Work efficiency
- June 3, 2020
- Posted by: MAYURI
- Category: Articles
Work efficiency
All of us, without exception love to be appreciated for our work. We crave attention for many things, but being recognised for our work stands up there at the top of our wish list. Once we receive that appreciation, we are caught up in a vicious circle of continued expectations from others as well as our own expectations from self! Here is the rub… replicating the same level of work output is the most difficult thing to do. Mastering that is known as work efficiency.
Why is it difficult to be efficient at work? Many reasons
- We lack intrinsic motivation to do our best…we satisfy ourselves at the mediocre level of functioning
- There are persons among us who are scared to explore their own ability since it has repercussions…if we do well we will be expected to take on responsibilities
- We box ourselves into a narrow range of activities, keep attempting those and do not look at anything beyond
- We have this misconception that tasks of life are independent entities and each has to be tackled individually
- We hate asking for help or seeking advice on how to go about a task
- We would like to hide what we are doing so that others do not steal ideas from us
- We fail to realise that any task requires multiple resources both personal as well as social, apart from material!
- Jumping into a task is what we do instead of thinking over it
What are the repercussions of poor work habits?
- We keep failing to impress at work place, at home, in friends groups and all other places
- We suffer inferiority complex…’I am good for nothing’
- We step back, hide from responsibilities when they are being handed out
- Nobody looks to us for help or advice…we can become social isolates
- Others do not trust us…after all work efficiency is a paramount skill to gain trust and respect from others
- It is hard to be a social star with poor work habits…our social circle itself shrinks
- We cannot trust ourselves to do anything well
- Finally, it can completely mess up our self esteem…we cannot love ourselves any more…the saddest thing to happen to anyone
What can be done to improve work efficiency?
Like most human abilities, if you are not born with a positive disposition to take on work and handle it methodically, you need a lot of practice at it. There are other personality traits too that may compel you to work efficiently. For instance, Type A personalities, who are competitive, aggressive, outgoing persons, do have a compelling need to work efficiently too, unlike the Type B persons, who are relaxed and laid back. But if on an average every one of us has to improve on work efficiency, there are no short cuts…
- It needs to start from early years…so parents, be conscious of this and allow even infants and toddlers attempt to do things on their own, not that many among them need any encouragement!! If the child does not attempt, cajole, goad the child to make an effort. It is not being unkind; it’s being very kind in the long run.
- As they grow older, assigning work to children both at home and out of home, school related must be made part of their life. That is, parents must make work a habit for children. We would like to pamper them and keep doing things for them for years, which is certainly not going to develop either work ethics or efficiency.
Coming to our own efforts at work efficiency
- Get motivated : Pick up work every single day… do not laze around any day in your life. Even if it’s a holiday, you have had a tough week , do try to do some little piece of work that is not part of your routine, even on such a day. That itself is very relaxing.
- Reluctance: When we face a piece of work… at home, at the work place… an average person’s reaction is why me? Why not XYZ? This is the first hindrance to doing it well. It is important to feel happy, or even honoured to have been chosen to do that work. If you don’t start with that positive feeling, you will get nowhere.
- Every act of ours done physically, is first attempted mentally; setting your mind to a task is critically important. This is however the toughest thing to do. The simplest example is studying for examinations…most youngsters hate the study part of it. They grumble mentally for long time, before sitting down to the task. Can it be done efficiently…certainly not! For any task to be taken on efficiently, setting a positive mental frame is the first step. I want to do this… I will start with my favourite section…I will read aloud…I will write down whatever I need to get back to again…I will ask help where it is difficult for me…these and many more such ideas are important for starting off on a work/task.
- Work schedule: how much time do I need for this work realistically? When should I start doing it? What all things/ information I need in order to do this? How much time do I need for acquiring them? You want to cook a meal for 10 guests? You must make a work schedule, plan a menu, arrange for groceries and so on.
- Planning: Do I need alternative plans in place too? Plan A, B …C? do that too
- Outsource where ever necessary… work efficiency does not mean you do everything yourself. Plan carefully to let others take part in it, assign tasks that they will do well
- Time of Day: There are specific times in a day each of us work most efficiently…and we know it. Start your work at that time. You may not be able to complete it, but you will set a momentum for it nicely.
- Concentrate: well… this is tough. Most of us have ever hardly used our concentration ability to the full. In psychology it is termed as ‘getting into the flow’. It creates a condition called ‘neurobiology of excellence’. When you concentrate on the task seriously, it actually becomes a pleasure and not a task at hand. With the least mental effort, the most satisfying output can be achieved under this condition. For this, in common parlance we need to get into the ‘mood.’ Never, ever waste the mood. Drop everything else when you are in the mood and do this work at hand.
- Review: Give yourself time to review the work…piling up and submitting without a second glance, especially at offices is a big NO. Check every thing again, if necessary call a person unconnected with this task and take their perception. DO NOT DO THE WORK IN SECRECY; unless you are confident of not making any mistake…is anyone that confident?
- Lastly, you must love to work. Nothing replaces the importance of work. Psychologists place Work as a psychological need that must be fulfilled for humans. But not all of us are up to the task…need to put in effort.
If you hate any kind of work, well this article is not for you.
Very well compiled facts of human behaviour/attitude. ‘Will to do it’ is more important than ‘will do it’! Unless we attempt, we do not know ‘what not we can do’. This reminds me of ‘Success % vs Attitude. For any job/work to be done, following thoughts can come which attributes success %.
I do not want to do it – 0 ; I cannot do it – 10 ; I wish I could do it – 20 ; I don’t know how to do it – 30 ; What is it – 40 ; I think I might do it – 50 ; I might do it – 60 ; I think I can do it – 70 ; I can do it – 80 ; I will do it – 90 ; I did it(समझो के काम हो गया) – 100%
Method of presenting topic is simple and impressive. Efficiency which is immeasurable, looks simple but deserves great involvement to achieve best. Your article has simple guidelines for overcoming poor efficiency. Currently I feel there is a need for motivation among teaching faculty who are moulding your generation, to inculcate the habit of working for joy and quality.
Several observations ring true for work in our (the baby boomer) generation. While most of the article reads like what I would imagine a Dale Carnegie book on this topic (“How to develop a work ethic and win at your job“) would look like, challenges abound for workers of this generation who will have entirely new job descriptions – when they have “work”.
Millennials and the following Gen-X,Y,Z confront a starkly different work environment wherein they have evolved a new set of “work efficiency rules” appropriate for them. The traditional notion of work at a job has been upended as the bulk of employment today and future will be transient and dominated by services. Youngsters today prize experiences – be it taking a break from college or their job to travel the world with a backpack. Taking a “gap year”, while in college or in between jobs – whether voluntarily or involuntarily, is already a massive trend. We may be found guilty in judging this as “lazing around”, but these new workers of the new economy where the old rules of work have been completely gutted are responding to it in their own unique way.
Curious as to how the gist of this article on work efficiency is viewed by this new generation of workers, who should logically be the audience in terms of relevance to their interesting work life in decades ahead.