How’s work going? One of those polite questions that comes with a multitude of answers. Do you just say everything is fine and move the conversation forward or tell the truth and tell the enquirer how busy and stressful everything is?

Either way, if work is becoming a burden, it’s time to ask yourself how you can work smarter and not harder. In this blog we take a look at some life hacks for reducing your hours and becoming more productive in your workplace, whether you’re a landscape gardener or you work for Elan Shukartsi.

Time for Change

Taking a long hard look at your work diary. How do you spend your day? Is your schedule crammed full of meetings? Is your to-do list as long as your arm? If the first question is true, then it’s likely the second one will be as well. Meetings take up valuable time and can very often be shelved in favour of an email or  quickcall.  Be tough and make some hard calls on how many meetings you attend each week.

Limit that number to three and you’ll see almost immediately how that to-do list can shrink when you’re given adequate time and space to get things done.

Restructure Where Needed

We’re not talking solely about your team but yes, if necessary and if your team is holding you back you’re going to need to make the tough calls.

If you’ve found yourself picking up work because your team either can’t handle the tasks or are too busy to, then you’ll need to think about where that takes you. Either you’ll have to let some members go, opt for a total re-training and redistribution of team members or hire in some more employees. Not an easy choice but clearly something has to give and you’re the one calling the shots.

Invest If Necessary

Growing your business can also look like investing in your business, whether that’s through new staff or new equipment. You need to keep your business turning over and you want to do this in as cost and time effective way as possible so investing in some software  that helps you do just that, might not be a bad thing. If it helps reduce your stress and your workload, consider it an essential new part of your business plan.

Running your own business has its ups and downs. Sometimes there are more ups than downs but often it feels like it’s the other way around. It’s easy to feel like giving up when the going gets tough but taking the time to review your working day and saying no to meetings and work that just ties you up is an essential part in shaking up your current working practice.

Invest in people and technology that simply helps and doesn’t hold you back. Give yourself a break and find a new way of working that allows you to say “fine” when people ask about work, and mean it.