Written by: Elin Byrén, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Working many hours are glorified in many corporate jobs and startups. Dare I even say most of them?
Sure - because hustling shows dedication to your work, that you want to do well and advance! That’s why we do it.
Not so fast.
If I instead ask you who of these two women are working the smartest and impress you the most, Lucy, who spends evenings and weekends finishing a big task, or Jenna, who finishes the same big task in four hours and leaves work early?
Then you might re-think and see Jenna as more productive, right?
So how come most cred is given to Lucy? Is she really more dedicated than Jenna?
Lucy is spending those extra hours because she is a poor planner, isn’t prioritizing, procrastinates on important things, or doesn't ask for help when she needs it.
And Jenna was likely able to finish the task in four hours because she had been prioritizing and delegating, so she was able to get into that flow state where time flies by and your creativity and passion are peaking.
When our brain has a non-linear output, why is it that so many of us measure our performance or our team's performance in a linear way?
A noticeable trend, especially in the digital entrepreneurial space, is to declare how few hours you work and still run a successful business. One contributing factor to this is that they work with their energy ebbs and flows to produce massive results. They focus on the big needle-movers when they are in a flow state and take the rest and recovery to fill up the tank. These are the people we should take inspiration from in leading ourselves and others - because they are building long-term, sustainable success.
Here are five tips on how you can work more in alignment with your energy ebbs and flows that can be applied whether you are self-employed or work in a 9-5 job:
Drop the story for yourself that you must work those long hours to create success. Hone in on your ebbs and flows and work with them instead of pushing yourself to do a certain number of hours. Fewer hours are not equal to laziness. Do you have a slump mid-day? Take a walk. Are you tired in the morning? Start later. Did you finish a big project? Take the rest of the day off.
Make it a habit to ask yourself, "how could I have accomplished that in a faster or easier way"? Did I have too many distractions? Did I try to force it when I really should have just left the computer and get back to it in the morning? Figure out what creates your best work environment and recreate those environments a few times per week. This is where you slot in your big needle-movers, and it can create a massive shift in output because you are creating space for that flow-state.
For the managers - reconsider how you evaluate your team’s performance – it’s not about when or how they work, some of us are early birds, and others are night owls. If Bob is working late, instead of thinking "he is dedicated," ask if he needs help prioritizing or if you can support him in any way. And if Anne is leaving early, she might do her best work later in the day. Let your team create the best results on their terms.
Consider how you can create a culture where working smarter is encouraged and celebrated. Share within the team in the weekly meetings to encourage a smart work culture. Who found the quickest and easiest solution? Who found a mind hack to get back the energy mid-day? Who finished that big task to a high standard in a short amount of time, and what was their strategy?
Do LESS and do it BETTER. Finally - learn how to say no to the things that are not in line with your bigger goal or strategy. Consider delegating, down-prioritizing, do later, or not do at all. Doing all the things creates a false sense of validation that we are so busy doing stuff that must bring us closer to our goals. In the end, it's the quality of your work that will matter. No one ever got promoted or hit a business target only because "they just worked so darn much." No, it’s what they did and what results it led to. Always.
Elin Byrén, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Elin Byrén is a Career and mindset coach and the founder and CEO of Careers with Elin. With an M.Sc. Degree and background of 10+ years in the corporate world, no matter how hard she worked, she felt like something was missing, and she didn’t get the success she wanted. Everything shifted when she got crystal clear on her goals, worked on her mindset, and took radical action. Now she is a certified NLP coach, and her biggest passion and mission is to help others who feel stuck find a fulfilling job through her signature program Empowered Career Blueprint. She is an advocate for creating success on your own terms, working smarter and not harder to maximize results, and feeling great in the process.
