Reduce your workload as a step toward downsizing

January 20, 2013-01-20

Reduce your workload as a step toward downsizing

Here are 15 tips to help you reduce your workload:

1. Be clear about your priorities

Know what your role requires of you and where you want your career to go, eliminate any activity that doesn't relate directly to these objectives. Do only the tasks with big returns. Of all the tasks on your to-do list, which is the most important? Not the one that will take the most time, or that you want to do least. The most important task is the one that will give you the biggest return, however you measure that in your job.

2. Avoid committees

They rarely make good decisions, they spend far too much time discussing minutiae and they pilfer your time into the future.

3. Learn how to close a phone call

How about the phrase “Don't let me keep you any longer” or “We both have things to do so I’ll end here”?  You can politely terminate the call without endangering the relationship.

4. Don't get comfortable

I’ve heard that the most productive meetings have been conducted standing up and the worst are meetings without a definite time plan and/or an incompetent chairperson.

5. Break habits

Just because meetings generally start at 10 a.m. and last for 60 minutes, it doesn't mean that's the right formula. Try different durations, locations and times depending on the urgency and desired outcome. Schedule meetings just before lunch or at the end of the workday. At these times, even the most talkative feel the urge for brevity!
I know a CEO who says that none of his meetings last longer than ten minutes! He thinks too much of his workers to steal their well-paid time. Don't you love it?

6. Say no

Not 'I'll consider' it or 'Come back to me, next week'. You might offer a trade: “I’ll do this for you if you’ll do that for me”. See Tip 1!

7. Ignore email

At the very start of the day, begin by mapping out what you really need to accomplish rather than allowing your inbox to determine your day. Set one or two times during the day to check mails. Prioritize the mails immediately. Reply, file or delete every email and letter on first sight,  only take more involved action on the most important.

8. Learn more about important aspects of your work

If Outlook operates your email or you use Microsoft Office, then commit time to improve your knowledge of their functionality and the settings you use. If you still type using the hunt-and-peck method, take a typing course. Most people don't use systems efficiently and hours invested in training could save you days over the next year.

9. Avoid computer stress

Computer stress is common to the point of being nearly universal.  The typical user has computer problems, on average, once every four months, and wastes around 12 hours each month trying to fix cyber mishaps. Avoid as much computer stress as possible by following these tips:

a) You can save yourself stress down the road by learning the nuts and bolts of how your systems work by reading the manuals and perhaps a book or two on computers. Tutorials on YouTube are informative and interesting.

b) Invest in the best equipment possible: newer and faster is better in terms of saving time and hassle, especially for those who use their computers often.

c) Back up often: If you don’t already have this worked into your scheduled procedures, it’s crucial that you start backing up your files frequently (once a week at least), so that if you run into major difficulties, you don’t lose much of your precious work. Just sayin’.

d) Make friends with a computer wizard!

10. Communicate your plans

How you operate, if you find it best to check emails at defined times, say before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. include a note to that effect in your signature. Do likewise with 'out of office' and voicemail. If you need time free from distractions, communicate to colleagues why your door will be closed for a certain time.

11. Reduce your work hours

Give yourself a set amount of time to work each day and each week, and stick to it. You’ll become more productive during the time you actually work, because you have to get your tasks completed quicker. You become more focused. To help you commit to your new work hours, set appointments for 30 minutes after you’re supposed to get off work. If you want to leave work at 5 p.m., set an appointment for 5:30 p.m. and adhere to it.

12. Have a life after work

I have several burnout clients who finally realized that they stayed at work so long because there was no real reason to leave! If you are looking forward to something after work, the work itself flows smoother and leaving is easy.

This is a big problem for me. So, I have taken up painting, drawing and learning Italian! And this blog. That should keep me too busy to work. I notice that I feel a bit guilty doing something that doesn't generate money. Whew, I need a shrink!!

13. Telecommute

More and more people are finding ways to work from home (or from a nearby park!), to either do their current job by telecommuting or to find a new career that doesn’t require them to work at the office. It’s worth a check.

14. Don’t allow yourself to be available to the world every minute of the day

Set times when you will peruse and respond to email, or scan your feed reader, or listen to your voicemail, and stick to them. Turn off any attention-grabbing signals for that time. You really don’t need to be connected constantly.

15. Get help

It is quite possible that, even after completing the aforementioned steps, you still have a mass of paper work/ tasks or errands and, realistically seen, not enough time to complete them.

If this is so, then it really is time for you to take decisive action.

If you have a boss, speak to them, explaining the path that you have already taken to keep on top of things, but that you simply feel overloaded. Perhaps he or she can allocate some of the tasks to colleagues?

If you are your own boss, or if you simply want to handle your surplus without bothering your boss, then it is time to consider outside help. Consider hiring a Personal Assistant for a few hours to help you sift through your workload or run your additional errands.

A London PA firm called Exec Runs, and the firm Six Stars Personal Assistants in the USA specialize in hourly PA’s at affordable rates but there are many options out there that should be explored. I have used the services of Brickwork India to edit one of my books (very dependable but expensive).

You might want to check out this video - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/04/earlyshow/contributors/susankoeppen/main3571963.shtml

Extra Tip: Relax on the weekends

You will be must more productive during the week if you are refreshed and stress free. Spend the weekend relaxing. It’s not easy but somebody’s gotta do it…

Go on a light run outside, get plenty of rest, socialize but watch the alcohol, meditate or practice yoga, or simply get stuck into a good, easy-reading book. Eat healthily and don’t spend hours watching the television or surfing the Internet. The secret is to avoid exposing yourself to endless sources of stimulation, which will arouse your brain and not allow you to sink into a deep sense of relaxation and calm.

Countless studies have shown that we work much more efficiently when we are relaxed, so go for it!