Learn, Share, Grow – Get More Work Done in Less Time

July 1, 2019

Below is a lesson from Harvard Business Review on strategies to get more done in less time, as well as our key learning.

The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth.  We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”.  We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning.  As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.

5 Strategies for Getting More Work Done in Less Time

By Elizabeth Grace Saunders

JANUARY 07, 2019

You’ve got more to do than could possibly get done with your current work style. You’ve prioritized. You’ve planned. You’ve delegated. You’ve tried to focus. The next frontier is increasing your efficiency so that you can spend less time and still do a good job.

Exactly which strategies will work best for you will vary person-by-person and situation-by-situation. But as a time management coach working with people who need to get more done in less time, I’ve found that employing even one of these five strategies can save you hours each week.

Continue reading here.

Key Learnings:

• Exactly which strategies will work best for you will vary person-by-person and situation-by-situation.
• Employing even one of these five strategies can save you hours each week.
• Clarify Actual Expectations – By clarifying what’s actually needed and to what level, you can save hours of time deciding what to do and getting tasks done.
• Re-Use Previous Material – Your ability to reduce time by reusing and recycling work will vary depending on your particular responsibilities. But where you can, copy, paste, and edit. When you’re pressed for time, fight the urge to entirely update or overhaul materials, and use something you already have to save hours and deliver the best content. 
• Develop Templates and Checklists – Come up with a template or checklist or find ones you can use. Both templates and checklists allow you to do a good job in less time because you don’t need to spend any time remembering what to do or deciding on the next step.
• Make It a Conversation – Depending on what you need to accomplish, you can potentially save time by sharing what you’ve done verbally. It may accomplish your purposes in less time to take notes and then talk through your findings during a one-on-one meeting. This strategy can also work well if you need to communicate about more abstract concepts, like design.
• Time Box Your Work – decide in advance how much time you will spend on a particular task or part of a task, and then sticking to it. Time boxing doesn’t guarantee that you’ll finish the work in the allotted time. However, it can definitely help with focus.