they should Secondly, I run through time blocking - looking at your day or at your week and allocating time for different activities.

Engaging these techniques makes sure that how we spend our time is reflective of the life that we want to live and reflective of the values we have. They allow us to show up and do the important, impactful work, without spending longer at our desks without wasting time thinking about what we need to do next and without jeopardizing what is most important to us.

Take these ideas on board and start applying them and test them out. Get familiar with them, and keep practicing their application until you are well versed in effectively planning your time so that you can get more done without having to work more.

These techniques will allow you to do your most impactful work, and make sure that you are creating a career and a lifestyle that are aligned with your values and the person you want to be.