Working Less To Achieve More, How To Do It?

Leo Babauta
It's something we're all looking for -- the perfect solution that will minimize our work life while still getting the stuff done that we need to get done. Well, that one solution doesn't exist, but with a combination of strategies, you can get to where you want to be.

Now, none of these tips will turn your life around. But they can make a big difference, and when used together, your work life might just be enjoyable, productive, low-stress and high fun. And these tips won't work for everyone. They're not meant to be used as a step-by-step guide. It's a list of strategies that work -- choose your favorites and give them a try.

1. One goal. Set a single goal that you want to accomplish this year -- I know that we probably want to do 12 goals, but it's too difficult to maintain your focus on more than one goal, and it diffuses your energy. Pick one goal for the next 12 months, and then a single 3-6 month goal that will lead to your 12-month goal. Then choose something you can accomplish within the next 1-2 weeks that will lead to the 3-6 month goal. Now focus on that short-term goal, giving it all your energy, and when it's achieved, set your next short-term goal until you've accomplished your medium-term goal.

2. Find your passion. All the rest of these tips are just window dressing if you find work you're passionate about. If you're not in a job you love, start your quest to find that job now. You don't need to quit your current job right away, but start doing some research on the web, think about what you're really interested in, talk to others who are doing what you want to do. Make this your One Goal for this year, and it could turn out to be your best year ever.

3. Work from home. This is not a miracle solution, but it's something many people would love to do. And it's completely possible -- more people are doing it every day. Is it something you want to do? Give it some thought, and find a solution that works for you. You could telecommute for your current job -- plan your pitch to your boss today, making sure to focus on how it will benefit your company. Or you could find another job that allows you to work from home -- even if the pay is a little less at first, you will have reduced costs from not having to commute or eat lunch at work or buy expensive work clothes, and you will also have increased satisfaction.

4. Come in early. If telecommuting isn't your thing, try getting to work 30-60 minutes before the rest of the crowd. Or even more. This might require you to learn to wake up early, but the benefits are many: you skip the morning traffic, you can work without distractions until the rest of your coworkers come in, you can get a jump start on your day, you can be ahead of the crowd and get more done. Getting an early start is a great way to start your work day and to become more productive.

5. Work 4 days. If you can control your work schedule (or can convince your boss to change it), try working fewer days. Working four days a week not only gives you an additional day off, but it forces you to be more productive in the days you do work. Think about it: if you knew that you had to get your work done by the end of Thursday, you will focus more on what really needs to get done, and goof off less too. What would you do less? Email? Read stuff on the Internet? Chat? Play solitaire? Those unimportant things fade away when your time is limited.

6. Work 6-hour days. Same concept as above, but reconfigured. Personally, I'd choose the 4-day workweek, but that can't work for everyone. Get in early and leave even earlier -- imagine the 7 a.m.-1 p.m. work day. With focus, it can be done.

7. Work 20 hours. This might sound impossible. And if you are a full-time employee somewhere, it might be. But you could either 1) telecommute, and get your work done in fewer hours; or 2) work for yourself. Now, I'll admit that these options won't work for everyone, but they can be done. And I'll also admit that in working for yourself, you tend to work more hours, not fewer. But if you limit your hours to 20, it will force you to focus in the same what that working four days a week does. And if you focus on only those tasks that are truly important (see next item), you can get a lot done in 20 hours a week.

8. MITs. Each day, make a list with only three items: the three Most Important Tasks you want to accomplish today. Make at least one of them related to your One Goal. The others might be something you've been procrastinating on, or a big project that's due today, or something similar. Ideally, these MITs are really important tasks -- ones that will gain you longer-term recognition or income. Now focus on these, making sure to accomplish them. It's best to do your MITs first thing in the morning, before you get interrupted by a bunch of other things. If you do only three things today (you could choose more or less than three MITs, but I've found that three works for me), make it your MITs.

9. Batch process. There are usually a bunch of smaller tasks that we have to do that aren't that important. Email, paperwork, phone calls, things like that. Instead of doing those little things throughout the day, giving you busywork to interrupt and distract you from your important tasks, batch them together and do them at one set time each day. Write these tasks down on a small list, and with an hour left in your work day (or whatever works for you), start processing them as quickly as possible, ticking them off your list.

10. Telecommute 1 day a week. If you can't convince your boss to let you work completely from home, try one day a week. You could start out by calling in sick, but still getting a lot done from home. Or tell him you want to give it a try, just for one day this week, because you think it will make you more productive.

11. Freelance as a 2nd job. This is something I do, and I earn an extra $2,000 a month doing it. It's extra work, but it helps me to pay the bills (and pay off debt and save). Eventually, if you get good at the freelancing gig, you could make it your full-time work. To do this as a second job, set aside some time each day for freelance work. I've used early mornings (I get up an hour earlier and do one assignment), my lunch hour, work time (with permission), or evenings. If you could do 1-2 assignments a day, you will be making a decent extra income, and starting yourself down the road to working for yourself.

12. Brown bag it. This isn't life-changing, but I take my lunch to work every day -- leftovers or a sandwich, usually, with snacks such as fruits on the side. How does this help? Well, it saves me a lot of money (a few thousand a year) and it allows me to work through lunch, giving me time for that freelancing gig I talked about above or perhaps allowing you to leave work early.

13. Cycle to work. Again, not necessarily life-changing, but if you can commute even just a couple times a week by bike, you will save money on gas, reduce the stress of rush-hour traffic, and get your daily exercise done at the same time. A shower at work (or at a nearby gym) helps make this easier.

14. Take high-profile projects. If you just take the grunt work, your boss might or might not appreciate it, but it certainly won't make you a star and you won't go very far. Instead, volunteer for the big projects, the ones that will make a name for both you and your company. If there aren't any available, make your own. Be sure you can do them well, but if you do, these projects will have a huge impact on your life. The tasks on these projects should be your MITs every day. If you take on high-impact projects, you can be more productive working a half day than if you worked 10 hours a day on tasks that won't matter next week.

15. Automate your business. If you have your own business, or set one up on the side, find ways to make it automated as much as possible. Everything can be outsourced, from manufacturing to mailing to advertising to taking orders to customer support to credit card processing. Put your business front online, with online ordering, and give your outsourcers the ability to make decisions (with certain limits, following rules you set) without your approval, removing yourself from the bottleneck. If it's completely automated, your business will require minimal work from you once you've got it set up. Now all you have to do is check now and then to make sure things are running smoothly, and make sure your money is being deposited in your bank account. Nice.

16. Bank your raise. If you get a raise (and if you haven't in awhile, you need to make it happen by taking on high-profile projects and then asking for the raise), don't increase your spending. Take the raise and put the entire amount in the bank, making it automatically deducted from your paycheck or checking account and sent to a high-interest online savings account. Doesn't increase your productivity, but it can increase your financial stability.

17. Clear your desk. A messy desk might be the sign of a creative mind, but in my experience (I've tried both messy and now clean desks), having a desk that's clean is much more calming, much more productive, and more organized. Most importantly, it reduces visual clutter and allows you to focus on the task at hand, increasing your productivity. Clearing your desk can take a chunk of time, but it's worth it: take all your papers (everything!) and put them in your inbox, or in a pile if they don't fit. Now process through them, one at a time, from top to bottom, filing, acting upon, delegating, trashing each document or noting tasks on a to-do list for later (and filing the to-be-acted-upon documents in an action folder). Remove other knick knacks and put any office supplies or tools in a drawer (and empty out your drawers while you're at it). From here on out, everything goes in your inbox, and you process it to empty every day using the steps outlined here.

18. Granularize. If a project or task seems too intimidating, split it into smaller tasks, and just focus on the first task you need to do. For example, instead of "Research report", just find three sources on the Internet. You can read each of these sources and take notes after that.

19. Delegate. Get out of the habit of thinking you need to do everything yourself. Relinquish control and learn to trust others. If you don't think a person can handle a task, take the time to train him to do so. It will save you tons of time and headaches later. And by delegating, you empower others while shrinking your to-do list, leaving you to focus on what's really important.

20. Eliminate. Your to-do list is a mile long. You'll never be able to do all those things. Cut it in half by crossing out stuff that doesn't really need to be done, or delegating others. And from that list, just choose the three most important things that you need to do today. Get in the habit of eliminating as many of the tasks and processes you normally do as possible, and your work life will be greatly simplified.

21. Clear distractions. In addition to clearing your desk, you can allow yourself to focus more by eliminating all distractions: email or IM alerts, Twitter, other websites (in fact, turn off the Internet), phones, visual clutter around you or on your walls. Wear headphones so your coworkers interrupt you less, or let them know that you're not available right now. Focus more, and you'll get more done.

22. Kill meetings. One of the biggest time-wasters in our work lives. Most of the time, a meeting could have been accomplished with an email or a phone call. Beg out of meetings (or if you're the boss, eliminate them) by claiming you have a project due that you need to work on. Then be very productive during the time you would be at the meeting, and show your boss how much you got done.

23. Email once a day. Don't do email throughout the day. Set one time during the day to process email, then crank through it, getting your inbox to empty (use the same steps in "clear your desk" above). If you check email throughout the day, you are allowing yourself to be distracted and at the mercy of anyone who sends you a request. And by sending out emails all day, you are generating even more responses in return, compounding the problem. Batch process, and you will get a lot more done. Same applies to reading your RSS feeds and checking your blog stats and reading your forums.

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7 Ways To Handle To Deceptive Collegues

Larry Buhl
Lying is something we all must watch out for, especially in the workplace. Sometimes the fib is small, such as a boss fudging on an expense report or a coworker taking credit for your work. But a lie covering up a company's financial health can bring down a giant corporation, as ex-Enron employees can attest.

"Even though lying doesn't have the negative connotations it once did, telling lies in the workplace is not a trivial matter," according to professor Pier Forni, cofounder of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and author of "Choosing Civility, the 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct."

The Fallout Reaches Far

Even small lies can have a dramatic effect on the quality of life in the workplace, including:

* Lower morale, especially when the boss does it
* Increased stress, due to uncertainty
* Decreased loyalty to the company, making workers feel unimportant

What's more, discovering a lie, big or small, can put you in an ethical quandary and even career jeopardy. Whether to ignore it or report it is a highly personal decision, according to etiquette expert Sue Fox, author of "Business Etiquette for Dummies."

"Unfortunately there are no blanket rules that apply to all incidents of lying and misinformation in the workplace," Fox says. "How to deal with it depends on the unique circumstances, as well as your own values."

Staying Out of Harm's Way

Fox and Forni give some general pointers, outlined below, for dealing with lies in the office.

Be a sleuth. Verify a lie before you do anything. If you don't have time to do some sleuthing, let it go.

Determine the importance of the lie. "When the lie clearly hurts the company by ignoring it, then there is a probability that it will have a snowball effect and the damage will grow," Forni said.

Consult the company's handbook. Larger companies will have policies and procedures documents for combating unethical behavior. If your company has them, follow them.

Keep records. Fox urges recording all incidents of unethical behavior with coworkers, especially when your boss demands an employee to do something unethical. "Keep your responses to those requests, and keep your records at home, where they can't be discovered or stolen."

Divest yourself. "Direct your concerns to either your boss or HR, so that correcting the problem is the supervisor's (or the company's) responsibility, not yours," Fox says. Forni recommends cultivating smart and trustworthy mentors in the organization who can deal with the issue for you.

Protect yourself. "Find an attorney if your boss' ethical breaches are very large," Forni says.

Consider the ramifications. Remember, whistle blowers could be rewarded, and they could be punished. Both Forni and Fox agree that it's a personal decision, but they come down on the side of disclosing a lie. "We sometimes have to decide between the easy thing and the right thing, but the latter is often more satisfying," Forni said.

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How To Handle Workplace Gossips

Heather Boerner

Getting ahead at work may hinge on resisting the urge to spread the latest news about your coworkers.

"You may think gossip is harmless, but you might just be shooting yourself in the foot as far as your credibility goes," said Rachel Weingarten, author of "Career and Corporate Cool: How to Look, Dress and Act the Part at Every Stage of Your Career." She continues, "Let your work speak for itself. You don't need to be the one making yourself look better by talking down someone else."

Consider the Damage

Sure, gossip can be almost too enticing to keep to ignore -- but consider these consequences:

* You lose your reputation. "My reputation is my business," said Weingarten. "If someone says something bad about me, or I become known as a gossip, that could affect my entire career."
* Coworkers avoid you. "If people view you as a gossip, they may stop sharing information with you," said April Callis, president of Gossip Stoppers, a program designed to create positive workplaces. "Then instead of being the one with all the power and information, you're out of the loop because no one trusts you."
* Your work suffers. The negativity spread by gossip makes people hate their jobs. "They miss work, they get less done while they're there, and they feel unappreciated," says Callis. Suddenly, you're not giving your best, and your boss may notice.

There's a better way to deal with water cooler talk. First, and perhaps most obvious: Keep the information to yourself.

It's one thing to learn the office scoop -- it's another to share it. Even asking someone else at work to verify what you've just heard counts as gossip, said Callis. If it's something criminal, tell your boss. If not, let it drop.

Resist the Urge

Next, teach your coworkers not to gossip with you. Use these techniques:

* Replace gossip. Sometimes gossip is the only thing you have in common with coworkers, said Weingarten. So find something to replace it. Do you both knit? Are you both sports fans? If you must gossip, do it about movie stars or soap operas, she said. Just leave the office out of it.
* Set a timer. If a coworker or employee comes to you determined to gossip, set a timer for five minutes, and let the person spew. When the time's up, so is the gossip. You don't have to respond, said Callis. You can just listen.
* Write it down. When a coworker runs to your desk with the latest juicy gossip, get out a pad and pen. Writing down the facts serves two purposes: It shows the gossip that everything she says is being documented. And it helps you focus on facts instead of feelings.

What you may find is that you and those around you feel happier as they gossip less, says Callis.

"When I walk into a positive workplace, people are engaged and they feel valued," she says. "They stay."

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When Your Boss Is a Benchwarmer?

Liz RyanMon

My friend Ray called me recently. He travels like a maniac, so I hear from him when he's sitting in the airport or standing in a taxi line. Often he calls just to kill time. But this most recent phone call was different. "I need your help. I'm really at my wits' end." Here's the story he told me:

Ray works as a product manager for a consumer-products company, where he's responsible for one of the company's product lines. He manages the product strategy, market research, and the products' branding, packaging, and marketing efforts. But he also spends a lot of time supporting the sales team--so much time that Ray spends 80% of his time on the road, which is about 50% more than he's happy with.

The good news is that Ray's boss loves him. The boss never misses an opportunity to say, "Ray, you do a tremendous job." And Ray's boss's boss is just as complimentary. Ray's manager even told him that the big boss mentioned Ray's great work at a C-suite meeting. That's all the good stuff Ray had to report.

An Offer Could Change Things

The bad news is that Ray is about to keel over. He's always in customer offices, supporting the sales team and talking about the products, or sitting on a panel somewhere or creating a new PowerPoint deck or fighting some fire or other. He's doing three or four jobs. And he can't take it anymore.

"So what are you going to do about it," I asked. He said he had talked to his boss. "You seem to like my work," Ray pointed out to his manager. "Your boss does, too. I like it here, but I can't maintain this pace and this workload. I want to do a terrific job in the assignment I was hired for. I'm trying to do that, but it's really hard to do when I'm essentially performing a sales role at the same time--or maybe two or three of them. I have to give up one of these roles, or I'm going to crash and burn."

Ray said his boss was very sympathetic. "I hear what you're saying," the boss told him. "Here's what you should do. Call this headhunter friend of mine. You're a sharp guy. You go to an interview or two, you'll get a job offer. Bring the written job offer back here, and I'll see if I can leverage that to get your workload reduced."

The Possibility of Backfire

"You're serious?" Ray asks. "You want me to go an interview and get an offer from another company just to have a negotiating tool with your boss? What if that strategy backfires? What if the big boss is turned off by the fact that I've been job-hunting or calls my bluff? And what if one of these offers is really appealing and I end up taking it?"

"Oh Ray," laughs his boss. "You wouldn't leave me, would you? Listen, this is the way to play this. I can't get you what you want unless we have a lever, and a great job offer from another company will do the trick."

Ray called me just after this conversation with his boss. "Can you believe it?" he asked me. I told him that yes, sadly, I can believe it. "Your boss has no juice with his manager, so he needs you to go obtain the one thing that he thinks will get his boss's attention --an offer for you to leave the firm and go somewhere else," I told Ray.

Someone to Be Pitied

Ray thought it was really weird that his boss was pleading with him to go start interviewing. I told Ray he should start interviewing, but not for the reasons his boss said. "Your boss is a sad guy, someone to be pitied rather than scorned. He's so juiceless that he doesn't even know how pathetic it sounds: 'Go get a job offer so I can get my boss's attention.'"

I also told Ray that once he got an appealing offer, he should tell his boss he was taking it--not bring it to him as a negotiating tactic. "He'll be disappointed but not surprised. Most juiceless managers like your boss have lost plenty of team members over their careers, because they can't or won't do the leaderly thing and stand up for their employees."

What Ray needed to understand was that in an organization so goofed-up that managers are telling their employees to bring in offer letters for leverage, trying to tell the guy off would do no good. "Your powerless boss stays in his job at the pleasure of his boss. These kinds of people need one another," I reminded Ray. "You don't need either of them. You are too smart and capable to stay in an organization that works that way."

Doing the Boss a Favor

"Thanks," said Ray. "I thought I was going crazy there for a minute. I thought maybe it was only me that thought an assignment like that from a boss to a subordinate--to start job-hunting without really wanting a new job--was insane and unethical."

I pointed out to Ray that his boss has been in that environment for so long he can't see the craziness. It feels normal to him. "You'll move on, wish him well, and perhaps do him a favor or two for him down the road, when you're running a division somewhere," I said. "There are juiceless Harrys in lots of organizations. Deep down, they know they're letting their employees and their shareholders down. You don't have to talk about it with him. Why rub it in the poor guy's face?"

It took Ray about six weeks to land his new position. His boss said, "I figured one way or the other you would be happier--if you brought me an offer letter I could use it to get your workload reduced, and if you got a better job that would be good for you, too." Well--thanks for the good wishes. No thanks for the managerial support, but then again, we learn from our poor leaders as much as from our great ones.

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More Men Sexually Harassed at Work

Robert DiGiacomo

Defying assumptions about sexual harassment in the workplace, a record percentage of men reported being harassed by male colleagues last year, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Cases filed by men made up 15.4 percent of the 12,025 sexual harassment charges in fiscal year 2006, compared to 14.3 percent in 2005 and 11.6 percent a decade ago, according to the EEOC.

New Realities in the Workplace

"There's no question this is not only a growing category of claims, but also a large societal problem of which we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg," says Riki Wilchins, executive director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C.

Although the statistics don't reveal whether the alleged harassers of men also are male, they typically are -- it's rare for a man to file charges against a female coworker or supervisor, says EEOC spokesman David Grinberg.

It's also unlikely that interactions in the workplace between men have become more hostile over the past 15 years.

What's changed, though, is recognition by the legal system of male-on-male harassment, via a landmark 1998 Supreme Court ruling. The high court found in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services that same-sex sexual harassment is a form of discrimination protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

An Unwritten Code Changes

"This kind of harassment has always taken place in the workplace," Wilchins says. "But the kind of abrasive, sexualized horseplay that might have been acceptable 10 years ago is actionable today.

"More males realize they don't have to take it -- they can file suit."

While harassment based on sexual orientation is not protected by federal law, it's important to note that in gender-based harassment, the aggressors -- and their victims -- are likely straight.

"We assume that the vast majority of the cases are not individuals who are necessarily gay or transgender, but they're in situations where there are these abrasive codes of masculinity to which men are expected to live up to," Wilchins says.

Know the Signs

What constitutes sexual harassment? According to the EEOC, it happens when submitting to or rejecting "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature" affects your job, disrupts your work performance or leads to an "intimidating, hostile or offensive" workplace.

In the case of men harassing other men, these unwelcome behaviors could range from the use of feminine pronouns and sexual taunts, to simulated sex acts and threats of a sexually aggressive nature, according to GenderPAC.

What You Can Do

What to do if you believe you're a victim? The EEOC recommends you first follow internal company complaint procedures.

If your employer cannot -- or will not -- resolve the situation to your satisfaction, you can file a complaint at one of the EEOC's 53 offices.

The agency will investigate, and if it finds evidence to support your claim, will attempt to mediate the case. If necessary, the EEOC will file a lawsuit on your behalf.

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Ever Thought Of Working Without Walls?

Caroline Levchuck,
Yahoo! HotJobs

Just because you work your way up the corporate ladder doesn't mean there's a corner office waiting for you. In fact, there may not be any office at all. Open floor plans are all the rage in big businesses these days, encouraging teamwork and communication among employees.

If you're coming from a company where you had an office, or your current employer is transitioning to open-space seating, there will be a period of adjustment. Use these tips to survive and thrive no matter where you sit.

1. Tune in to tune out.

Listening to music at work has become more acceptable in recent years. Take your mp3 player or iPod to work and tune out the noise around you with your favorite music and some headphones. If you find that most music is distracting, try some classical selections. If that doesn't work, opt for noise-cancelling headphones. Just be sure you're not tuning out so much that you're not aware when your phone rings.

2. Good fences make good neighbors.

It's normal to feel a bit self-aware and uncomfortable in your new seating arrangement, particularly if you're "thisclose" to your new neighbor. If you can't move past it, try to create a soft border using a carefully placed bulletin board or a stack of books. If that isn't possible, play around with repositioning your computer monitor to give you the most privacy possible.

3. Conference rooms aren't just for conferences.

If you're working in an open-space environment, there's probably more than one conference room. Utilize these private spaces to have sensitive conversations and to take very personal phone calls (your neighbors really don't want to hear you discussing medical conditions with your physician, for example). A conference room can also be used if you need to work on something that requires extreme concentration and quiet. If this isn't possible where you work, speak with your supervisor about working off-site or at home on the days you're tackling such projects.

4. Give it time.

The first few days and even weeks of sitting at a workstation may seem bizarre, frustrating, and impossible. However, you will get used to it. You'll become less aware of your fellow workers' phone conversations and foibles and more focused on yourself and your work. You also may find that you enjoy having immediate access to members of your team. As a result, you may start to build new friendships and create fun workplace routines.

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