I’m not afraid of hard work but I’m a big believer in finding the easiest and most efficient ways to achieve my goals. Why work harder than you need to? Working smarter not harder not only makes your life easier and boosts productivity, but it often gets you better results too.

Want to work smarter not harder in 2019? Here are 5 ways to make positive changes.

Set Your Compass

Working smart means knowing which direction you’re aiming for. Otherwise, you waste time drifting without clear focus and vision.

Practical steps include setting your one word intention for the year. What word sums up what you want to focus on this year? For example, it might be growth, reach, energy, sales, or excitement. It all depends on you, what you want to achieve and the word that is the best fit for you.

Work down from the big picture. Set your quarterly business goals and make sure any team members are up to speed and on the same page as you.

Have a listen to this episode on The Simplifiers Podcast for pointers on how to set your one word intention:

Document your systems and processes

This tip is one of hidden hacks that most people miss when they tell you to delegate.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks when it comes to delegation is that only you know how to complete certain tasks the way you need them to be completed. None of us want to pay someone to do work that we will have to re-do or that will require you to train somebody up.

The solution is document your processes and start to automate them. You might not have a huge team but a company handbook and training manuals can still be VERY useful. You can share it with new hires, interns, freelancers or virtual assistants. Once you invest a bit of time to write, you’ll cut down the amount of time you lose overall.

Imagine not having to spend time writing emails, talking on the phone or having long training sessions because someone else can hit the ground running and take work off your plate thanks to your documents!

Need help to create these documents and automate some of your work tasks? We have specialists in The Simplifiers team that can help you with yours! Find out more about how to Hire a Simplifiers – CLICK HERE

Focus On High Yielding Tasks

Working smarter means that as the boss, you should be focused on tasks that only you can do and that bring in the most money.

What’s the best use of your time – spending a whole day photocopying or maybe a week trying to re-design your website? OR… is it better spent talking to new potential clients? Creating products or services that people are willing to pay you for?

It’s simple.

Delegate the low yielding (but still essential work) and get a better return on investment when it comes to your time and effort.

You can even hire one of our team for specific tasks! Vetted and hired by our CEO Mary Baird-Wilcock CSEP with proven skills as part of The Simplifiers team. Learn how we can help you level up your business HERE.

Check out THIS bite-size episode of The Simplifiers Podcast all about how to delegate more:

Ask For Help

Want to achieve bigger and better things? Better clients, new projects, a bigger team or maybe you just want to get off the hamster wheel and avoid burnout?

What’s stopping you? Take an honest assessment of your weaknesses as a business leader and make a plan for how you’ll gain these skills in 2019. Remember – we can’t do it all alone.

It might mean attending a couple of training sessions or joining a network. One of the best ways to overcome blocks is to work with a business coach who can share their expert knowledge and skills.

If this interests you, join our Super Mentor Academy waiting list and you can be coached and supported directly by our CEO and host of The Simplifiers Podcast – Mary Baird-Wilcock, CSEP.

Fail Fast, Learn Faster

This is a core-value over at The Simplifiers. We’re so serious about it that we even put it in our website in the “About” section so everyone who wants to learn about us gets to see it.

It means that you shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes. In mistakes, you have your greatest learning moments. The trick is not repeating mistakes over and over again or clinging onto something that is only going to drain you. Fail fast. Learn from it and course correct as quickly as possible.

Now that’s how you truly work smarter.

Make 2019 your best year ever with advice, guidance and tips from the expert guests who feature in The Simplifiers Podcast. Find all out episodes HERE