Clear Simple Business

Top 4 Rules for Working Smarter, Not Harder Inefficiency and disorganization can be two of the biggest reasons people are ineffective in their careers. While it’s easy to attribute failure to laziness or the lack of skills, talent or knowledge, it’s rarely the case. Many times, people are working hard -- and, they know what they are doing. But, it’s just not enough when they could be working smarter. What does it mean to work smarter? It simply means leveraging efficiency and process systems to work for you, leaving you more time to grow your business and focus on the tasks that focus on the future. In my experience as a process systems expert, I’ve identified the top four rules for working smarter, not harder. They are: Develop self awareness : Everybody works differently and has unique strengths. Analyze your habits and determine how your efforts are efficient, what distracts you and ways you can improve. Identify any systems you are having problems with, especially if the process,

Continuous Improvement is a long-standing technique that businesses utilize to consistently increase efficiency and effectiveness. It may involve incremental improvement that occurs gradually or breakthrough improvements that seem to occur overnight. When continuous improvement is successful, businesses are able to fulfill their objectives and policy goals.  But, what constitutes the successful implementation of a continuous improvement program? What has to happen to ensure it will work? What traits do the participants need to possess? Through working with many businesses, we see several consistencies among successful efforts. Through analysis of these programs, we’ve identified seven key traits that lead to effective results. Accountability Throughout this key process, many businesses divide employees into teams. Each team has responsibilities and goals. They are held accountable for completing tasks, finding solutions and measuring their successes. Of course, a certain degree of buy-

Since making my most current breakdown public, I received a lot of support and advice from friends and peers. One of the pieces of advice I received was to read the book by Heather Whelpley titled: An Overachiever's Guide To Breaking The Rules: How To Let Go Of Perfect and Live Your Truth .  I’ve read self-help before, but what the hell, why not another book!  I bought the book and then ignored it for a good week.  When I finally started to read it, my initial thoughts were ….. very Midwestern ...... “she has it much worse. I shouldn’t be worried about myself. Time to move on and get over it.  There are so many more people worse off than me.”  This may be a default reaction for many; however, I have been told that downplaying your suffering because someone else has it worse is a very Midwestern trait. Seeing as how those were my first thoughts, I apparently wear that badge proudly!!! You see, right away, Heather shared some stories of her growing up.  Of her being at the top of her