'I work overtime, but others get promoted': Be careful, your ineffective efforts are destroying you
Recently, a friend complained to me: I have been working for 3 years, and I work overtime almost every day. Some of my colleagues have been promoted, and some have received a raise, but I have not changed much, and even the salary of new employees has not changed. taller than him.
In fact, this phenomenon is not uncommon.
For example, in the Japanese drama "I'm Off to get off work", Sangu in the play is a typical workaholic. She advocates a devil-like work model: "To do a good job, you have to work 10 times as hard." Although she has worked so hard, it has not been exchanged for promotion and salary increase, but has been evaluated as "the only thing she can show off to others is the attendance award".
(Still from "I'm Off to get off work")
This makes me feel very deeply. In order to complete their work, some people reduce the time for meals, turn off the time to spend with family and friends, and even compress the time for sleeping as much as possible. They are very busy and hope to change their fate through desperate efforts, but in fact, extending working hours, increasing work tasks, and compressing rest time cannot achieve the goal.
> > As Yu Zhou said in his speech: "Most people seem to work hard, but they are caused by stupidity. Why stay up late to read until dawn, sleep for only a few hours for several days in a row, and have no vacation for a long time, if these things are also worth boasting, Then anyone on the Foxconn assembly line has worked harder than you. People inevitably have a natural self-pity, and only by staying awake at all times can we see where the real value lies." >
If you want to change your status quo, what you really need to do is not to work overtime, but to refuse ineffective efforts, refuse to be busy, busy, and busy, adopt high-efficiency work methods, and make reasonable use of time, energy, and attention.
So, how to do it?
- Allocate time reasonably and make time an efficient "accomplice" ===================================================================
1. Through the three-objective method, find out the most important work in a period of time
Management guru Peter Drucker said, " Efficiency is doing things the right way, and effectiveness is doing the right things. "
Whether it is for its own long-term development or for the company, doing "doing the right thing" is far higher than "doing the right thing".
So how do you find the right thing?
In "result-oriented sensitive time management", a method is mentioned, that is, the "three goals method": before the start of the day, list the 3 tasks that you plan to complete in the day; at the beginning of the week, list the 3 tasks that you plan to complete in the week. .
The specific operation method is very simple:
Use pen and paper or use your phone to write down all the tasks you intend to accomplish today, and record these tasks.
Ask yourself two questions: If you could only complete 3 tasks in a day, which would you do? Which task is more valuable for your long-term development and company development? At the same time, if this task is more profitable than other tasks, then we should prioritize this task. For example, as an editor, the most important thing to accomplish is to write an article, not to go to the garden to water the flowers.
In fact, this is the 28 law that we are familiar with, that is to say, 80% of the work results are caused by 20% of the work, and the most important thing is to grasp the 20% of the work tasks, which is what we often say "work must understand Get the point".
After finding the most important job, the next thing to do is to increase efficiency.
(The picture shows management guru Peter Drucker)
2. Instead of extending work hours, give time limits
Most people always complain that there is not enough time. They think that the main reason for their inability to complete their work is that the time is too short, so they constantly squeeze the time for eating and sleeping to gain more time.
But does it really work?
of course not.
Chris Bailey, who was hailed as "probably one of the most productive people in the world" by TED, once did an interesting experiment: work 90 hours in the first week, and only give himself 20 in the second week. hours and see what exactly happens when you do that.
As a result, Chris Bailey was very surprised. Working 90 hours a week was only a little bit more than working 20 hours a week. This subverts the perception that working longer hours will give you more time to get things done, but that doesn't turn out to be the case.
Chris Bailey concluded: " When you work longer hours, you lose your sense of urgency, and when it comes to getting things done, you put less energy and focus, which leads to inefficiency."
In fact, the famous Parkinson's Law has long stated this truth: as long as there is time, the work will automatically expand to occupy all the available time.
Therefore, in order to improve work efficiency, it is a very good way to limit working hours, it will help you devote more energy and attention in a shorter period of time. For example, when writing an article, you can stipulate that you can complete it in two hours, which is far more efficient than asking yourself to "write an article in a day".
3. Make full use of the physiological golden time, so that you can do more with less
Physiological golden time refers to the time when the brain is most efficient and productive. This concept was put forward by American writer Sam Carpenter in his book "Working with Systems". He found that everyone in a day, There will always be a period of energy, if you can make good use of this time, it will greatly improve work efficiency.
Most of you should have heard of another concept: Early work hours are most productive. This is actually because when we first wake up, the prefrontal cortex in the brain is most active, and this part of the brain is mainly responsible for our thinking activities. So, even if you wake up in the morning and your body hasn't stretched out yet, consider starting work in the morning.
Of course, but in fact, everyone's golden physiological time is different. For example, some people are night owls, and the more they get excited at night, their physiological prime time is not in the morning, but moved to the evening. At this time, we need to move creative work to the evening.
So, how to find our physiological golden time?
In the famous time management book "25 Hours a Day: You Have More Time Than You Think", the method of writing a time log is mentioned. The author Laura Wandercam said: "Keeping a time log, It can help you understand your schedule."
How to write a time log?
We can imitate the practice of time management master Ljubyshev and record the working time, work tasks, and work efficiency scores.
(The screenshot is from the time book of Ljubyshev in the book "A Strange Life")
For example, when Ljubyshev identified the bag moth, he not only wrote the time, but also wrote his evaluation of the efficiency of the work in parentheses.
We can also imitate this practice. Through a week to a month, we can find our physiological golden time, and use the time with the most abundant energy to complete the most complex tasks. When the energy drops, we adjust the work rhythm to match the corresponding work tasks.
Author Sam Carpenter even said: " If I miss or waste 6 hours of physiological prime time in a day, it is equivalent to wasting the highest creative quota of the whole day ".
- Customize efficient mission plans to make full use of energy ===============================================================
1. Streamline secondary tasks and reduce energy consumption
The less time you spend on secondary tasks, the more time and energy you spend on important tasks. Streamlining secondary tasks can get more space for high-reward tasks, allowing you to have enough time to deal with various emergencies calmly. Plus, streamlining your secondary tasks can give you clarity, peace of mind, better ideas, and faster completion of tasks.
So, how to streamline secondary tasks?
An effective way is to limit the time to complete these tasks and the number of times you pay attention to them.
For example, as an editor, the main task is to write articles, and the secondary tasks are typesetting, publishing articles, paying attention to reading volume and forwarding. If you want to streamline secondary tasks, you can compress the time for typesetting and publishing articles to force yourself to improve efficiency; in addition, in terms of reading volume, you don’t need to pay attention every few minutes, which consumes too much attention and energy. You can wait until lunch or before get off work to check it out.
2. Customize the task list to clear the brain and release more energy
In David Allen's book, Just Do It: The Art of Stress-Free Work, he states: "People's brains are fit for thoughts, not for storing them."
If the human body is compared to a computer, the brain is the people's CPU. The more full the CPU is, the slower the processing speed of the CPU will be. As David Allen puts it: "Any task that is 'will, can, should' that exists only in the brain brings irrational, incomparable stress at every moment."
So, to keep the brain awake, we need to prepare a piece of paper, write down all the tasks, and make the tasks concrete. When the task is written, the space of the brain will be released, you will feel very relaxed and happy, and your thinking will be very clear. At this time, the brain will have more energy to complete the task.
At the same time, making lists not only helps the brain to think, but it also gives us an idea of how tasks are progressing and helps us make better decisions.
3. Periodically adjust the goals, so that the energy matches the value pursuit
No matter how smart a person is, it is almost impossible to keep awake all the time. The difference between high performers and ordinary people is that high performers make frequent task adjustments, gradually recommending each task.
So, how to make adjustments?
An easy way to do this is to ask yourself a few questions after making a to-do list: Am I moving in the right direction in my work plan for the week ahead? Based on last week's work records, which tasks need to be added, removed or deleted?
For example, as an operation worker, the work plan may include: publishing articles, finding materials, communicating and cooperating with big V, pulling advertising cooperation, etc. For operations, finding high-quality materials is obviously a long-term focus, but recently a new event is being prepared, so this week should focus on big V cooperation and advertising cooperation. In addition, the record of last week found that a lot of time was spent explaining a concept with customers, so this week should be thinking about how to adjust.
3. Carry out "deliberate practice" on concentration to improve the utilization rate of concentration
Bruce Lee said: "It's just the average person who really succeeds, but he has a laser-like focus."
In order to improve work efficiency, it is not only necessary to increase the time utilization rate and energy distribution, but also focus. Research shows that we only focus on what’s in front of us 53% of the time we’re awake. Thankfully, of course, mindfulness, like a muscle, can be improved with exercise.
So, how does it work?
1. Record the state of mind wandering and regain attention
According to research by Harvard psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Shilbert, we spend at least 47% of our waking hours wandering. That is to say, most people are in a state of mind wandering for half of the day.
The reason why many people are inefficient at work is that their brains are in a state of mind wandering when they should be focusing on work. The less the brain is engaged in work, the longer it takes to complete the work and the less efficient it is. The high-efficiency input and output of 1 hour is even much higher than the output of 3-4 hours of roaming work.
Therefore, if you want to improve work efficiency, you must understand when the brain is roaming. So, how to do it?
The method is still very simple, when you find that your brain is wandering, take out a blank sheet of paper and make a simple note. If you want, you can also record where your mind wanders or what's going on in your mind at the moment, and get on with the work.
For example, when you were writing an article, the phone suddenly rang, and your brain immediately had the idea of "who sent me a message", at this time, you can take out the notebook and write "The phone rang, I I want to look at my phone" idea and get back to work instead of pulling out my phone right away and playing non-stop.
When we start recording, the brain actually realizes that the mind is wandering, and the brain immediately activates the corrective mechanism to help us bring our attention back. Help us work efficiently.
2. Use the 20-second rule to protect your attention
According to the Basex XML database, office workers spend 28 percent of their work day being disrupted and recovering. An attention study conducted by the University of California, California, also found that "office workers are disturbed almost every 11 minutes," and even more frightening is that it takes 25 minutes to recover from a distraction each time.
Obviously, the main objects that interfere with us are not colleagues around us, but group chat messages and various software reminders. So, how to avoid being disturbed by them?
Positive psychology expert Seath Ecole recommends that we use the 20-second rule, which can effectively protect our attention by spending only 20 seconds. For example, when you are working, it takes less than 20 seconds to turn on the phone on silent; when you want to read a book but can't help playing with the phone, it takes 20 seconds to turn off the phone; when you want to lose weight but can't help it When snacking, take 20 seconds to toss the snack on top of the closet...
When you remove all these sources of distraction, your limbic system seems to be less agitated and even less effective because your brain becomes less excited without the temptation. But if you stick with it, you'll find that doing so allows you to focus more on more, more important work.
3. Do one thing at a time and make the most of your attention
Philosopher Seneca said: "To go anywhere is to go nowhere". If you want to improve efficiency by completing multiple tasks at the same time in a short period of time, it is obviously wrong. Il Offi, a researcher at Stanford University, found through research that people are nothing more than dealing with two things at the same time, and people who are used to switching between two things at the same time are more likely than people who occasionally switch between two things. Work less efficiently.
"We've been looking for the advantages of people who are used to multitasking, but we couldn't find it," says Il Offi. Yes, although multitasking at the same time can make our brains more exciting, Make the body secrete more dopamine, but as a result, they don't improve work performance.
Then, the correct approach is obvious, that is, Yiyi only does one thing. It's easy to say, but it's not easy for people who are used to doing two things at the same time, because they can't help but want to "stimulate the brain".
How to break this inertia? The way to do this is to set yourself a 20-minute alarm and make it a rule to only do this one thing during that period of time. Yes, it is also known as the Pomodoro Technique.
When you regularly exercise concentration, the ability of the brain to control the wandering of the mind and keep drawing attention back will be enhanced, that is to say, your concentration will be continuously improved.
In the book "Don't Let Ineffective Efforts Ruin You", there is a sentence: " When we use the high-efficiency method correctly, we will find that achieving high performance is one of the secrets to happiness, and achieving happiness is also achieving high efficiency. One of the secrets of energy. "
Painful busyness is not a shortcut to work; intelligent busyness and selective busyness are the way out.
How much a person can achieve does not depend on how many things he has done or how many overtime he has done, but how many correct things he has done and how many valuable things he has done.
In the movie "The Godfather", there is a classic line: " The person who spends half a second to see the essence of things, and the person who spends a lifetime to see the essence of things clearly, are destined to have completely different fates. "
Some people see that they have not raised their salary for a long time, and they complain that the leadership is unfair and that the workplace is too dark, but they never reflect on their own way of doing things. Such people, even if they work overtime for decades, it will be in vain.
The biggest difference between a smart person and an ordinary person is that they know how to reflect. If you have worked for many years and you have not received a salary increase, you must be careful! Do a little less ineffective effort, don't be fussy!