To Get More Done, You Need to Do Less

You try to do it all.

Often, that leads to many things started and nothing done. Or you don’t get to your most important work, because you are busy doing everything else.

If you want to get more done, you need to do less in your day.

Trying to Do It All Doesn’t Work

You can’t do it all.

You can’t do everything on your list. You can’t do multiple tasks at the same time. You can’t be in three places at once. And you can’t do every todo under the sun.

You need to change your strategy.

Instead of trying to be a superhero dashing from task-to-task, you need to focus on fewer todos.

Yes, by actually doing less in your day, you will find that you have more time for the things that need to get done.

“To get more done, you need to do less.” (Tweet Quote)

So, what do you need to do less of today?

More Accomplished, Less Done

In the quest for greater productivity, many people fall intro the trap of trying to do more, faster. This is a never-ending quest that only leads to stress, frustration, and eventually burnout.

The path to greater productivity is about doing fewer tasks, but more of the important ones.

Here are some tips to help you “Do Less and Accomplish More” in your day:

• Scrub Your Calendar – Don’t let your calendar take you on a wild ride today. If you have an unreasonable schedule or back-to-back meetings, now is the time to address it. What do you need to move or re-schedule? What meetings do you not need to attend? Just because someone sends you a meeting invite does not mean that you must drop your priorities to be present.
• Clean Your Todo List – You need to groom your list from time-to-time. While you should always capture those random todos, that doesn’t mean that you must do them all. Review your list and prioritize, organize, and yes, delete todos that are no longer relevant. Remove tasks that you shouldn’t be doing or should be on someone else’s list.
• Make a To-Don’t List – As important as the things you are going to do, are the items that you aren’t going to do today. Make a list of the things not to do today.  This could be simple things like news, web-surfing, office gossip. Or even big things, like bad habits that you are trying to replace with better ones.
• Minimize – What else can you remove from your plate today? Many of the things that we take for granted, really aren’t required. Question everything on your plate today. Before you spend time on it, question whether you really need to do it and what the consequences would be if you didn’t.

Do Less for Success

Productivity is about efficiency and greater results but not necessarily about doing the most tasks. It’s a bad rule of thumb to judge productivity by busyness.

Doing more and more isn’t always the answer. By doing less, you will find that you have more time for the things that are important.

Today, do less and accomplish more.

Question: What do you need to do less of today? You can leave a comment by clicking here.