Working long hours doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll accomplish more.
If you’re excited about a project and have personal interest, you’ll most likely utilize all the time you’re allotted, but what about those projects that you don’t have a personal interest in that are required because of work?
When you’re not jumping at the gun to start a new project, you often find excuses to not start until later. A couple hours later a project that you said would take 8 hours can be done in 6. A project that you said would take 5 days is done in 3.
Why?
Because you procrastinate until the last possible moment and then you have no choice but to buckle down and get to work.
Because you purposefully bid a longer amount of time to give you time to “think about the project.”
Because you just can’t start the day before reading every news article on Yahoo!, MSN, and BBC News.
Because you might miss the latest chit chat from your coworkers.
Because starting immediately would take too much effort when you just don’t feel like it.
Because you haven’t read all your email yet.
Because your brain is too tired and it’s a hassle to find the right resources to begin the project.
And the list goes on. The truth is, most of our tasks can be accomplished in a fraction of the time we actually take to accomplish them, but we’re not willing to put forth the effort.
So, how do we fix it? Here are a few ideas.
Break the work load up into smaller, more manageable sections.
Take a break away from your computer and find another place to sit and brainstorm project milestones.
Delegate some of your work to others.
Bid less time initially.
Avoid distractions at work such as news, email, and social sites.
Take 25 minutes of intense working then a 5 minute break, repeat.
Read your news and email before leaving for work.
Make goals with a coworker to accomplish X amount before X time.
Try some of these ideas, or if you have some of your own, let’s hear them in the comments below.
