smarts

Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Work Smarter (Life Hacks)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Another week! Another Wednesday! Another opportunity to share some wisdom with you dear readers! Today’s topic – how YOU can make art and also balance the other areas of your life simultaneously!

Think about it for a minute, what’s the most fascinating subject in this life to dedicate years of your life studying? The answer is none other than yourself, dear reader(s)!

I know it sounds selfish, but is there really a better use of your time then working on yourself? Let’s be serious, we all do need to ask the question – what’s in it for me? If you can’t answer that, you can’t begin to contribute in this world.

Okay, with that aside, I don’t truly have a life-changing list of top 10 ways to improve yourself, make life easier and get your art out there (it’s a lifelong commitment), but I definitely do have a resource to get you started and at the very least start working on basic areas of your life that are universal and can be refined to your specific purpose.

Lists or no, I honestly think the reasons are innumerable for why you should streamline your internal process, so timotheories came up with a curated strategy of things we all need to work on in order get our rear in gear, and remove that fear!

First lets get in the right mindset.

You can’t outsource being CEO of your own life.

– Leo Gura, Actualized.org

No one knows your life purpose better than you, and no one is going to hold you up and guide you directly towards your goals, but if you focus on these habits below, you’ll realize that life becomes just a bit easier, and you have more energy for the things important to you.

I visited a number of sources in order to come up with this list – from Inc., to Readers Digest, WikiHow, Buzzfeed, a blog called BufferSocial, Time, and finally Life Hack.

So what did I determine from the swath of tips?

 

Here are my top 10 skills to invest in, in no particular order.
  1. Time management – Improve your time management skills by looking at your results regularly to see if you are on track or wasting time – Set up your calendar and having dedicated concentration time on specific tasks. Through time management systems, and recognizing that there is a difference between being quick versus in a hurry, you’ll improve here for sure.
  2. Learning to love learning – You need to learn new things in order to keep up with the fast pace of digital tech. That means using keyboard shortcuts, improving your typing speed, and your reading speed, for starters. If you can figure out MACROS on your spreadsheets you’ll be surprised how much automation you can get out of menial tasks.
  3. Communication is key – In a time when texting, email, and social media are the new favourites, try to use the phone more often. It saves on countless back and forth. And speaking of back and forth, be concise in your emails. Respond to calls and emails as quickly as you can, and when you can’t do that, set up a regular time to respond to your contacts.
  4. Multi-task misery – Learn to multi-task the right way, by cutting it out of your life. If you keep a million tabs open on your browser, you’re gonna have a bad time. Please remove distractions while you work and spend time with others. Turn off your phone, close your tablet, and focus on the task at hand.
  5. To-Do list – The ever popular to-do list is perfect for organizing your day into bite-size chunks. Make a daily one to automate certain processes, and really focus on the unique difficult tasks first. As the saying goes, eat that frog. If you want even more reinforcements, create a “to-don’t” list, of things you’ll never do, and stick to it!
  6. Attitude is everything – Expect failure and fight paranoia in life – Failure is common when you are exploring. But not failing is never okay. Keep positive and realize it won’t always be this bad, but it won’t stay easy either. If you ask lots of questions, aren’t afraid to do menial work, and spend 10 minutes a day laughing out loud, when Sunday night appears, you’ll be excited for Monday.
  7. Evaluate life – Make major decisions in the morning and divvy up your day based on your productivity habits. Assess your passions at the end of each year, each month, each week, and before you go to bed. If you can do that you’ll focus and delegate out the unnecessary. Flexibility is important too, but if you get stuck try this – pretend you are away from work and/or home for a week, and you only have a few hours to accomplish your tasks.
  8. Plan to make plans – Plan regularly! Build routines to start your day AND end your day. You are going to have to organize throughout the day too, so make an outline to insure you aren’t starting from scratch over and over. Please also set deadlines for major projects by planning ahead. You’ll benefit from organizing your desk/workspace, minutes saves hours, believe me.
  9. Community of colleagues  – Please be social at work, so that you have a support base and network to lean on in your endeavours, and don’t be afraid to say no to anyone. If you can learn to do that AND under-promise while over-delivering, you’ll definitely find the time to finesse your brand pitch about you and gain some fans in the process.
  10. Health matters – Your greatest resource is you. So build good habits to help you stop working and walk away after a certain point. Working smart doesn’t mean you also work hard. Health is important and managing stress, anxiety and depression are part of it. Try a standing desk for posture and circulation, get up every 45 minutes and move around too. Finally, pick a “Sabbath” day to refresh your soul, body, and mind.

 

So there you have it, I took all of the most brilliant advice on life hacks, and summarized it even further. No easy task, but worthwhile!

And that’s all the theories I’ve got for today! Are any of you already doing some of these things? All of them? Leave questions or comments, or send me an email! Subscribe if you liked this post and want to see more.

Otherwise, come back tomorrow for some love tips or something mushy related to it, at the very least.

Tim!

Lifting Bro (Work Hard & Work Smart)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

So I have this theory, right? I know, crazy of me to suggest this – I never have those.

But just hear me out alright?

I have this theory that hard work does pay off, but in order for it be worthwhile, you do have to work smart too.

One of my painting professors in my university fine arts program made this really solid point about the importance of getting a career in my second year.

He told the class on the first day, during a review of the syllabus and what we would need to in terms of supplies, that we should probably get a well paying day job if we wanted to be successful artists.

Wait, what?

I know, hear me out though! He said that becoming either a plumber or an electrician were a sure way to ensure we got paid while we stuck to the course of honing our craft and making connections in the marketplace and eventually finding a way to sell our work and make an impact in the art world.

I mentally recorded that idea because I thought it was an odd one, but also because I believed what he said almost right away. I had heard my share of comments about the futility of becoming successful as an artist, from loved ones and the general public. I needed to do what was necessary and make it happen for myself, I didn’t want to starve!

The idea of a starving artist isn’t exactly a new one. And where the heck did that idea of the starving artist come from anyway, and why is so pervasive in our culture?

That’s something that I want to talk about in the future dear readers, but which I will leave for another post.

However, let’s get back to this idea that my professor spoke about earlier.

He continued on to say to the class that the really talented people in school can never seem make it through the real challenges of life and so they stop making art. It’s the students who struggle initially in school and don’t get top marks, the ones that have to keep at it to get a win, and fight some hard won battles.

Those are the ones that typically become art superstars.

Now, this particular idea bothered me. Because I had always been good at art and was naturally gifted at it from a young age. I liked to draw and sculpt, to make family movies and so on. So I immediately thought to myself, “great, so I’m not going to make it because I have talent but I don’t have the commitment to stick it out.” And I was a little crushed. I carried that idea with me for the duration of my program and for a few years after I graduated too.

Granted, I did make steps to ensure I got a well paying job, but I kinda shrugged it off and made excuses for myself for a long time.

It was only recently that I realized what he was really trying to say!

No matter if you have natural talent at painting, music, comedy or dancing or if you simply enjoy it, the people who assume they know nothing and work hard to learn everything and continue learning as they go, are the ones who will eventually look back and see the formation of a career behind them and also see limitless opportunity ahead of them.

Richard St. John explains this idea particularly well in this clip about “why it pays to work hard.”

The real gift is not talent
It’s the ability to work hard
And we tend to underestimate work
And overestimate smarts
But in the end, work wins over smarts

Bold stuff right? It’s not entirely new, I’m sure lots of educators and coaches have stated this idea before, but let’s go back to my original theory for a minute again.

As I mentioned, I have this theory that hard work does pay off, but in order for it be worthwhile, you do have to work smart too.

Notice how I said you have to work hard abut you also have to work smart? That means you should always be working, no matter what. But unfocused work is not necessarily going to get you the results you need. No, you need to be prepared to fail. And to fail a lot.

Some people will tell you work does help, but that luck is a major factor in success. I would disagree with that statement, because if you keep trying, and try lots of different strategies, you will succeed.

It’s what some people call the numbers game. You see, the attitude of being in the right place at the right time also creates a scarcity mindset, and follows that same progression of thought which “talented” people have – that things are the way they are, and will work themselves out, with or without their direct involvement.

But that’s another idea which we can flesh out in the future.

What do you think of that theory dear readers? Should we work harder? Work smarter? Or a combination of the two? Leave some comments! Check back tomorrow for a movie review and maybe a theory too!

Tim!