Work smarter, not harder

Ever feel like you could do with more hours in the day? That’s why you need to work smarter, not harder.

If you could be granted one wish, anything at all, what would it be? A cash windfall, a perfect figure, the arrival of an erudite Adonis into your life? How about one extra hour? Every day. Extra time to eliminate some of the more hectic elements of your life: that awkward late-again trot to the bus stop with sopping wet hair, switching on your laptop to catch up on work you couldn’t get done at the office, the growing jumble of un-ironed clothes at the back of your wardrobe… Or maybe just time to have coffee with a neglected friend, play with your children, have a bath, sleep.

In October, a US survey suggested that more than half of Americans would pay $2,700 for an extra hour in the day. This is hardly a surprise. With the global recession, workplaces cut back on staff and most of us found ourselves being expected to take on more work and become more productive to pick up the slack. And with our smartphones permanently at the ready, the 9-5 became a 24-hour free for all, with the expectation that you’ll instantly see an email and reply, no matter what time of day and night. Not to mention the time we dedicate to updating our various social media sites to document our mad, wonderful, hectic lives. Then, of course, we need to fit in a workout (the most enviable Instabraggers are at a spin class before you’ve even rolled over!), make nutritious, photo-ready meals from scratch, raise adorable, well-adjusted children and look effortlessly polished while doing it all.

Time efficiencies are important to us now in our hectic lifestyles. Tinder can get you a date without the time wasted reading long accounts of people’s pesky personalities. A bout of HIIT training will get you in shape – or if that takes too long, there are a host of apps promising seven-minute workouts (eight-minute abs are so last year). You can shop at the touch of a button – and it can’t be long until the high street shops figure out how to harness a shopping app to our brainwaves to eliminate all that tiresome button-pressing. We order takeaways on the journey home so they’re at our front door before us, or if we’re being good simply inhale a protein bar and green smoothie at our desks – how’s that for nutrition-dense efficiency?

Are you exhausted just reading this? Have you even had the time to read this far? It’s no wonder work-life balance is on the tips of all our tongues. Here are a few ways to claw some of that balance back.

Focus on doing less

In his book The 4-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss claims he can drastically reduce your working hours, boost your production and free you up for some of life’s adventures. He says that if you’re spending 12 hours a day at your desk and still not getting all your work done, something has to change – either your job or you. Use his 80/20 rule: 80% of the results come from 20% of the time and effort. Don’t distract yourself from key tasks with emails and admin work – do them in short, intense bursts with your full focus. Just because you spend eight hours at your desk, doesn’t mean the task should take that long – work to your own, more efficient deadlines. If time is wasted waiting for sign-off on projects, take the initiative. Will your 40-hour week be reduced to four? Perhaps not, but you may be a step closer to that hour a day.

Sleep your way to the top

In her book Thrive, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says, ‘Today we often use deadlines—real and imaginary—to imprison ourselves.’ She had her Damascene moment when she collapsed with exhaustion and decided to take a long, hard look at her life. Now she establishes a clear divide been work and personal life, switching off her devices in her leisure time, and schedules her sleep just as she does her meetings – so no excuses for not being in your PJs by 11.

Fight the FOMO

In The Art of Thinking Clearly, author Rolf Dobelli uses an example from a trip to the cinema with his wife. The film was awful and he suggested they leave halfway through. She argued that they’d already spent the money – they may as well ride it out. His counter was that they had already lost precious time – why not at least gain some back with something they’d enjoy? If a work do is dull or a shopping trip tiresome, don’t stay because of obligation or FOMO. Go home, do what would make you happiest right at that moment – whether it’s time with the kids, a brisk walk round the block or a Netflix binge. That’s real time efficiency.

Switch off

The average smartphone user checks his or her device every six and a half minutes. Sometimes it’s to check work emails, sometimes it’s important. But how much time do you spend mindlessly scrolling through your Facebook or Twitter feeds scanning other people’s inanities? If you took all those minutes back and added them up, how much time would you get back? An hour a day maybe? For the smartphone addicts among us, a digital detox isn’t easy, but try leaving your phone in your bag when with friends or family and focus on them, and try to switch off every evening after 9pm.

There’s an app for that

If you do find yourself permanently harnessed to your smartphone, there are ways of using its powers for good. Use apps like Passbook, Tripit and your calendar to organise and structure your day, and apps like Buddhify or Digipill at the end of it to help you wind down and become more mindful. It may sound counter-intuitive, but there are even apps to help you stay focused when you need to get a task done. Anti-Social allows you to use the internet but blocks time-wasters like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, Reddit, YouTube, Hulu and Vimeo for set periods of time on your PC or phone.