Have you ever taken a step back from your load of work to considered that working more is not, always right? Working less and right is more productive than putting more hours to work every day. And yes, it is proven by science and it works. As they say, the key to success is not working hard, its working smart by increasing productivity. Let’s look at 5 ways to work less and be more productive:

1. Get rid of your overtime, Focus on being productive in its place

It goes without saying that irrespective of how well you can get back to work without sleep or with little sleep. it affects your general welfare and inadvertently your attitude to work, leading to low productivity.

According to “Scheduled Overtime Effect On Construction Projects” a 1980 report from the business round-table:

“Where a work schedule of 60 or more hours per week is continued longer than about two months, the cumulative effect of decreased productivity will cause a delay in the completion date beyond that which could have been realized with the same crew size on a 40-hour week.”

Taking in to cognizance that the 5 days-work-week was an experiment by Henry Ford, an American industrialist, performed on his own staff which saw to the increase of his workers productivity. Be smart in how you work

2. Stop taking on every task by yourself, accept or demand help

This is an issue of trust, yes you can do it, but so can others, some even better than you can do it, some burning yourself out on both ends and allow others to help you out. And sometimes, even if others i.e. Coworkers and friends can’t help you, simply having them around often than not helps increase productivity.

3. Don’t be a perfectionist

Being a perfectionist requires that you spend more than required time range for a task and it also dictates that you procrastinate by waiting for the perfect time. The perfect time in the corporate world is “now”. You also run the risk of missing the objective of a task by focusing on little things.

4. Why REPEAT when you can AUTOMATE

You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. With 50% of your daily task being repetitive task and the other half randomly placed. Freeing up your repetitive task by automating them will give you ample time to conclude your other task and some more.

5. Take a time off

Yes, take some time off. Think outside the box of your work place. Allow your brain focus on other things. Most people don’t realize that when we are too focused on something, they essentially locking ourselves in a box.  This can end up being counterproductive to our work or the results we’re chasing.