Do you feel like you’re pulled in too many directions? Is daily planning about as futile as sorting Lego, when the universe seems determined to scatter your beautiful piles?

I get it. We all have days (or careers) like this. A client sends an urgent request. Your son needs help logging in to virtual school. And the dog throws up. All at the same time.

Plus, the usual curveballs are infinitely bigger with many of us working from home.  You may be working longer, waking up earlier, and generally feeling stressed and overloaded.

In the short term, it is easier to manage our work the way we always have. But this doesn’t fix the inequality when our lists are longer than our days. We need a fresh approach. We need a way to multiply our time.

I learned this early in my career when a not-so-subtle senior colleague tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Ann, you have to figure out how to get through work faster.” Ouch. Reluctantly, I came to realize my meticulous i-dotting and t-crossing, do-it-all-myself approach needed a refresh.

But I didn’t want to sacrifice quality. Sloppy work doesn’t cut it.

There are examples all around us of people who fit a lot into their days. And they do so with excellence. What exactly are they doing differently? This question has fascinated me for over two decades. Now, I’ve discovered their secret and I want to share it with you.

These uber producers have mastered the art of simplifying. And when they simplify, they free up essential time to amplify their results.

There are countless ways to simplify. I’ve pulled the best ideas into a tool I call the Simplify Filter. The Simplify Filter helps us to streamline, scale back and seek help, so we can create much-needed breathing space for our most essential work.

Here are 53 ways you can use the Simplify Filter to amplify your results.

Some of these ideas are quick fixes you can claim now. Others require more planning. And you certainly don’t need to do everything on this list. Commit to taking one more step each day towards simplifying your work. Over time, these small steps will add up to radically different days. Simplified days with amplified results.

Streamline:

  1. Shift some of your working hours to less interruption-prone hours. (Most days, I accomplish more in the hour before breakfast than the rest of the morning.)
  2. Standardize recurring tasks. For example, keep a record of common email replies. Better yet, point people to a FAQ source.
  3. Even better yet, fully automate tasks using tools such as IFTTT.
  4. Create checklists to simplify recurring tasks. I became a big advocate for this approach after reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.
  5. Simplify processes. Eliminate any unnecessary steps.
  6. Focus on one task at a time. Multi-tasking means every task takes longer.
  7. Pair tasks. Take a conference call while walking or read a report while getting a pedicure. Note: this is not the same as multitasking since only one task requires your attention.
  8. Turn off your alerts. These create tempting distractions that disrupt your flow.
  9. Protect time to get organized. This pays off in multiples by streamlining your work.
  10. Digitize key information. It’s incredible how much faster we are when we can perform a quick search.
  11. Apply the “Do it now” approach to any tasks that take five minutes or less.
  12. Avoid decision fatigue and limit yourself to three. Three choices; three sources; three options; etc.
  13. Stop striving for perfection. Adopt a “done is better than perfect” approach.
  14. Resist the temptation to build a report from scratch. Instead, modify a similar example.
  15. Establish virtual office hours to avoid choppy and distracting email conversations.
  16. Write shorter emails. Challenge yourself to cut 50 percent of your words. Shorter emails prompt faster replies.
  17. Share a link to your calendar to avoid oodles of back-and-forth emails to find common availability.

Scale back:

  1. Identify your three core priorities. Strive to focus exclusively on these three initiatives. The tighter your focus, the fewer meetings, emails and decisions you have. As an added bonus, you make faster progress on your most important work.
  2. Resist jumping to a new, bright and shiny opportunity. ‘That’s a great idea, but let’s wait until we launch this other program.’
  3. Re-negotiate deadlines. Of course, we want to do this in advance. We don’t want to let others down by asking for an extension on the due date, or worse, after.
  4. Say no. Especially if it is not a ‘hell yes!’. After all, every yes is a no to another, potentially better pursuit. Keep it simple, ‘I can’t right now’ or ‘That doesn’t work for me’.
  5. Postpone non-essential meetings. ‘Can we meet on Friday instead of Tuesday?’
  6. Negotiate scope. ‘I recommend we focus on A and B but postpone C until next quarter.’
  7. Clarify scope to avoid unnecessary tangents. ‘Can we quickly discuss before I pull the numbers?’
  8. Don’t pick up the phone. Use call display and voicemail to screen calls when you’re focusing.
  9. Resist getting sidetracked by impromptu conversations. ‘Can we talk after 4pm?’
  10. Focus on one step at a time. ‘I’ll send a draft today and the full report on Monday.’
  11. Agree to doing some, but not all of the steps.
  12. Shorten meetings. Scale a 60-minute meeting back to 45 minutes. Or even better – 30 minutes. You’ll be amazed at how much more efficient the conversation is.
  13. Postpone meetings. ‘I’m jammed this week. Can we talk next Thursday?’
  14. Decrease the frequency of meetings. Can you meet every other week?
  15. Don’t take on new work until you have a buffer.
  16. Set a time when you log onto social media to avoid endless, mindless scrolling.
  17. Avoid the commute and meet by video conference instead.

Seek help:

  1. Review every item on your list. Where can you recruit help?
  2. Ask for help before you need it. The longer you wait, the fewer options you have.
  3. Ask for help. Stop trying to do everything yourself. A team outperforms an individual every time.
  4. Accept help. Catch yourself from saying, ‘No it’s ok. I can do this on my own.’
  5. Book interim reviews to ensure delegated work is progressing well. This avoids rework and unnecessary tangents.
  6. Resist reclaiming work you’ve delegated. Read this popular Harvard Business Review article for more inspiration: Who’s Got the Monkey?
  7. Ask your team for their recommendations before you suggest a solution. This approach ensures the decision-making responsibility doesn’t solely rest on your shoulders.
  8. Invest time developing others. This opens up delegating options.
  9. Think of delegating as a long-term game. Maybe they are not as fast or good as you, but they can learn.
  10. Empower your team by assigning stretch assignments.
  11. Expand your team. If you’re limited on budget, consider working with a contractor, intern or co-op student.
  12. Explore outsourcing.
  13. Do you feel you don’t have anyone to ask for help from? Expand your options. Consider how you can seek help from colleagues, leaders, mentors and more.
  14. Ask a mentor to review your first draft. This early advice may save you oodles of time as you finish the task.
  15. Invite someone you admire to co-lead a project with you. You’ll share the workload while expanding your impact.
  16. Invite others to lead meetings you typically chair.
  17. Do you tend to overhelp? Have you become the go-to person for practically every minor inconvenience on your team? Try referring people to other experts so you can narrow your focus.
  18. Do you feel disconnected while working virtually? Set up a zoom call to “co-work”. This doesn’t reduce your work, but the solidarity can be energizing.
  19. Study someone who appears to get more done each day. What are they doing differently?

These are just some of the endless opportunities we have to simplify our work. Ultimately, the Simplify Filter helps you think like a ‘multiplier’ so you can reclaim time while creating better results.

And remember, you certainly don’t need to do everything on this list. Over time, one small step each day towards simplifying your work will add up to radically different days. Simplified days with amplified results.

And all of the above ideas are applicable at both work and home. Hiring a teenager to provide virtual homework help is akin to delegating a project to a colleague.

What strategies are your favourites? What others would you add to this list? Please share in the comments.

Do you need help getting started? Ask your leader or a mentor for their ideas. Their ‘been there, done that’ wisdom will help you work your way through the time constraints.

For more inspiration on doing your best work, you can view short highlights of our popular programs here. Or explore our fast-paced, on-demand and online courses.

Need more help? Contact us. We’re passionate about helping you show up as your best. The world needs this now more than ever.