Everybody wants to get rewarded for their hard work. But most hardworking people rarely get what they deserve. We’ve been told time and again that working hard translates to greater rewards. That kind of logic makes sense, right? Not really. Working harder is actually not the best strategy to increase your income or improve conversion rates for your business.
Quoting Bill Gates, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Then again, the goal is not to be lazy, but rather to find smart ways to reduce the number of hours you work.
In this article, I’ll cover 5 simple tricks you can use to work less and actually make more money.
Reduce Your Hours at Work
This might seem harder than it really is but it’s one of the many lifestyle changes people need to re-evaluate. Negotiate with your boss to work on a deliverable basis rather than an hourly basis. Ask if you can be rewarded for the goals you achieve rather than the number of hours you clock.
This is harder for hourly wage earners but most bosses will actually support these types of work strategies. At the end of the day, your success at your job will be measured by how well you achieve your goals, not by how many hours you clocked in. This rule is highly practised by Chinese Restaurant businesses.
Commute Less
One of the biggest drains on energy is commuting. It’s dead time for most people unless you can afford a driver to do the dirty work while you make calls or respond to emails. For the rest of us, commuting means sitting at the wheel with our minds just racing about all the things we could be doing.
In Kenya, over 2 million people find their way into Nairobi every day to work. A big percentage of these people are office workers who sit in traffic for hours. By the time you finally get to the office, you are already too tired (and sleepy) to be productive.
To fix this, find ways to work from home or reduce the amount of time in the car. Some of the tactics I have used include commuting during non-rush-hour periods to avoid traffic, working from home 2 or 3 days a week, and investing in virtual meetings to reduce trips to the office for short meetings.
Start Your Own Business
Speaking of starting a side business, here are 32 businesses you can start without any capital. Many people still believe that having a stable job comes with the best opportunities. But this line of thought is quite outdated.
Over time, companies discover the advantages of outsourcing, off-shoring, and downsizing. And when they finally hit you with that unfortunate letter, you will have to reconsider these long-held ideas about employment.
Instead, you want to focus on building your own personal brand. Starting your own business is not necessarily easier than holding down a high-paying job. But the advantages are tenfold. Running your own business allows you to increase your earnings relative to the effort and energy you put into it each day. To get you started, we’ve highlighted 10 things you need to know before starting any business.
Your own business also allows you to increase your non-taxable earnings by deducting the costs of living before you have to pay taxes. Items like your phone bill, gas, car maintenance, and adding an office to your house can all be deducted easily. Head over to our complete guide on transforming unemployment to entrepreneurship to read more.
Spend Less Time on Social Media
In our post about Social Media Marketing Myths, we covered the tendency of people to talk, talk and talk more. Every day new social media apps are being released into app markets. We are all naturally social beings. Tiktok has particularly become quite addictive for many people. While all these digital interactions are fun, you need to set aside some time off work or during breaks to browse your social feeds. Funny cat videos on the internet won’t pay your bills.
Kill Meetings
Meetings are another huge time waster. Ask yourself, “if I miss this meeting, what’s the worst thing that could happen”. Use your time to invest in things that have a high return on investment. For example, using your newfound time to start a business on the side would provide you with an additional income source.
Reduce Email Flow
Email is clearly one of the worst hogs of time both in the office and out. If you work in a corporate setting, it’s easy to feel like you’re always one step away from getting a flurry of emails that require your attention. This is especially true if you run any email marketing campaigns.
In Mark Hurst’s book, Bit Literacy, he outlines several ways to reduce the amount of email ‘weight’ in your life. Some examples are, don’t send as many emails (less outgoing email means fewer responses); only check email twice a day to avoid distractions, and setting out of office responses explaining that you will only be checking emails twice a day to train your colleagues and clients how and when to reach you.
