But what does it really mean to work smarter?
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
This Is How To Actually Work Smarter, Not Harder
But what does it really mean to work smarter?
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But what does it really mean to work smarter?
12 comments:
This is SUPER important, especially for this year! I find that this program especially can endorse a 'work harder' mentality, seemingly rewarding those who tax themselves the most, but that's a toxic mindset. I think a few especially stand out for me and seem most applicable to the college workload: Don't dive right in, Work when you feel like it, Lay off the junk food, Stare at a photo.
We as students tend to want to procrastinate, so diving right in may seem like a no-brainer for those who wait until last minute, but for the high overachievers and those who are easily stressed by unfinished work (like me) this is important to keep in mind. And while putting things off can be bad, it's important not to go too far in the other direction, either. Working when you feel like it is also really important, but I find it's not always feasible - our most productive hours may be in class or during a crew call, wiping out what seems to be the most productive parts of our days. But something I've started doing is designating work time. I wake up at the same time in the mornings every day, for example, but only have early classes half the time. I use the extra two hours as predesignated work time and have made mornings my good working hours, adjusting my own work schedule to fit what I have available.
Laying off the junk food and sleeping are something that OFTEN go ignored in colleges, but I've seen work to fix. It seems like so many college students actively ignore sleep, sometimes willingly and sometimes not, to get work done and survive on snacks and grabbed meals rather than allowing themselves to sit with a square dinner and a good moment to themselves. Those healthy habits are important to keep your mind sharp, and shouldn't be ignored in the name of efficiency - if sleeping to keep yourself healthy means your paper is a bit late, email your professor and let them know. They don't want you wasting away and unable to pay attention or stay awake, and should be fairly understanding if your workload has gotten to that point of intensity.
Staring at a photo is something I'm actively trying to do right now. Reminding myself why I'm here and doing whatever I'm doing helps me to refocus and push through tough things. I may be struggling or not enjoying it now, but seeing what I have to gain by getting it done, wether now or in the future, is a huge boost to my personal productivity ad gives me the energized mood to keep my spirits up even when things get a bit tough. I have to remind myself about leisure and fun and my dreams and goals to stay going, something everyone should do to keep themselves prioritized on what they WANT, not what they've been given to do.
A lot of these habits are not actively thought about by college students. Staying up late and eating poorly "comes with college" in a lot of kids heads, which is totally not true. Balancing your time and work and play just requires some planning, and getting a decent night's rest and waking up at a decent time is easily done. I think this article is really important, especially coming into this program this year. We've been told all sorts of horror stories of all-nighters and whatnot, but I think everyone in this class is going to try and prevent that!!
I think something that this article missed that which is, for me at least, the most important aspect of working smarter: being in the right mind set. If I am not in the mood to write a paper, I might sit at my computer but nothing good is going to come of it. Sometimes it is more beneficial to acknowledge that the best time to work might not be when you have planned for it and carved out time, especially if you are not focused on the work at that point. Some times I cannot write, but I might be able to draw then. It is all about knowing yourself and your own study habits. It is hard for other people to generalize and create blanket rules about things as subjective as this.
I think many of the strategies make sense but it interesting that the article tells readers to let someone else do it when it isn't their strongest task. This raises the question of "shouldn't a worker be challenged by the work they are doing and not always just do the things they are good at?" Yes, to effectively run a company this is a better model but it leads to a boring life. Workers are stronger if they have dabbled in different areas, gaining more skills. Also in education, letting someone else do something that you find hard isn't allowed. I wish the article had expanded on the idea of how to productively problem solve. I guess this is another article but it would nice to see. Also, I was concerned at how the article didn't have a bolded heading saying to take breaks. The article did talk about how you should work when you best suited to do the activity based on your ultradian rhythms but this is something I find helps my productivity greatly. The brain can only focus for 45-90 minutes so doing tasks straight through is impossible. Breaks clear the mind and add perspective to the work one is doing. The author brushed over this topic, while I think she should have addressed it in a more clear point.
This article is everything we need as students in the school of drama. I often wish that as an undergraduate student I had learned more of these skills as those four years could have been a lot more successful if I had. We all know that things like getting enough, sleep, eating better and exercising will allow for us to feel better and work better but we often don’t think about things like working in increments, preparing for the times we will have to work and taking the time to read instructions or manuals. I’d be curious to specifically within the school of drama to see how much time each of us wastes on social media, surfing the web, or on Netflix. I’m sure some of us are much bigger offenders than we think despite the fact that we are so busy with productions on top of our course load.
I especially respond to the "PREPARE FOR YOUR “WASTED” TIME" paragraph. Often times we have only 15/45 min between meetings, or just enough time to get something done, but not enough to go home. I often find myself unprepared for these 'breaks' and certainly need to work more on prepping a mini to do list the can be done in these short increments. Even if I manage to knock out four 30min tasks, I am saving myself 2 hours down the line in a very hectic time of year. It is important to take advantage of time, but also to use the time to refocus your brain on the rest of the day or task at hand. We are also programmed to constantly do, and taking time to pause, breathe and reflect is also very important to work flow and sanity. The paying attention to energy cycles portion also really spoke to me; I've been getting up at 5am/6am while I am not staying late for production, and have seen a pretty significant increase in my work flow and energy by shifting my schedule to a time my body wants to work.
The article talked about working smarter in a way I have never really thought about before. It was quite interesting to learn about simple things one can do throughout their day instead of that task by task basis I have always heard that quote referred to. I didn't know that we, as humans, had such a cycle where working for ninety minutes and breaking for twenty was engrained in us. Looking at my life with these things in mind it is cool to notice that I have done some of them. Staying healthy, for example, is something I have noticed boosts my energy levels and keeps me better working. However, I never thought about interruptions as wasted time before but it makes sense. It was cool to learn about that. Madeleine Evans also makes a very good point as that time between events going on in your own life is usually not long enough to head back to somewhere and so I too have found myself wasting time that way. It is a good idea to plan for those events to help me be more productive throughout the day.
This is honestly one of the most helpful productivity articles I have seen on the Greenpage. Obviously, the point of the article is to provide unconventional approaches to being more productive but the methods on this list that I already do, or do some version of, regularly are more helpful than the generic "keep a planner" and "write down everything you have to do." I have recently started trying to utilize the dead time when I have 15 minutes between meetings or a class gets out ten minutes early. Comments are actually a perfect task for those dead spaces because you can do them almost anywhere, especially if you write them on your phone, and you can do one in under ten minutes. The other suggestion I find from experience as particularly helpful is the "Stare at a photo" idea. I have been doing a version of this for a while now. Whenever I start to feel burned out, I write down the reasons I want to be doing the work I'm doing. Simply articulating those thoughts and then sitting with them for a moment helps remotivate you. Since I've had good results from the suggestions in this article I have already tried, I will be saving it so that I can try implementing the other suggestions and see if a version of them work for me as well.
I think there are a lot of really good points in this article. I strive to work smart not hard as so many people do. Most simply, when you have to move something really heavy and there is a pallet and a pallet jack right next to you, take the couple moments of detour to put the thing on the pallet and use the pallet jack instead of straining and lifting it yourself. Maybe this takes a little extra time on the front end but saves on strain, pain, and time in the long run. The “read the manual” section really spoke to me since the general idea is don’t jump right in, get yourself in the best place then jump in. So the direct correlation could be autocad, I’m sure there are so many tips and tricks on autocad we don’t know about but if we took the time to watch some videos or read some manuals we could figure them out. Less direct is the correlation between a clean shop. If you have a clean shop and spend the time optimizing your space that is like reading a manual, you get prepared, then when you jump in, you can work quickly and successfully.
It is encouraging to know that I have already encorporated some of these suggestions into my work life. I like to write lists and organize my thoughts on how to perform my tasks, which I don't remember reading as a suggestion in this article, but I always found it super helpful. Reading this article inspires me to become more productive during my days on projects and homework. I never turn anything late but I could give myself more time and breaks to actually perform the tasks. I don't know when the habit of procrastinating to the last night started for me but I know I am not the only one who does it, and I doubt the stress from doing so is healthy for our minds and bodies. I am going to try to listen more to this article and what others have been saying and take better care of myself and time fore works.
I really enjoyed this article because it perfectly captured the subtle distinction in one of the most integral parts of being a productive worker. One of the most important things to understand is when it is time to hand a project over to someone who may have a skill set that is slightly different, and therefore better suited for a task then our own. This is an incredibly hard thing to do because of the attachment we all develop to our work in a position of ownership. It is also an incredibly important to develop a schedule that accommodates for designated breaks, time that will be wasted by distraction.
One of the biggest struggles for me is finding a way to keep focused. So often I find myself working for two hours but I really only spent 30 minutes actually working. If I take a step back and observe, I do tend to work at a fairly fast passed. But it is the wasted time during the day that really gets me. I am also a person that needs a lot of motivation to not only get a project complete but to also get the project done well. One of my biggest problems with the article is how easy they make everything seem. In the “wasted time” section, Duncan makes it sound like maximizing every portion of your day is a breeze. Although it would be nice to have a clear split between work and relaxation I don’t think I am at a point where that is possible, especially with a schedule that is so spread out and hard to fill every gap.
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