20 Years: 3 Simple Ahas for Working Smarter

Part of a series from Bill Jensen's Master Class on Simplicity

Putting aside all the things that companies STILL need to do to help everyone work smarter, not harder... (There's lots to talk about there!)...

If I were to boil down over 20 years of research — surveying and interviewing nearly a million people — boiling it down to what's within YOUR control to work smarter, not harder, regardless of...

• What your company does or does not do...
• How turbulent change becomes...
• The latest technological advances...

It would all come down to a deep understanding and acceptance of these three things...

1. 80/20 Rule:
Working smarter, not harder is only about 20% about the latest innovations in tech, processes, workflow, tools, etc. 80% of it is about your attitudes and beliefs, and the choices you make based upon them. e.g.,
• Whether or not you believe you can say "No." ...Learning how to say "No"
• Whether or not you believe you can create alone time for yourself. ...Learning to do that
• Focusing on one task at a time
• Staying in the moment
• Enforcing your own ideas and principles about what truly matters
• etc.

2. You Create Your Own Time Poverty
See above.
How your daily allotment of 1440 mins gets wasted or taken from you is as much about your assumptions, beliefs and choices as it is about anything outside of your control.
So.... All that time that you wish you had? That you need more of?
A lot of that is within your control to change!

3. Communication Is Your Easy Button for Working Smarter
Change how you communicate and you can save yourself between 2—4 hours per day.
(Pause and repeat for impact...)
2 T O 4... H O U R S... P E R... D A Y !!!
As long as you understand that...
• Value in your communication is always determined by the receiver, not you
• Your job is to pack the most value in the least amount of time and space, and then create the time and space for the receiver to ask for more if they need it
• Value is meeting the receiver's needs in three ways: head (understanding) AND heart (feelings, emotions, trust, engagement) AND hands (action)

The Big So What...
Many of the things that prevent you from working smarter, not harder, are within your control! Stop thinking about, worrying about, talking about what "they" do!
Working smarter, not harder, is a lot more within our control than most of us realize!

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This series is based on actual slides/handouts from Bill Jensen's Simplicity workshop.
All data and tips are from over 20 years of research — The Search for a Simpler Way study — with almost one million people surveyed and interviewed.
For more, email Bill: bill@simplerwork.com
Or visit simplerwork.com for free downloads