More hours in the day. It’s one thing everyone wants, and yet it’s impossible to attain. But what if you could free up significant time—maybe as much as 20% of your workday—to focus on the responsibilities that really matter?
Make Time for the Work That Matters
How smart knowledge workers delegate tasks—or eliminate them altogether
Summary.
What does it take to become more productive? Based on their recent research, the authors propose a process to help knowledge workers increase their productivity. This process involves thinking consciously about how you spend your time, deciding which tasks matter most to you and your organization, and dropping or creatively outsourcing the rest. These tasks can then be sorted into quick kills (things you can stop doing now, without any negative effects), off-load opportunities (work that can be delegated with minimal effort), and long-term redesign (work that needs to be re-conceived or restructured). Once these low-priority tasks are disposed of, the newly freed-up time can be spent focusing on more-important work.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review.
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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Time Management. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Make smarter, more purposeful choices about how you spend your day.