How to Finish More Work in a Shorter Amount of Time

“Constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

— Elon Musk

Nothing is worse than watching your workload go from a tiny stockpile into a massive mountain of inefficiency.

As a marketing manager for an investment firm, I have had ups and downs in the amount of work I produce. Over the course of six months, I’ve developed strategies to complete all my tasks in half the amount of time.

You don’t have to be a marketing manager in order to finish more work. It may seem dark at the end of the tunnel, but

Some of the strategies I’ll go over include:

Chunking — Doing your work in chunks rather than all at once.

Rewarding — Giving yourself rewards for accomplishing tasks.

Networking — Using Facebook communities and YouTube resources.

Relaxing — Allowing yourself to take a break after working so hard.

By the end of this article, you should be able to accomplish your tasks in far less time which will open up more personal time.

1. Chunk Your Workload

When you have a lot of things to accomplish, you can easily be too overwhelmed. There have been times in my career where my workload is stacked high and I run away to Netflix or video games.

Say your workload is to create content on social media. You could create the videos, pictures, and captions all at once.

Or you could focus on developing 10 quality pictures one day, 10 quality videos one day, and 10 quality captions another. By chunking all of the same related work into bits and pieces, you are able to get into a flow state much quicker.

One social media post could look like this: create the image, write the caption, post, and have to repeat the process all over again. The other strategy would be to have all your content prepared and all you have to do is click “post”

In any workplace, there will be lots of work that needs to get done, in only a small amount of time. The best thing you can do is put all your focus into one task at a time.

By the end of your shift, you will have completed a lot more work than intended at a much higher quality.

I have written an article on batch-producing content, and this is a great example of chunking especially if much of the work you do is online.

2. Reward Yourself

Humans are very reward-based creatures. Many of us need incentives to work harder and get more accomplished.

In psychology class, I learned that there are two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic.

Intrinsic motivation is where your motivation comes from within. You feel a sense of pride or accomplishment from within, without being based on something else.

Extrinsic motivation s where your motivation comes from somewhere else such as money, dessert, or any other sort of treat that gives you a positive response.

No matter which type of motivated individual you classify yourself as, there needs to be a form of reward. Otherwise, you might feel like there’s nothing good coming out of your hard work.

When you don’t feel like continuing or pushing as hard in your workload, refer back to your reward system and see if there’s some way you can incentivize yourself to do what needs to be done.

Good examples of extrinsic rewards include:

An item you’ve been wanting to purchase for a long time.

A delicious meal or treat that you’ve been craving.

A trip to the massage parlor for a well-deserved spa day.

Whatever excites you or gives you something to look forward to should be in the midst of your reward system.

When I accomplish all of my tasks, I reward myself with dessert, something I want to buy on Amazon, or personal time to play video games or watch YouTube videos.

Your reward system should make you feel good about doing the things you love in life, guilt-free.

3. Network Around

Without the help and support of my peers and strangers online, I would not be where I am today.

No one is born with the innate skills to be great at something they do. They are forced to go into the world and either learn on their own or from their peers.

Facebook is an incredible place to network. There are all kinds of mastermind, investing , and success groups with members who are more than willing to help out.

All you have to do is have a little vulnerability to put yourself out there admit when you’re feeling lost. Any good human being is willing to help someone who’s struggling.

Groups I’m actively engaged in include:

Blogger and writer communities — Community where writers of all backgrounds share their stories and support one another.

Investing communities — Community of investors and traders who bounce ideas off one another to make profits in the stock market.

Yes Fam — a positive community that encourages people to step out of their comfort zones.

The groups I’ve joined online came at a cost of $0 and provided a surplus of value I wouldn’t trade for the world.

4. Taking Time to Relax

If you haven’t read my article on being a workaholic already, this is a great place to start if you haven’t come to terms with always wanting to work.

It’s hard to take a step back, take a vacation, or be okay with taking a break when your life has always revolved around working hard. If you’re constantly on the go, you’re prone to burnout which is a place that’s hard to come back from.

Prior to meeting my girlfriend, I was a workaholic who was busy from 7 am to about 10 pm and I was blind to it. I realized that I was getting a lot done, but not feeling the greatest.

I put myself in my own rat-race and was constantly competing with myself to be better without stopping to smell the roses. If you don’t stop to smell the roses, you’re going to miss out on life and you won’t have much to look back on.

Read a good book like The Power of Habit, watch Dave Chappelle’s Netflix specials, go for a light jog, chat with your friends you haven’t seen in a while — do something that isn’t work.

These little moments away from work are going to rejuvenate your soul and put you back on track to remember why you’re working so hard. The little moments outside of work are just as important as all of the times that you bust your tail.

Final Thought

Your life will be full of endless accomplishments as long as you learn how to work smarter, not harder.

It’s much easier said than done, but with the strategies I mentioned above, I am becoming the man I’ve always wanted to become.

Surround yourself with the right people, work extremely hard, and blessings will naturally fall into your lap.

No matter where you are in life, just know that it always gets better.

Life’s a marathon and everybody out here is trying to sprint.

— Gary Vaynerchuk