Doing Less To Get More

We see it every day on Social Media. The “influencers”, business people, entrepreneurs, etc who are always “grinding”.

I once had a coach tell me, “It’s not the hours you put in, it’s what you put into the hours.”

I carry  that philosophy with me even to this day. I’m never really impressed with the hours of “work” someone puts in, the things that truly impress me are the people who seem to get 8 hours of work done in four. 

“Focus on being productive instead of busy,” -Tim Ferris

That’s how I came to develop this fascination with experimenting with various approaches known for helping you improve your day’s efficiency. I found a few things that seemed to work better than others.  

It almost seems counterintuitive. To be on social media, have a presence, yet spend less time on it. 

That’s why having a plan before hopping online is essential. Here is how you can do so:

• Be engaged and not passive. 
• Instead of mindlessly scrolling, use your time wisely. Respond to people who are trying to connect with you, comment on someone’s post, create a post for today or the future. 
• Tracking Screen Time
• You can track your daily usage and set limits on your iphone. Or you can download various apps that will send you, not so ignorable, reminders that it’s time to put the phone down. 

Use social media with a purpose. Instead of using it as an escape, try using it as a growth opportunity. Logging on to connect instead of disconnect. 

This has probably been one of the biggest factors in improving my productivity. Instead of working a grueling continuous 4 hour session. Do less. That’s right, less is more. 

When you work such long, static hours, your brains become bored. With an increase in boredom comes a decrease in efficiency. 

If you are bored, you will never achieve a state of flow with your work. 

 Plus, it’s just gruesome and mind numbing. 

Instead give yourself 30-50 minutes to do an all out sprint. 

Say you are writing an article.

Write as much as you can. Dump it all onto the paper. Releasing ideas as fast as you can type. 

With short intervals of work or studying you can achieve two benefits:

1.  The achievement of a state of flow, which will result in being more productive. 
2.  Random breaks that will allow you to refresh and recharge.

Now to piggyback off the last rule. You finish your 30 minutes and your mind is empty. Don’t sit there and continue to pick at it. Just walk away. Take a break. Let your mind refresh. 

Another way we can use this rule is with big projects. We all have them, whether it be for a University class, a meeting with an important client, and so on. 

In How We Learn research has shown, “Start work on large projects as soon as possible and stop when we get stuck. It shrinks the job”

Instead of dwelling on the task ahead, learn to make it part of your daily routine. Making the massive stress associated with the project, feel mundane.

What about in the case where we have something due last minute?

Science Daily published a study from Cognition that stated, “Brief diversions from a task can dramatically improve one’s ability to focus on that task.”

Basically, if you have three hours to complete a task, break it into intervals. 50 minutes of work/ study followed by a 10 minute break. Make sure to not switch over to something like social media, but stand up and get away from your work. 

We live in a world full of stimulation. It’s easy to get distracted and put your hands in many egg baskets. 

For me the 80/20 rule means focusing 80% of my effort and attention to the things I have to do to continue to make a living. Right now for me, that is my main Youtube channel. It’s what pays the bills and what gives me the opportunity to explore other things.

Now, with the extra 20% of my time, I dive into other revenue ideas, projects, etc. 

Simply put, do what you have to do and do it first. Get it done and out of the way. Once completed, then move onto other areas in which you have an interest.

Now, it may be confusing, but I only use the 80/20 rule for my work related material. For me, growth time is something that needs to be completely on its own. That’s why it falls into a different category. 

Why should we invest in ourselves, acquire new skills, and be worried about growing?

• Skills are the new thing. Let’s face it, one of the greatest ways to succeed in the 21st century is giving back to ourselves in the form of acquiring skills. 
• Improved quality of life. Have we ever been sad when we haven’t been able to do something? I know I have. So it’s only logical to think the more skills we acquire that a greater confidence and self-esteem shall follow. 
• Expand your creativity, thinking, reasoning. 

And lastly, and the hardest reason of them all…

That will be true for 99.9% of us. However, what we can do is combine our multiple skills to create an environment or package that is unique, which can help boost us to the top of our desired field. 

By putting aside just 30 minutes every day to a single skill, at the end of a month we will have accumulated around 15 hours for that desired skill. Yes, yes, I know what about the 10,000 hours rule? That’s for complete mastery, we are just trying to acquire, not master. 

There are so many skills you can acquire, learn to code, write, edit videos, dance, journal, make checklists, and so on. 

Imagine if you decided each month to learn two new skills, that means at the end of the year you would have 24 new skills which you can add to your resume. 

Now, let’s bring this all together, how can growth time and acquiring new skills help you be more efficient?

Maybe you’re terrible with money. You always blow your investments, you read a book on how to manage your wealth, implement the required actions, and now you’ve stopped moving backwards and have started increasing your savings instead of falling back to ground zero. 

You take a typing class so those papers you used to type now only take 30 minutes as opposed to 60. 

You learn how to storyboard so you aren’t spending all day filming, but going out and knowing what shots you need. Saving you time in the filming and editing process, resulting in a more efficient product. 

And countless more examples. 

Or even better, why not both?

I truly believe you need both. Nothing is more frustrating than working hard day after day and feel like your tires are spinning in the mud.

By slowly letting go of things that aren’t benefiting your time, decreasing the time you spend doing tasks, and increasing the time spent on improving yourself, you will set yourself up for a bright future.

Just remember.

Don’t always be the student. Make sure to put your new skills into action.