Get More Done by Focusing Less on Work

When people want to get more work done, they double up, adopt a new approach, stay at the office late, work weekends, try to cram more into every day.

Instead of working longer and harder what if they integrated the four domains of life - work, home, community, and self. By focusing more on the areas of life they care about most, they will perform better at their job. 

But there are serious barriers to this type of integration- fear, ignorance, and guilt. People are afraid of change, don't know how to go about it, and feel guilty even trying thinking it will impact others. They should learn to try and minimize these barriers and they will be able to try out new something new, get more done, and create more harmony in life.

Lower risk by scaling the new intended action down

Make it manageable and less frightening. Eg., if a person aims to cut down on digital time by 3 hours every day, start with 3 hours every week or half-hour every day, and gradually increase it once they are comfortable and see that it is manageable.

Gather information about what might and what might not work

Share ideas for action with stakeholders who are affected. Inform the manager and teammates that the person will be off-grid for 3 hours in a week to plan and ideate. Adjust one's plans and team meetings as required to make time.

Assess the positive impact one expects to have with actions

Assess the positive impact on one's work, team, family, community. Agree on a metric with the manager to assess one's performance. Figure out a simple way to measure a person's metrics and quickly capture the results.

It may seem crazy to think that one will perform better at work if more time is spent on other aspects of life - family, community, self. When a person undertakes experiments to better align his actions and values to benefit the work, family, community, and self, one is likely to spend less time at work but experience better performance. 

The positive spillover from better experiences in other parts of life has an especially good effect on mind, body, and spirit. Not only did this sense of well being improve across the board, but their ability to meet performance expectations also goes up in all domains including work. 

There are several reasons performance at work improves

• A Clearer focus on results.
• A less wasted effort on unimportant activities.
• Reduced psychological interference as a result of less distraction as other areas is being taken care of.
• A virtual cycle of benefits spilling over to all parts of life.

Barriers to creating meaningful changes in areas where they focus their attention are real. Take action that's within one's control and believe that it will benefit people who matter in their life, gather data, continuously adjust so they can do good what's good for themselves and others. The mindset will shift as they start seeing opportunities for four-way wins. Look for wins, by doing the basics. Envision a better future and bring others along.

Get More Done by Focusing Less on Work

by Stewart D. Friedman