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Introduction
In the hustle and bustle of today’s fast-paced world, achieving sky-high efficiency and mastering time management are critical skills for success. If you want to get anywhere and reach some level of success, being time and work efficient are two necessary pillars that you’ll need to have down.
Whether you’re a student juggling coursework, a professional with a hectic schedule, or anyone seeking a more productive life, this blog is your comprehensive guide to unlocking peak efficiency.
What does “sky-high efficiency” look like?
Being efficient means that you take the faster routes towards certain answers. Instead of taking the slow, boring, and lengthy route, you take the fast one.
But, don’t get it mixed. Just because one is efficient does not mean that they don’t complete their work with the same level of effort. They just do it faster, and smarter.
For example, instead of blindly writing notes from a 2-hour lecture for a biology class, I may find it easier to instead watch a simple 10 minute video covering the same content, but condensing it into a short, detailed, and sufficient video.
Why it works
That’s efficiency at its peak. You take the faster and smarter route towards answers, but don’t sacrifice effort for it.
As another example, if I am running an online marketing business (for say), I will need to outreach to potential clients who may be interested in my online marketing services. So, I can either write every message to every one of my leads (another name for ‘people that I can contact‘), OR I can use an automation service to automatically message each one of my leads individually, while still maintaining the personalized aspect of each message.
Make sense now?
“Sky-high efficiency” is exactly where you want to be when it comes to getting good work done. Do it right, and you will be awarded handsomely.
My Story (bad example)
Back when I was a student that lived off of dopamine-inducing content and video games for a living, I didn’t know anything about being efficient. Sure, I was a good student, but I was nowhere near efficient.
Nowadays, most people online blind you with this false reality that everyone around you that is getting extremely good grades don’t work hard for them and put in as little effort as possible.
But, in very many cases, that isn’t true.
I was a prime example of that. I got extremely good grades in school, played lots of video games, watched YouTube content anytime I wasn’t doing schoolwork, and balanced out a packed social life (till COVID hit).
And in order for me to have gotten those good grades, I had to actually do the work myself. Every single assignment done manually with near 100% effort. Even in the 6th grade, I found myself losing so much of my precious time just because I took so long completing assignments.
It sucked, but it was worth it (to me at the time at least).
What I’m trying to say
From this story, I am trying to tell you that (1): both approaches work. Just because I, or maybe someone else on the internet tells you to be more efficient and use their tactics, doesn’t mean you have to. It may likely be a very good suggestion, but if you switch up, and it doesn’t work as well as tactics before, then don’t feel pressured to take a decision that doesn’t feel suitful.
Secondly, I want to demonstrate to you how much time I lost because I wasn’t efficient. Trust me, if the tools that exist today existed a few years ago, I would have so much more life on my timeline to my desired spending.
Maybe it doesn’t seem valuable now, but it may in the future. Time never stops.
Clock images – Unplash.com
Step-by-Step Guide
The following are steps tailored exactly to what you’ll need to reach that super high efficiency that you’re looking for. I know it works because I’ve tried it, incase you’re asking.
1. Concern of Speed:
In what amount of time are you looking to complete a task? Of course, don’t make it unreasonable either. Don’t except to complete a full 5-page study guide for chemistry in just 20 minutes. Setting unachievable goals will get you nowhere in the beginning. Save that for later.
2. Prioritize Tasks:
What tasks matter more over others? Which ones take up the most time and which ones don’t? Then, after doing that, organize the tasks in order from most easiest to most difficult. In my personal opinion, I suggest starting with the easier tasks before progressing to the harder ones. The worst thing you can do to yourself is to purposely get stuck on a task, and then be unable to move on. That kills your productivity, and your efficiency especially.
3. Rid all Distractions:
Distractions are your worst enemy here. Of course, you won’t need 100% productivity to be efficient. Just be aware that it all depends on the activity that you’re completing.
4. Brainstorm “more efficient” Ways of Completing a Task:
Are there faster ways are there of completing a worksheet? What about studying for a multiple choice test? What about a reading a book? Very commonly, you will have several ways that you can efficiently complete a task at your disposal. Use them.
5. Work & Repeat:
Now that you have all your steps lined up and the process to use, get to work. If you ever find that the “tool” that you’re using isn’t working to well, switch it up for another one and keep doing that until something works. If nothing works, then you’ll (a): just have to wait until some tool works to your liking or (b): do things the old way.
A Personal Tip
With the introduction of new AI tools like ChatGPT and Zapier, you should seriously consider leveraging AI to your advantage; whether that’d be for school, a job, or some form of work.
Actionable Step
What is a task that you have been leaving to the side for the past hour, day, week, or even month? What faster ways are there to complete that task?
Of course, there are some things that can simply not be sped up. For example, if you have been holding back on washing the dishes or taking out the trash, there really is no faster way to do them. The only way is the right, regular, traditional way (until robots that complete those tasks automatically are made; probably already exist).
Now, for that task that you’ve found a faster way to complete, I want you to follow that method. It’s not rocket science, and all you need to do is follow some simple instructions.
Then, after completing it, I want you to answer the following questions and come to a conclusion on whether or not if it was worth doing:
- Did you complete it faster?
- Did you have any sort of trouble?
- Were there any complexities?
- Could the method that you used have been further simplified? If so, how exactly? (brainstorm here)
- Did it feel good completing that task at the end?
- Did you complete the task surprisingly fast and were possible even surprised by the speed?
- If you had to do the task again, would you use this “easier” method again?
If you responded positively to the questions above, then you’ve found yourself a method to stick to. Otherwise, it’s time to keep looking or just stick to the traditional way.
Time Management (& How to Master it)
As beefy as this blog is already, I also need to cover effective time management as well. This will eventually have its own proper post (probably), but I’ll be covering some stuff on it here for now.
How to Manage Your Time Effectively
You already know what time management is. So, getting onto the more important stuff, if you wish to manage your time better, you need to complete the following steps:
- Get rid of all distractions
- Set a goal (what are you looking to get done?)
- Set time constraints (5 mins to complete x, 10 mins to complete y, and so on)
- Be legitimately strict with your time constraints (set punishments and rewards for if you meet or don’t meet the requirements
- Get into the flow state and don’t stop working unless absolutely necessary
What I do
If I’m in a situation that begs for effective time usage, I’ll ensure that all the steps above are completed and that I ensure I am in the right technical environment for good work.
In other words, if I am tired, I won’t get good work done. If I have just finished watching a movie, I won’t get good work done (the brain is used to feeding off of dopamine-inducing content). Those are just some examples.
Actionable Step 2
When completing your “efficiency” activity, I also want you to complete all of the items on the list above that you haven’t done. Set goals, time constraints, and get into the flow state. Combining the strategies in both guides will help skyrocket your productivity to levels that you could not imagine.
Sure, it sounds simple (because it is), but it truly provides magical results. Things only get crazier from here.
Conclusion
Achieving sky-high efficiency and mastering time management are transformative skills that can elevate your personal and professional life. By setting clear goals, prioritizing tasks, and embracing effective strategies, you’ll find yourself not just managing time but maximizing it for optimal success.
