How To Do More With Less?

“Do more with less” means being efficient, utilising the resources that one already has and working hard to achieve the greatest results. By doing more with less reduces waste in terms of time, energy, and even money. Although it can be quite rewarding for being able to finish a task with limited resources, it can become a bottleneck for some.

Not all companies are built the same. Some are able to manage with limited resources but for others, the statement “do more with less” has a negative connotation. There are some companies that in order to do more with less, they forgo a well-thought-out system and settle for mediocre performance just to finish all tasks. This shouldn’t be the benchmark for doing more.

In this article, we shall discuss 05 tips that will help us narrow down our focus, boost our energy and cut down our to-do list so we can achieve bigger results in lesser time.

1. Productivity Matters

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Some people manage to achieve exactly what they want, whilst others continue to struggle and still end up with a number of unfinished projects and a feeling of not moving forward. There is a huge difference between just being busy and checking things off a to-do list versus being effective and working on your most important activities.

The first step is to increased productivity is to get crystal clear on the specific, measurable goals one wants to achieve. Having a smaller number of goals and set time periods to achieve them helps you stay focused. When you are clear on your goals and the results you want to achieve, it becomes easier to lay out monthly, weekly and daily plans. This will help you get super focused on where to spend your time and cut out the busyness and time spend on unimportant activities.

2. Spend Time Wisely

It is crucial for us to know exactly where our time is going. Peter Drucker wrote about this many years ago, and found that most people make totally incorrect assumptions about where their time goes. When they actually go through the process of measuring where their time goes they are shocked at the gap between their perception and the reality.

Learn to measure your time. Start using outlook calendar or any better new apps. This insight will help you make significant adjustments in how you invest your time based on your priorities. Best of all, your changes will be informed by the actual reality of how you spend your tim, not just your best guess.

3. Real Contributions

To expand our leadership capacity is to do more with less is to intentionally focus more energy on what we can contribute, and spend less time focusing on exactly what we will do. Leaders have a bias towards action i.e., the doing part of the leadership role. Spend more time making sure you understand what your specific contribution can be to a conversation, meeting, strategic intervention or project.

As we improve focus on our contributions, we will have a greater clarity for the impact that only we can have on your organisation. We’ll begin to say ‘NO’ to less important items in a respectful way, that enables us to focus on priority items. As we put effort into this area of personal growth, we will be surprised to see how badly we wasted on things that don’t actually relate to the areas where you can make the greatest contributions.

4. Measure Success

This is the way to grow our capacity to do more with less is to focus and define goals we will accomplish over a specific timeframe. Try to set a 90-day period having 05 major goals for each quarter.What most successful people do is actually spend time measuring their accomplishment in the next 90 days.

Let’s begin measurement by way of having a start date and and an end date. While this may seem simplistic, it is a critical cornerstone component of a system for success that enables us to be constantly directing our energies in the right areas over the long haul.

5. Productivity Style

To be more productive, we must get clarity on the time of the day when we’re most productive. This is something that we have to find it out ourselves. No one else would be able to tell us that. Early mornings work better for most of us, whilst others are more night owls, especially colleagues working for creative units.

Find your own productivity style that works for you. Get clear on when you are most productive and your energy is highest. Then use that time to take on your biggest priorities. Don’t worry about what most people think is normal. Follow your own path. You’ll know when you are at your most productive.

Last word

In our respective enterprises or jobs, we all want to leverage our time to increase our creativity and productivity. To achieve bigger results in lesser time by doing more of the activities. Many of us can be super productive and get a tremendous amount achieved in a day while others feel like they have no time and are frustrated and frazzled with deadlines, emails, meetings, stuff to deal with, and longer and longer to-do lists. Precisely, we all want to make the best possible use of our time.

A productive day should end with a feeling like we’ve really achieved something, rather than just rattling off items on a to-do list. We want to achieve greater time freedom so we so can spend more time doing what we love to do and do best, rather than be mired in more and more complications and complexity. But we are getting busier and our to-lists are getting longer.

About the Author

Muhammad Sajwani is the Founder and Managing Director of Evolve HR which aims at transforming, enriching and evolving Human Capital of Pakistan, Evolve HR thrives in challenging assumptions that hinder organisational aspirations, by creating innovative solutions that yield maximum impact, scalability & benefit to a wider base of stakeholders. As a Business Coach and Organisational Consultant, Sajwani knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.