“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” John Maxwell, Leadership 101
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How to Work Less and Accomplish More
Jake is a very successful financial manager at a dot-com, earning a six-figure income. He’s happily married with an infant baby girl and a two-year-old boy.
There was, however, a problem in this perfect picture.
Jake was having panic attacks. His heart suddenly raced, he perspired heavily and couldn’t catch his breath.
He landed in the emergency room almost every week for three months and got tranquilizer injections so he could calm down. The doctors said he needed to cut down on the stress in his life.
I’m Jake’s leadership coach. One day he asked me, “Sabrina, everything is going well in my life, both in the office and at home. I have a good job I enjoy and a great family I love. I have no complaints. Why is this happening to me? What’s causing the stress?”
My answer may surprise you as much as it did Jake. Find out below.
Are you working at maximum capacity?
Like so many people in leadership positions, Jake had decided it was his job to work to the outer limits of his ability. He felt he had to power through every task life threw his way.
Have you ever felt that way? I know I have.
The Hidden Darkside of Working at Maximum Capacity
I remember years ago I was intently involved in a project and thought, “I’m working so hard I must be really important.” That sounds funny now. Back then it was my justification for being worn out physically and emotionally.
Coming from a blue-collar family, I kept trying to figure out how to be successful in my career without having a role model at home. I thought saying yes to every request—taking on as much as I could do—was going to propel me up that ladder we all climb on the job.
It worked, but at a great cost to my personal life, my health and my relationships.
Over the years, I’ve discovered there is an easier way to work less and accomplish more. Here is the formula that has helped not only me—but also Jake and hundreds of other people—attain my goals while keeping my sanity.
Stay Focused on Your Core Goals
Somehow it seems like many of us have gotten confused about what it takes to reach our goals and still be satisfied and happy in our work and personal lives.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself:
“Why am I working so hard?”
“What is it I want to accomplish by doing all this extra work?”
When you can answer those two questions, you’ll be half-way to changing the way you work, simplifying your life and speeding toward your goals.
For me, it was making the work I love, coaching and consulting, into a full-time profession. What would it be for you?
Do you know what your values are? What do you consider most important in your personal life and at work? What do you feel passionate about? What do you dream of while you’re doing the endless tasks that make that dream impossible to attain?
Answer these questions honestly and you’ll soon be on your way to a much more satisfying life.
Prune Your Commitments
When I looked at all the things on my plate I realized I was spending 50% of my time doing things that kept me from reaching my goals. I had no time to honor the commitments I’d made to myself and others. These were commitments that are at the core of my value system.
Jake had a similar problem. His success for his company and clients caused many of his co-workers to request his help. A genuinely nice person, Jake wanted to be helpful, so when anyone asked for assistance, he added their projects to his already long list.
Unfortunately, it kept him working 14-hour days to get his own work done. It also left him feeling unfulfilled, anxious and unable to enjoy his job or his family and friends. He thought that was the price of success until I showed him how to work less and accomplish more.
20% of the Effort Produces 80% of the Results
Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle? In 1906, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist and philosopher, noticed an interesting relationship between how much effort you put into something and the resulting return on those efforts. He discovered that 20% of the effort produces 80% of the results. This turns out to be as true today was it was over 100 years ago. Now it’s a basic tenet of time management.
How does the Pareto Principle work in our lives? First, we must realize that most of what we focus on is unimportant, even trivial. Many times we make the false assumption that everything we have to do is equally essential. That’s just not true.
Check it out! Take your To Do List and prioritize it from the most important to the not important. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how many items aren’t vital and therefore can be postponed, delegated or eliminated.
Learn to Identify the 20%
Learn to identify the 20% of your tasks that are the most essential to achieving your goal—then cultivate the will power to rid yourself of those things that are in the other 80 percent, This will quickly increase your productivity and help you achieve your goals faster.
How to Weed Out the Less Important Tasks
You’ll free up time when you say no to people and projects not related to your goal.
Notice which activities have yielded the highest rewards. Ask yourself, “What is the most valuable goal I could work on right now?”
It worked for me. Eliminating the non-essential jobs increased my income, success and quality of life. It worked for Jake, too. It will work for you.
Learn to Say No
In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown says, “Working hard is important. But more effort does not necessarily yield more results. ‘Less but better’ does.”
As Jake reflected, prioritized and set-aside time, his results and success quickly increased. He had more time to finish his tasks and to be with his family. His panic attacks diminished.
(Paying attention to his “self-care” was also an important step for Jake. We’ll talk about that in our next newsletter.)
Five Action Steps on How to Work Less and Accomplish More
- Rank your To Do List. What are the top 20% of tasks that are the most important?
- What is the most valuable goal you could work on right now in your job?
- What tasks can you eliminate from your To Do List?
- What things can you refuse or stop doing that are not important to your goals personally or professionally?
- Read Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism, which inspired this blog post.
“My experience with Sabrina consistently saw her deliver customer value return easily 100’s of times more than her fee.“
S
abrina carries a gift that is only seen after devoting 10’s of thousands of hours of career passion. Her ability to listen, connect and tease out the salient details from the shrouds of personal development are the province of a Master Trainer.
Mike Lally, President, The Modal Shop
Interviews with Top Leadership
Go to WWW.WomensLeadershipSuccess.com. You can listen to Sabrina interview business leaders on ways to jump-start your career and improve your leadership skills.
Dare to be Happy with Cathy Greenberg
How Women Leaders Can Increase Productivity and Erase procrastination Dr. Neil Fiore
Cracking the Gender Code with Susan Fowler
Coming soon: Mei Xu: Inspiration for the New Year from a Star Entrepreneur
Sabrina Braham has lots of great ideas to help you work less and accomplish more in your career and business. No question is too big or small. Sabrina is available to both individual and corporate clients who need assistance maximizing their work efforts to achieve the greatest level of satisfaction and success.
Contact her directly for more information. Email her at sabrina@sabrinabraham.com or call her at 707-576-7776.
Since 1978
Leadership, Teambuilding & Consulting Solutions Enhancing Leadership and People Performance
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Sabrina Braham MA PCC
555 W. College Ave.
Santa Rosa • CA • 95401
707-576-7776
http://www.WomensLeadershipSuccess.com
