When you work smart you will be better off than when you work hard. Working smart would mean that you spend less energy and you get enough time to enjoy life. Here are 5 unusual ways to start working smarter.
1. Take more breaks:
Our brains are only able to focus for 90 minutes followed by at least a 20 minutes rest. Taking a break can help refresh your mind and reset your attention span. Even cutting a tree requires you to take a break to sharpen your axe. If you continue cutting using a blunt axe, you will take longer.
But if you are too busy, you can work in small bursts. Just set your timer for 25 minutes, and when it goes off, take a break. Grab a drink, take a small walk or just relax. And if you are so much pressed of time, try to switch between different activities; a change is as good as a rest.
2. Take naps:
Taking a nap is one of the most efficient ways of boosting your brain function. Naps lead to improvement of memory performance, cognitive function and creative thinking. In particular, it helps in the learning process helping you to retain information better.
Napping also helps in remembering new information and avoiding burnout. Our bodies need a short nap during the day in addition to the long period of sleep during the night.
3. Spend time observing nature:
Spending time in nature helps you to reset your attention span and relax your mind. Taking a walk in a quiet park refreshes more than walking down a street. Studies have shown that the level of attention needed to navigate busy streets does not allow the brain to relax as required.
Sitting quietly and observing nature will let your mind fully relax and unwind. This will help you to focus for longer when you return to work.
4. Work in blocks and move around:
You can set up various work places to do different chunks of work. You can come up with a clear to-do list at each station so you jump to it once you get to the station without wasting time.
Some people have also found working at different coffee shops rather than in offices to be quite refreshing.
If moving around is not possible, you can break your work into chunks and set milestones as stopping points for you to take a short break/ This can be a good way to work lots of breaks in a day.
5. Check your email first thing in the morning:
This might sound weird but there are reasons for doing this. Checking your e-mail in the morning will help you plan your day. What mails you need to respond to, meetings you are supposed to attend, and any other thing that you might be required to attend to might be lying in your e-mail inbox.
It can be a great embarrassment if you check your e-mail in the course of the day only to realize that there was an important issue that needed your attention in the morning.
So you need to work smart and not hard.
