PART SEVEN
WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
It is no credit to anyone to work too hard.
It always annoyed me when managers quipped, “Work smarter, not harder,” without providing any clear instructions on just how to work smarter.
In Part Seven, you will learn how to become exceptionally efficient, productive, and effective by doing less, not more. You have probably heard the 80/20 rule—80 percent of your results comes from 20 percent of your efforts. If you could just figure out which 20 percent of your efforts was effective, theoretically you could safely eliminate 80 percent of what you currently do. This is working smarter. It goes back to the “less is more” principle.
In Part Two, we saw that having less stuff enabled us to attract more of what we really wanted; here you will see that less work often produces better results. In Part Six, you’ve identified your special talents and gifts and now you are ready to leverage these strengths and learn how to effectively delegate your weaknesses. You will find out how to get unstuck when you are in a rut and how to reduce your stress at work by underpromising. You may end up eliminating your to-do list (Tip 64) or eliminating goals altogether when you discover the power of not doing anything at all and just taking a nap or a break.
The following coaching tips show you how to work smarter while having more fun and success, whether your goals are professional or personal.