In today information-heavy age, most people are overloaded by information. There are many employees in the offices wasting a lot of time searching for misplaced information and emails every single day. E-mail stress is a very common thing in today workplace. I know there are people who check their inbox every 5 minutes.

When you’re buried under a mountain of information, you’re bound to miss some crucial information. The best solution is to learn how to manage information overload and become more efficient. Efficiency is the key to getting things done better and faster. But unfortunately we have never really been taught how to work efficiently.

Here are 7 ways to help you work more efficiently…

1. Adopt the “DO-IT-NOW!” rule to tackle your endless stream of email and paperworks. Do NOT delay! Read, reply or move email to an approriate folder. Read, make note and file all paperworks into an approriate binder. Don’t let any unread email sitting in your inbox and papers lying around on your work table.
2. Avoid multi-tasking. Turn off the automatic email notification, this only serves to distract your concentration. I suggest you only check your email 4 times a day. Remember not to leave any email sitting in your inbox before you close it.
3. Schedule your day. Write down your plan and “to-do” list of the day and then prioritize them. Click here to learn how to prioritize your work and write an effective to-do list.
4. Don’t get sidetracked by other things. This happens to most people and I’m sure it happens to you too. While working on something, you suddenly remember that you need to do something (such as go and talk to a colleague or call a friend). Instead of start dialing the phone or get up and walk to your colleague’s cubicle, write down what you need to do in your to-do list and continue working on your current task. You can set aside time to attend to those sudden interruptions later on when you finish your main task.
5. Learn to delegate. You only have 24 hours a day and you’re not a super man or woman, don’t do everything yourself and afraid to delegate tasks because you think people can’t do the job as good as you. Avoid that delusion! If you can delegate and train your people, you will get more accomplished at the end of the day.
6. Don’t try to be a Perfectionist, this will only add unnecessary stress in your life. Understand that nothing is perfect, you don’t need to be a perfectionist to achieve success in life. Think of “improvement” instead of “perfection”. For example, practice doesn’t make perfect, it simply make improvements!
7. Learn to say “NO” without arrogance. Many people are afraid to say NO because they worry that they appear to be unfriendly and arrogant. But if you want to be more efficient, you must focus on your priorities first. Any request that doesn’t fit or distract your focus must be rejected. Just say “No thanks! I can’t make it this time, I have an important thing to attend to right now. Anyway, thanks for asking.” You don’t need to justify or provide long explanation why you say NO.

Learning to be more efficient helps create a balance between work and life. Implement the above tips consistently and you will soon find yourself more efficient at work. You will have more time and less stress at your workplace.

Want more information on how to be more efficient at work? Click here to sign up for a FREE 7-part ecourse on time management secrets.

how to be more efficient at work, how to work more efficiently, working more efficiently

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Share This  |  Email This Post  |  Print This Post  |  Subscribe to It!
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Time Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.