Working smart, you'll get more done

"Not today, I'm swamped" or "sorry it's only now, I've really got my hands full today" - I often hear this from friends running their own companies. I used to be like that too, but actually a few things let me change it and break out of this vicious circle. Easy to write, harder to carry out. It took me about 7 years.

TOP PRIO! ASAP! Come to terms with the fact that you won't find time to do everything, and only one task can have priority. There are things that are important and more important. Let go of doing the easy tasks that cause "busywork" and focus on the most important one. If need be, the Eisenhower Matrix will help you.

CHILL OUT! You can't work effectively for 8 or 12 hours! Sitting in the office, or up all night, and scrolling news feeds isn't work. Planning your work well, you can do it in 6 hours. Go for a walk, air out your mind. There'll be time for the demons.

DELEGATE but wisely. Delegate the solving of your problems and don't hand over the formula for solving them. Do you delegate the renovation of your flat and explain to the painter how a brush works? Don't play at micromanagement, just hire specialists you don't have to supervise. No results from their work? Replace them. The world is full of talented people. Remember that you pay for solving your problems, not for time spent in front of a computer.

Learn to work EFFECTIVELY! Writing tasks down in notebooks, on a million slips of paper, emails and the calendar isn't effectiveness. Use apps for it that will tidy up this mess. Often this lack of time stems from the mess you have, not from the number of tasks. You'll find helpful things in the post What tools do I use to increase productivity?.

LET GO of perfectionism. It's better to release something now at 60% than never, or at 99% in six months. Even Gmail ran as a beta version for many years. You won't be in control of everything and many things will work not the way you imagine. "That's pretty funny. I thought that I had to have an answer, always know what to do and try to keep everything in control. Do you have kids? You soon find out you have to let a lot of things go" - Yahoo ex-CEO Carol Bartz.

PLAN your day, your week. Find time for rest and for work. Rank the tasks. The brutal truth is that planned tasks happen. If you work in chaos, then you most often take on the easy tasks, and the real challenges get pushed to the very end.