How to Get More Done in Less Time?

Deadlines are looming over your head. You feel bounded by the short amount of time. Countless tasks are overwhelming you. You feel unproductive. There is not enough time left to get your things done.

Does this ever occur to you?

Everyone has been provided with an equal amount of time but still, you complain all day about the time you have.

You are struggling to get things done in a short period.

what if I tell you you feel overwhelmed because you have not organized yourself? You feel sluggish and unproductive at the end of the day.

Do you feel like you have not accomplished much?

if so, then lean on these techniques that I have discussed below.

Use Skinner’s law

Procrastination is your enemy.

If you have been vying against procrastination from a long time, you may have tried and tested various strategies but often get buried under too many tasks. A more accurate way is to follow the BS Skinner approach, a famous psychologist who has not gained much traction among internet junkies but his work includes some pointers that need to be addressed to beat procrastination.

You can sift through his book “ The Behaviour of Organism” to get a little glimpse of the ideas and strategies he discussed to defeat procrastination.

His work mostly revolves around dissecting human behaviour, and how humans put tasks off to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Here’s what Skinner Law says

If procrastinating on an item, you only have 2 options:

The takeaway here is to zero out your pleasure and get into action.

Batch your tasks

Batching tasks is probably one of the best techniques to enhance productivity and defeat procrastination.

Tasks batching comes handy whenever you find yourself jumping back and forth between the tasks. You ruin your whole way to process things effectively. Mental clutter piles up and performance slopes downwards like a ski run. If this happens during your office hours, you may end up losing your work to someone else.

As the tasks ratchet up, you start to get overwhelmed and feel exhausted. The more appropriate way is to use the task batch framework.

Dr. Sahar Yousef, cognitive neuroscientist and lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, says that multitasking is a myth. Dr. Yousef stated, “The human brain works best when it focuses on one thing at a time. We have a certain amount of cognitive capacity and a certain amount of attention.”

here’s how ClickUp defines task batching

Task batching is a method of organizing work by grouping similar tasks together to tackle at once. This approach can greatly enhance your productivity by reducing the time spent in context switching, i.e., switching between unrelated or different tasks throughout the day.

Use 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule cuts down all the unnecessary portion of the work and helps you focus on that part which is essential.

The 80/20 rule signifies that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes.

It is applied in various realms to enhance productivity and performance. in the software development world, It helps to figure out what is important and what needs immediate improvement. For example, when bug fixing, Engineers spot 80% of issues stems from 20% of bugs.

So, with the 80/20 rule, they achieve most of their results immediately because the 80/20 rule emphasizes that you need to put effort into those things which yield higher results.

Learn to say no

Saying no to things that do not contribute to the productive outcomes is essential.

In his book “Essentialism”. Greg Mckowen recommends people to say no to the unwanted things that do not serve a purpose in their life. He goes on to explain how adopting a “less is more approach” is good for a team and one strong effort in a single direction is far better than putting efforts in many directions.

Saying no to non-essential things will lead you in the workplace.

key Takeaway — Focus on Priorities that lead to

• Clear Objectives: By saying no to non-essential tasks, you can concentrate on your core responsibilities and key projects that directly contribute to your goals and the organization’s objectives.
• High Impact: Focusing on high-impact tasks can lead to better performance reviews, promotions, and recognition.