They are virtually everywhere: at your workplace, in your classroom, and even in the movies. They are the masters of their craft.
They are called smart. It is not a coincidence that they are called smart; they are knowledgeable, responsible, and efficient in their chosen career paths.
They may be the envy of the average person, but that doesn’t change the reality that they put in less energy, and achieve greater results than those who labor their hides off.
In this blog post, we’ll be sharing with you how smart people work less and get more done.
- Smart people do the most important things first
Smart people start their day with the most important things. This is centered on their ability to streamline activities that are much more profitable to do, both in the long and short term run.
The power of distraction from all corners, including social media, is gripping enough to rob the average person of his time and energy. Not so with a smart man. He already has identified what he needs to do, breaks them down into workable bits, maps out a timeframe and a process for each of the bits, and pays great attention to getting them done.
He doesn’t lie to himself by assuming that he can start his day with the fancies of distraction, and still meet up with performing crucial tasks. If you want to get more done in less time, start your days with the most important thing. This is important because your brain is most effective in the morning.
- Smart people pursue a passion and stick to it
We all know that it’s easier to get things done if you are truly passionate about it, but only smart people focus their time and life on what they are passionate about.
Smart people are smart because they choose to pour their attention on a given area of great interest without giving any room for distraction.
Smart people are not robotic in nature, rather, they have learned in the course of their growth that doing different things at a time will get different things messily half-done. Unlike the average man that delights in showing off his multitasking skill, a smart person takes pride in marking out a particular time to start and finish a task he desires to carry out, and does all he can to achieve that goal, before setting out for another.
This approach not only conserves work time but also makes work a lot easier to do and fully done, without one getting unnecessarily exhausted.
If you want to get great results in a little time, focus your energy on what you’re truly passionate about.
- Smart people understand the power in delegation
While the average person enjoys being at the center of attraction, and so makes himself the custodian of information, and the executioner of tasks, the smart person understands that he cannot always be at the forefront of affairs especially if he is capable of giving authority to people around him to carry out jobs efficiently.
Since he knows that his time for other ventures is more valuable than carrying out everyday, mundane tasks, he assigns those duties to individuals who are willing to do them for a small amount of money. This gets more work done, and everyone is happy.
- They know when to stop working
The beauty in scheduling a specific time frame for almost all their activities lies in the execution of those tasks to the letter.
Having put in time and energy in the planning, organizing, and execution of work, the smart among us deem it fit to remove themselves from the ever-busy scene in order to refill their bodies.
Often, they do not wait until they are completely wiped out of energy before valuing an away time from busyness.
Since they understand that their health and general well-being are more important than their quest for success, smart people map out time on their weekends or during holidays to rest and refresh without bothering so much about calls to honor, or emails to respond to. This results in better productivity when they get back to work.
You can’t be productive by working, working, and working. That’s why God mandated the Israelites to take a day off.
- They make their plans and schedules known to those concerned
Following their decision to move away after getting work done, smart people do not just wake up to abandon people whose lives are affected by their business. They are open to making known to their clients, employees and associate the turnaround time of projects; breaks, weekend work schedules, vacation periods, and every other piece of information that is necessary to keep the trust in their business stronger.
By practicing openness and upholding integrity, a smart person has little to contend with in managing his business, whether in keeping his clients satisfied, his employees less confused about the business, or his associates loyal to him.
- Smart people are good communicators
Smart people value communication as a basic means of getting work done. They do not say one thing and mean the other. Since they know it is easy for simple words to be misinterpreted, they back up their spoken words with graphical illustrations, and with the appropriate body language.
The time for endless explanations and defense of selves will be used for other meaningful activities following proper communication. Meetings become less frequent, and business grows faster, even while the smart guys work less.
- They make out time to reflect on their life’s journeys
Socrates said, “An unexamined life isn’t worth living”. Smart people do not forget how they got to where they are and try to establish tendencies for success or failure.
They are pressured by the need to succeed with fewer mistakes to hinge on the lessons learned from mistakes of the past.
To effectively and efficiently improve, smart people are known to take stock of their knowledge base and pinpoint areas they are lacking in invention, creativity, and excellence. Theirs is not a life of chance, nor is it one based on driving to the future blindly.
They are very much conscious of their times and are careful to make the best of them in acquiring more knowledge, avoiding pitfalls, and leveraging on past experiences to succeed.
- Smart people have some form of ritual that prevents them from wasting time
Smart people are not smart by accident. They are smart because they found out what works best for them in time management, and keep doing it until it became a habit to them.
For some, it is in waking up early, exercising, eating right, writing out plans for the day, and heading out to achieve them. For others, it is in having their quiet, alone times first, before exercising and setting out plans.
Whatever the routine, they have tested it over time, and found out what works best for them. Another important area they chose to manage time in is that of failure. They have mastered the art of extracting lessons from failures and teaching themselves to do better in future engagements.
Smart people know it is a waste of time to bemoan already spilled milk, an attitude that drains both time and motivation from them.
In conclusion, it is easy to be smart if you can decide to do extraordinary things that appear quite simple to do: have a passion and stick to it, know when it is time to move away from the hustles and bustles of activities, make your plans and schedules known to those concerned, embrace the power of delegation, be a good communicator, reflect on your journey to success so far and improve where necessary, do important things first, and have a form of ritual that helps you manage time wisely.
Take that decision now. Refuse the average life.
Thank you.