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Focusing on your goals and being productive to achieve them is vital.
And yet some people love wasting their time doing things that have no impact.
Every time you do busy stuff, you lose precious hours of productive work you could spend on doing more important tasks on your way to success.
The solution is to focus on where it matters the most and cut off the fluff.
Here are 5 mistakes to avoid at work so you can be more productive and save at least 24 hours a week:
1. Meetings with no agenda
Your time is the most valuable asset.
And let’s be honest: you can summarize most of your meetings in an email.
You can also use this AI tool to do that for you in seconds.
But if a meeting is still necessary, you should ensure it has an agenda.
And at the end of the meeting, you should have action items with the owners along with a timeline to complete.
But, have you noticed that meetings are like TV Shows? scheduled for 30mins, 45mins, 1h, etc.
If it only takes 7 mins for a meeting to conclude, why should it take 30 mins?
What happens next is people start talking about anything outside of the main agenda to fill in the void.
A total waste of time, isn’t it?
Solution:
Cancel meetings that have no agenda.
Replace them with an email and an action plan assigned to all stakeholders.
Focus on writing instead of talking.
Default to an asynchronous way for collaboration.
Savings: 4 hours/week
2. Saying Yes to everything
Do you ever find yourself saying "yes" to tasks and meetings that come your way before even checking your calendar?
It's time to break that habit and focus.
Solution:
Ask yourself:
Is this task urgent or important, or both?
Do I have all the information to make a meaningful contribution?
Does my participation bring value to the outcome of the meeting?
Is this task aligned with my day’s priorities?
Does this task need my unique skills and expertise?
Can you delegate or automate the task instead?
Savings: 5 hours/week
3. Energy and task mismatch
Your energy levels have a massive impact on your productivity and the quality of your work.
And you cannot deliver your best if you are low in energy.
Solution:
When you have high energy:
Focus on tasks that need your full concentration and creativity.
Tackle deep work, that big project, write that report, or brainstorm new ideas.
And when it’s low, focus on tasks that require less mental effort, such as administrative work.
Savings: 5 hours/week
4. An absolute productivity killer:
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