May Busch* recalls the time she got a promotion through her relentless hard work and dedication — but then the law of diminishing returns set in.
As a newly promoted managing director, I was transferred to the London office to start up a new business line.
I knew I had a lot to prove but was committed to doing whatever it took to make a success.
Full of energy and excitement but without a ready-made team waiting to help me, I soon realised I had vastly under-estimated the scope of the task.
I ended up doing most things myself — too many things.
I worked longer and longer hours. My family hardly saw me and when I was home, I was too tired and preoccupied with work to be any fun.
I found myself becoming less effective with people and making poor decisions. I almost burned out.
Just as redoubling my efforts stopped delivering better results beyond a certain point, working harder probably isn’t the answer for you and your team either.
To get better results when you’re already working as hard as you can, here are three steps you can take.
Figure out how far you are from your optimal point
We all have an optimal mix of work and play that delivers the best results.
We all need a mixture in our lives to do our best work and be our best selves.
One way to measure the right blend of work and play is to consider the concept of diminishing returns.
At first, by working harder and putting in more time and effort, you get more results.
However, at some point you’ll get tired and putting in that extra hour of work won’t be as effective as the first few hours of work you did when you were fresh.
If you keep pushing yourself like I did, you’ll end up getting worse results from that extra hour of work.
That’s when your results will improve by sleeping, exercising or taking a break instead.
Maybe you’re working on a presentation and insisting on drilling down until you finish it in one sitting when it might turn out even better if you broke it into two-to-three sessions over a couple of days.
You might even come up with better ideas by taking a break and allowing your brain to surface new ideas.
Challenge yourself to innovate on the ‘how’
I love the title of Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.
That’s the bit I missed when I landed in London. Instead I kept using the strategy that worked for me for 10 years: Keep working harder.
I needed to find new ways of getting things done and driving toward results.
If you do too, here are a few questions that can help you innovate on how to get to the end result you want.
How could you get more done with and through others?
Think about who’s in your network and how you could leverage those contacts and relationships to generate new ideas or enlist help implementing your strategy.
How could you systematise the process and gain efficiencies?
When you have recurring types of projects, consider breaking them down into their component tasks and figure out how to create templates so you can save time in the future.
What new approaches could you discover from another sector or function?
Sometimes, connecting the dots from one area of your life and applying it to another gives you a simpler and more effective solution.
Flex your standards
When you’re a hard worker, it often comes along with a perfectionist streak.
In my case, that meant having high standards and applying those standards of excellence to everything I did — but that can backfire.
Like the time my boss asked for information on a client and I did a ton of research and produced a 10-page PowerPoint deck complete with footnotes and graphics.
When I handed it to him six hours later, he was disappointed.
“I just wanted a quick and dirty one pager, not for you to spend so much time on it.”
So before you tackle your project, start by getting clear on what’s good enough for the situation and audience you’re serving.
Working hard is great, but make sure you’re working on the right things and setting a sustainable pace for yourself.
If you’re leading others, remember that each of us has a different capacity and work style.
Just as you need to respect your own ways, make sure you respect theirs too.
So resist the inclination to make everyone around you feel like they must do the same as you.
To sum up, you must not sabotage yourself by making two common mistakes.
The first mistake is treating your time and energy as limitless.
It’s essential to set boundaries to preserve your energy, creativity and time for the other things that matter to you in your life.
The second mistake is thinking what worked for you up until now is still the best strategy going forward.
As you become more experienced and senior, the expectations of you will change.
The things that people look to you to provide will be different. You’ll need to change your way of working.
So the next time you have the urge to simply work harder to generate results at the next level, remember to run through the three steps I outlined above.
*May Busch works with smart entrepreneurs and top managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on May’s blogsite.
