If you clock in long workdays to chip away at your never-ending to-do list, you’re not alone. But the key to getting things done—without burning out—is to work fewer, more productive hours, according to a recent article in The New York Times.
“More and more of us find ourselves unable to juggle overwhelming demands and maintain a seemingly unsustainable pace,” writes Tony Schwartz, the author of Be Excellent at Anything. “Paradoxically, the best way to get more done may be to spend more time doing less.” And it turns out, “strategic renewal,” or taking smart, reinvigorating breaks—including daytime respites and vacations—from work, will make you more efficient, healthier, and happier overall. Plus, the number of hours you work isn’t a true measure of the quality of your work, or of how good an employee you are. What matters is the energy you have while you’re at work, according to Schwartz. “By managing energy more skillfully, it’s possible to get more done, in less time, most sustainably,” he writes.
To scale back your work hours and boost your productivity, Robert Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and author of the new book Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours, suggests these four strategies.
Manage your mail
Take an “OHIO”—an “only-handle-it-once” approach to your e-mails, suggests Pozen. “Discard 80 to 85 percent of them just by looking at the subject matter,” he says. “If you do that, you’ll have 15 or 20 percent that are really important, and for those, I suggest that you answer them right away.” By immediately dealing with the e-mails—and whatever issues they contain—you’ll avoid an inbox pileup and the stress of playing catch-up.
Avoid meetings
It’s no secret that meetings can be a complete time suck. Pozen suggests avoiding them when possible. If skipping out on a meeting just isn’t an option, then ask to see an agenda and any other materials in advance, he says. And if you’re running the meeting, try to keep the time to an hour or 90 minutes at the very most. (Although shorter is definitely better).
Ditch the perfectionism
Wanting to do everything perfectly is a worthy but very time-consuming goal, and sometimes it’s just completely unnecessary. Pozen recommends learning to recognize that certain projects simply don’t require perfection. By doing so, you’ll spare your precious time and energy and be able to use both later on—and on a more appropriate project.
Give yourself a break
“Most people, sometime between one o’clock and four o’clock, have a real down—their bodies get tired,” says Pozen. To fight the midday energy slump, he recommends taking a break to exercise, or carving out time for a short, 20-minute nap. (Just don’t let your boss catch you!) And conversely, if you happen to know that your most productive hours are before noon, make a to-do list every night before you head out. When you make a nightly to-do list, it means that every morning when you get to work, you can jump right in to the necessary tasks without wasting precious productivity time getting oriented and organized.
More from Women’s Health:
Stay on Top of Your To-Do List
20 Ways to Get More Done at Work
42 Tips to Do Everything Better
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