8 Tips to Work Smarter In Your Business

Working smarter relative to working harder to utilize time effectively has always been the wish of every coach or consultant, but this is easier said than done. Once you lack a clear strategy and plan for your day, you will likely end up overwhelmed, overcommitted, as well as overworked. Below are the top eight tips for working smarter in your business.

1. Be sure to love your business completely

This first tip has a simple explanation - when you do what you love, it does not feel like work at all. This may sound like a typical cliché, but it has proved effective over the years. Those who truly love their business are more likely to wake up each morning excited to get to work; they don’t even need an alarm clock to jump out of bed, as they will easily get energized and motivated.

A true passion for your business will make you remain focused, which will, in turn, result in very high productivity. On the flip side, if you constantly feel miserable about your business, the excitement will never surface, no matter the amount of money you may be making; this will have a negative effect on productivity, which may take a nosedive on the long run. 

2. Eliminate all forms of distractions

Begin to take note of the number of times you get interrupted by someone, especially when you happen to be in the middle of a very important task. You should also keep track of self-induced interruption, especially the type that comes from the ever-present social media. Your smartphone may be a useful tool, but at the same time, it is highly addictive and takes the top position among the most subtle time-wasters we have seen so far.

It may be a difficult thing to do, but you have to take the decision to turn off the smartphone and get the door shut in a bid to maximize your time. As opposed to being always online, take intermittent breaks to make phone calls, catch up on your emails, as well as address staff.

3. Employ the services of staff that are smarter than you

You should ensure that the staff you bring on board are people with verified proficiency in all the specific areas you wish to focus on. In fact, they should be specialists who are smarter than you by far. Their proficiency will come in handy in your areas of weakness. As a coach or consultant, you are not likely to be successful when you, as the leader, has to do all the work alone. Get the talented people on board, and allow them to do what they know best! 

4. Try learning recent technologies

Invest some time into searching out the top software applications that are tailored towards enhanced productivity. What's more, several digital tools will come to your aid when you want to sort out a plethora of product and customer details, allowing for easy and quick recall. In addition, you should think about adopting some form of personal scheduling program through which you can organize and keep calendars, work plans, to-do lists, as well as contact directories.

5. Take advantage of your networking relations

Consider the huge effort and time that you put into networking – all your activities on social media, talking to people, attending different conferences. Invest some time into creating a solid network, and in so doing, you leverage the strength of several people to market your product.

Before you start to expect anything, you have to really give; thus, you should make it your business to help as many people as you can, and in the long run, the previously built relationships may come in useful. Besides, having a network of specialists at your disposal, willing to help you out in certain areas, will definitely put you in a better position to learn from the very best, and it will lift a heavy load from your shoulders.

6. Create micro-goals to avoid procrastination

Productivity can be easily crushed by procrastination, which mostly occurs when you feel defeated. Many consultants and coaches are known to have set large goals; however, there is always the possibility of feeling completely overwhelmed when you attempt to accomplish those goals without first accomplishing micro-goals.

Recommendations are that large goals are better broken down into numerous micro-goals. This makes you be better equipped to knock them off one by one and feel accomplished. The reason behind this is that once you achieve little progress, the larger goal will appear surmountable.  

7. Understand that success should not be measured in hours work, but in tasks completed

Many consultants and coaches give so much importance to the number of hours they put in, as opposed to measuring the magnitude of an accomplished task. When you become a business owner, the number of hours worked will become meaningless and worthless – it is no longer a game of hours but of tasks accomplished, and that is what dictates the level of success you are likely to record.

As you master the act of knocking out your set daily tasks quicker, you will definitely accomplish more. Most business owners are competitive by nature, and this calls for the need to build a personal competition and try enhancing performance with respect to daily tasks accomplished. Try this and be rest assured that it will have a positive effect on productivity.

8. Learn to delegate your area of weaknesses

Burnout is a reality; people who think that they are superhuman and can accomplish all tasks have suffered complete exhaustion at one point or the other. No single individual is good at every task, so you need to decipher your area of weakness and delegate the tasks involved to your team members who have proficiency in handling such cases.

Don’t try to make out like superman/woman by joggling a plethora of tasks, concentrate on your area of expertise, and the rest should be delegated. This alone can bring a positive change to your business. Also, don’t develop an aversion to bringing in the experts – the sooner you come to terms with the fact that you cannot do everything, the more productive your business will become.

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