Workplace Doctor: Doing less can help you achieve more

Being busy all the time can be counterproductive, so learn to let go.

Time is something I never have. I spend my life rushing from meeting to meeting, juggling demands at work and also juggling demands at home. I am either late for something or arrive in a fluster. I’ve tried apps and different time management apps but they seem to make me even more stressed. What’s the solution? TY, Abu Dhabi

A very “timely” question, as I was having this very conversation with a friend yesterday who was telling me about the challenges of managing their own time. I also sometimes feel there is not enough time in the day, when everything in our lives seems both urgent and important.

In my conversations with people around this issue, as well as dealing with my own time limitations, I have realised that the way we think about “time management” is actually a flawed idea. It’s almost as if we feel that by managing our time effectively we can take on more, spend more time at home and generally have a more fulfilled working life. This is just not the case; we actually need to prioritise what we want to make time for and make some real trade-offs. Our focus needs to be more purposeful and directed rather than trying to develop the magical and impossible skill of fitting more and more into an already overflowing day.

To achieve this, instead of worrying about packing more in or ticking everything off, you may want to reconsider what you let into your day and really value and protect your time. Are all these meetings critical and is it really the constant stream of emails, calls and general noise that is making you late? Or is your day filled with pointless meetings, which then stalls you from being effective elsewhere? Think back to what is core to your role and what you are being paid to do and prioritise that above everything else. Then think about what is important in the rest of your life and prioritise these with the same value as critical work tasks. Be selfish and relentlessly protect the time required for these activities and give yourself the head space you need.

Be realistic when you generate this critical list. As human beings, we have an annoying habit of overestimating our capability to take things on. Be ruthless in what you can achieve and willing to let go of what you can’t. It may be hard to think that you can’t achieve something, so rather than “not at all”, just think “not now”.

While scurrying between tasks and meetings, organising things, making calls and probably trying to keep up a busy social routine, take a hard look at yourself in the mirror. People often subscribe to the idea that staying busy means they are working hard and feeling useful and this in itself is enough to deliver success across their life. Perhaps true to an extent, yet it can also create a “mindless productivity” or a self-fulfilling “busyness”. When people ask how you are you reel off the things you have to do and the variety of activities you have on with a seemingly resentful tone but also with some underlying pride. It feels good to be busy, important and central to making things happen. But when we have free time, we feel the need to “manage” that time by filling it with something else. Unfortunately, we then become preoccupied with what we think we should be doing, but we don’t have time left for the things we want to do. We never give ourselves room to slow down or switch off.

Once you have let a few things go and have tried to remove yourself from this whirlwind of feeling busy, you need to create a new mantra for yourself and put in some ground rules. For example, devoting specific time to “deep” focused work, such as preparing presentations or planning next year’s budget. Then apply the same rigour and constraints to “shallow” tasks like emails, calls and other things that always feel urgent. Set a clear time limit for them, engage in them and then move on. Otherwise you will spend all your time swimming in shallow water.

Doctor’s prescription

Doing less can help you achieve more by being more realistic in your own expectations of yourself and more focused in your approach. If you are juggling work with a busy family or social life, make sure that you are engaging in the activities that matter most to maintain a suitable balance. Identify the important non-nego­tiables and sometimes learn to let go of insignificant tasks; it can be impossible to conquer all.

Alex Davda is a business psychologist and client director at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, and is based in the Middle East. Email him at [e-mail] for advice on any work issues

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter