Your time at work is only your responsibility

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Most people these days are in the habit of managing their money, and it is common to start by "saving" in order to accumulate your first bucket of money. Warren Buffett is an example of a very frugal person, but apart from "saving money", your biggest task is to make money. It is important not to spend money mindlessly, to develop the right habits and to learn the right values about money from life.

When you graduate from university and enter the workforce, many young people tend to cut back on their spending because they don't have much savings. Because salaries are generally low in the early years of income, many people have their own financial plans and set their own daily expenses for breakfast and lunch. If you are able to stick to your spending plan, you may be living a tight life every day, but it can be very rewarding if you take it as a challenge.

It is still worthwhile for everyone to plan their spending, but when we save excessively, we have to think about looking at things from a cost perspective, rather than just to save money. The book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" teaches us to think about "value" rather than "price". On top of that, you have to reject procrastination.

Work is a bit like entrepreneurship. For a job, you have to increase the value of your work, so that the business sees your value and you can get a promotion and a pay rise. And a business, what it does is not to undercut the price to attract customers, but it should create value that makes the customer feel that they are getting value for money. It is only when you let your customers know the high value you offer that they will be obliged to buy what your company offers.

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Some companies consistently undercut their prices in order to attract customers, and they offer low-quality products that are produced to save money and reduce costs. Such companies can accumulate a certain amount of money in the short term, but the lack of quality assurance makes it difficult to ensure their long term survival.

This is because most customers in the market, in fact, do not know what a good product means. As customers lack the necessary knowledge of products, companies need to use their expertise to develop good products, and through their expertise to help customers recognise the value of their products and thus gain a certain market share. This is the logic of business growth, and it applies to individuals as well. By providing high value expertise to a business, you will be able to make the business pay for your high value.

Saving money is important, but just saving money won't make it worthwhile, so you have to improve your earning power and invest in your head. Increase your understanding of business, financial management and money management by reading more useful books or attending book clubs and learning salons, and find an investment approach that works for you - even Warren Buffett's approach may not be suitable for everyone.

So don't neglect investing in your head by being overly frugal and think about how much value that spending will bring to you before you spend. In the workplace, we should first stop complaining that our bosses are paying us too little, and instead think about how we can create more value at work.

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Let's talk about another topic: "How can I improve my work results?" The first way should be to increase the number of hours you work and do more. But the question is, do we really produce more results the longer we work?

In most companies, whether they are large corporations or start-ups, there is almost always a phenomenon where the boss or one's immediate supervisor is not off duty yet, so one is afraid to leave. Or they are busy with a whole bunch of meaningless chores, sending and receiving a bunch of work Emails, chatting in WeChat groups, dealing with customer emotions, etc. ..... This is not time spent on really productive work matters.

Doing unimportant things well doesn't make them important. Spending a lot of time to get it right doesn't make it more important. It's better to do these meaningless chores than not to do them at all.

Why don't you just try to think about what is important and what is not so important? According to the rule of two-eight, 80% of your work is doing low-productivity things, and only 20% of it creates high value. When less time is spent, the important work can still be done and efficiency will of course increase accordingly. Time is prioritised to be spent on what is important and some of the chores will naturally disappear.

More mental energy is focused on the most valuable things. As a result you get more free time and better work results. Busyness is just a form of laziness, because you are too lazy to think and discern your actions.

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Think deeply about what would happen if you were now removing 80% of your company's low-value, hard-to-find clients and focusing only on the 20% that help bring in the high-value ones.

Firstly, your boss or supervisor would not allow you to do this, and most people would choose to stay in an inefficient situation than an unpredictable but more efficient future. The real reason behind this is that companies are not looking for extreme efficiency, they are looking to "stay afloat".

Most people do not make judgements based on reason, but rather follow their own fears first. Many people are stuck in a job that they themselves see as unpromising and unenthusiastic, complaining about the lack of money they are being paid and unwilling to change the situation, fearing that leaving it will only make it worse.

Fear is a survival instinct built into the human DNA, and anything that seeks stability must lack efficiency. To get out of an inefficient business or personal financial situation, you must first overcome the fear of survival. This explains why it is always the rich who have more money and the poor who are often stuck in a dead end: when fear is reduced, your choices are more rational.

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So, you are only responsible for the time you spend working, and for yourself. You have to figure out that instead of worrying about the future, it's better to work hard now. In this path of life, only struggle can give you security.

When you have more and more to do and less and less time to manage, how do you give yourself the opportunity to progress in all areas? This is a topic that almost every one of us in the workplace has to face. I have a few ideas to share with you about time management and self-improvement.

1. Take a moment each morning to tear off a square sticky note and write down the items you want to accomplish today, followed by a ranking.

Putting the hardest things at the top of the list and finishing the hard things first, when we are at our best and most focused, gives us a good sense of 'progress'. Once encouraged by this feeling, we are more motivated to work; conversely, procrastination is a drain on our energy. Not completing important things can build up bad feelings in the mind, which over time can cause a lot of psychological stress and can lead to passivity and fatigue.

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2. Take good notes on your work and leave a traceable trail.

What you do, at all times, should ensure that anyone who comes to take over can read it, including your future self. Organise your information in an organised and logical way so that everyone who follows up can follow it; keep a simple record of how things were handled so that you can have a clear idea of how the whole project came about. After the work is done, you have to do a good job of filing, which is the most important part of the job.

3. Learn to say no and take real time for yourself.

Learn to say no to things that don't interest you (don't go to appointments for favours or relationship pressure), and to refuse invitations to aimless parties. When you learn to refuse unimportant things that take up your precious time in a gentle and clear way, you will feel more relaxed and you will be able to reserve some time and space for yourself to think and feel about life.

In fact, as with all of us, no one can predict the future. We can only judge and correct the path we want to take from past experiences or what we have learned, and allow ourselves to adjust and learn from what we do.

The most important secret is to move forward, accumulate experience and then gradually improve ourselves.