If you are one of those who are constantly trying to increase their productivity, then you may have heard and believed the saying that the more you do, the better it will be. However, the reality is somewhat different and more complex.

In factories, for example, the pursuit is always to increase production while reducing the cost, or at least not to raise it, which is known as the principle of “the least is the most”. That is, making less effort to achieve more. Although it may not seem a reasonable idea to you, it is in fact often practical and successful. So what do you think about adopting this principle to raise your productivity and accomplish a lot of your work in less time?

How is that? Well, here are 10 practical ways to get on the right path to working smart to save effort and time!

1- The shorter your emails, the more effective they are

When you send a 3-paragraph email, it will most likely be the last email read by the recipient of the message, if this is already read. No one wants to read long messages, even if they are sent by the employer. All they who receive this message do is to read the first paragraph to confirm whether the message is urgent or not, then ignore the rest. If you want your messages to be read and quickly answered, then be sure to get shorter!

2- Reduce messages sent, to reduce incoming messages

Simple but effective movement. The people who receive the most messages are those who send the most messages! If your email inbox is packed with incoming messages, review the number of messages you send each day. Before deciding that an email is the best way to communicate your message, ask yourself: What is the most effective way to communicate this information or note? Isn’t the phone call better? What if I go to the relationship owner in the next office and tell him about it face to face? So, send fewer emails, and receive fewer emails, so you can get more done with your work!

3- Shorter presentations are stuck in the audience’s memory for a longer period

Have you ever attended a full hour presentation, full of hundreds of points, numbers, and information? Were you able to remember something from it after it was over? And if you did, what is the percentage of what you remembered from the overall show?

You probably remember very little, so after you became the decision-maker and the person who prepared such presentations, this torment for the audience was reduced, so the lower the number of points, the easier it was for them and the more they remembered it. Whenever possible, try not to exceed 3 points in your presentation. Also, if you can finish the show in ten or twenty minutes less time, you will undoubtedly win more friends.

4- Change the usual meeting time from 60 minutes to half an hour

Have you ever wondered why all meetings are limited to at least one hour? Not because the best meetings take an hour, but rather for a very simple reason, because all calendars allow you to arrange your appointments through one-hour slots. (Not less). However, did you know that some of the best and most productive meetings in major companies do not take more than 15 minutes?! This is what will happen when your meeting time is reduced from an hour to half an hour or less: Start and end dates will become more accurate. More people will attend your meetings, and will not evade them. You will be able to communicate information faster. Attendees will be able to remember the meeting’s content better because they receive less information.

5- Schedule less tasks

Most people often schedule much more daily tasks than they can actually do. As their to-do list may contain 20 orders, while they can only accomplish 10 tasks

In such a situation, when you fail to complete all the tasks you set for yourself, you will often feel frustrated and short of your work, which leads to low energy and a decline in your productivity. On the contrary, when you reduce the number of tasks in half, you will be able to complete them early, which makes you enthusiastic and energetic, and motivates you to do some of the work of tomorrow!

6- Set yourself less goals

Are you one of those who sit with themselves at the beginning of each new year, and set many goals to achieve during the year? How many of those goals were achieved by the end of the year? Have you really been able to learn a new language, gain the skill of playing, travel around the world, buy the home of your dreams, start your own business, reach your ideal weight and read 50 books and … and … and?!

Most likely you did not, as is the case of the vast majority of us. The solution to this problem is very simple: set yourself less goals. When you shorten your goals from 20 to just two or three, you give yourself more time to focus on each goal, and the year will not end until you have achieved them all. It is just like scheduling daily tasks, the least always being the most.

7- Reduce your food to increase your energy

We have always been told that food is the source from which we get the energy needed to carry out our activities, but today we are consuming more food than we need much. Instead of providing us with energy, it became consuming our energy for digestion. Didn’t you notice that you always feel sleepy and tired after eating a hearty meal, while your activity increases if you only have a small snack? Be sure, then, not to eat more than you need. Instead of one big meal, break your meals down into small portions during the day, making sure that they contain as many beneficial nutrients as possible.

8- Make fewer decisions

When you surround yourself with a lot of options (whether at the level of food, work, dress…etc.), you will have a difficult time choosing to do at the expense of doing more beneficial things. When you have a lot of clothes, for example, it will take longer to choose what to wear from them, how to reconcile colors and choose the right bag and shoes … etc. Contrary to what it would be like if you had less clothes! Always try to reduce your decisions by shortening and limiting your options, so that you have more time to accomplish the most important and useful tasks.

9- Reduce your luggage when traveling

How many times did you carry a lot of luggage with you when traveling, and it was discovered after your return from your trip that you only used 10% or less of what you carried with you?! Often this happens, so make sure next time you’re only satisfied with one small bag. The smaller your luggage when traveling, the easier it is to get to the airport and the better chance to enjoy your destination.

10- Work less hours

Have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? This law states that: “Work extends to occupy the time frame available for its completion.” In other words, when you give yourself two hours to complete a task, it will take exactly two hours to complete it, but if you give yourself one hour to finish the same task, you will be able to finish it within one hour too! When you apply Parkinson’s law in your life and reduce your hours of work, you will find that you are able to accomplish your tasks sooner even though it used to take you longer in the past. Of course, it is important to give yourself enough time to complete your work, but be careful not to give yourself too much time so that your work does not extend to occupy this time-space. This was a list of 10 practical ways to help you do more work in less time, applying the saying: “Less means more.” Of course, you can find more ways and means to get more done in a faster time and with less effort.

Share with us your most important daily habits or your strategies to increase productivity and work more efficiently with the shortening of time.