Five strategies for working efficiently without stress

Faster, further, better: the pace of our daily routines is relentless. Here are five strategies that you can use to integrate efficient working into your everyday life and reduce stress.

Strategy 1: Optimise time management

Imagine you have to prepare an important presentation that requires extensive research and time to perfect the content and layout. Instead of worrying about the mountain of tasks in front of you, divide your to-dos into manageable chunks. Sounds simple? It is.

Set goals using the SMART method

The abbreviation “SMART” stands for five criteria that can help you to formulate your goals in a precise and realisable way:

Specific: Describe your goal as specifically and precisely as possible. Instead of “Complete the presentation”, it could read “Collect all the data for the presentation by Friday and create the first drafts by Monday”.

Measurable: Use clear key figures or indicators to measure your progress. For example, you could create a checklist that covers every sub-task relating to your presentation and gives you a good feeling with every green tick.

Achievable: Challenging but realistic is the motto! Always consider your resources, abilities and limitations when setting yourself goals.

Relevant: You are certainly not interested in creating a presentation with no benefit to yourself or your company. Make sure that the pursuit of your goals remains meaningful and always serves a higher purpose.

Time-bound: Set yourself a clear deadline or date by which you want to achieve your goal. This keeps you focussed and prevents to-dos from being postponed indefinitely.

Use the Eisenhower matrix for prioritisation

Those who are clever set priorities. The Eisenhower matrix, for example, is useful for doing this. Use this simple table to divide your tasks into four categories. This allows you to concentrate on the really important tasks and put unimportant activities to one side:

• urgent and important
• urgent but unimportant
• important but not urgent
• not important and not urgent
• urgent and important
• urgent but unimportant
• important but not urgent
• not important and not urgenz

Strategy 2: Delegate and promote teamwork

Are you one of those people who prefer to do everything themselves? To put it more dispassionately: Take it down a gear! There is no shame in asking for help or delegating tasks. What’s more, if you actively involve your employees in your tasks, this can also increase efficiency and motivation within your team. On top of that, you can make better use of existing resources and promote the individual strengths of your team members. And this is how it works:

• ensure clear communication. Explain the purpose of the task, its importance for the overall objective and the desired results. The better your colleagues understand why they are taking on a task, the more committed they will be.
• Select the right tasks. Make sure that the person to whom you delegate a task has the necessary skills and resources to master it.
• Give your team members autonomy and avoid unnecessary micromanagement. This shows that you trust them to work independently.
• Set clear goals and criteria for successful execution. This way, your colleagues know exactly what is expected of them.
• Offer support and be prepared to answer questions. Regular feedback also strengthens team spirit and boosts motivation.
• Show appreciation in the form of praise or other rewards for the help you are given from your colleagues. This strengthens the self-esteem and future initiative of each individual.
• Accept that mistakes can happen. If something goes wrong, use this as an opportunity for constructive feedback and shared learning. The team should focus on how to work better together in the future instead of apportioning blame.
• Create a culture of open communication in which all stakeholders can raise concerns, questions or suggestions. This promotes trust and helps to clarify misunderstandings at an early stage.

Strategy 3: Plan breaks and recovery phases

Regular breaks are essential for efficient working. If you work continuously without interruption, the stress level in your body increases and your performance decreases. Short breaks can help us to work at a higher level of productivity for longer. They also promote concentration and support the creative processes that take place in your brain.

A proven method for incorporating regular breaks is the Pomodoro technique: You concentrate on working for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break.

By the way: in Switzerland, rest breaks are regulated by the Working Hours Act, which states that, “Work must be broken up by breaks of the following minimum duration: a. a quarter of an hour for a daily working time of more than five and a half hours; b. half an hour for a daily working time of more than seven hours; c. one hour for a daily working time of more than nine hours.

After a working day, a rest break of at least 11 hours is required by law. This means that there must be at least 11 hours of uninterrupted rest between the end of one working day and the start of the next.

Strategy 4: Use technology and tools

Rummaging through filing cabinets, checking emails, answering enquiries, writing circular emails, making phone calls… Just a few years ago, office workplaces were chaotic. But since the introduction of mobile working, modern tools for communication and task distribution have been permanently in vogue.

Free chat apps and organisation tools

Smart people use free chat apps and organisational tools to quickly coordinate, send files and hold video conferences. Like this one:

Slack specialises in business needs. The program facilitates team organisation, communication and integration with services such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Skype is known for chat, telephony and video transmissions, including screen sharing. The tool is ideal for smaller companies.

Trello is an organisational platform that facilitates teamwork and task management. It can be integrated and combined with other services such as Slack or Google Drive.

Microsoft Teams was developed specifically for companies as part of Office 365. It offers Office product integration and team organisation, including a calendar board.

Jitsi is a free open source video conferencing service, which offers high quality and data protection across all platforms. Its service also makes it possible to live stream, record and much more.

Work efficiently thanks to artificial intelligence

No need to look so worried! Contrary to what you might think, working with AI is not difficult or even dangerous – provided you are smart about it and don’t blindly rely on the technology. In fact, AIs can make your day-to-day work much easier. Large language models such as the free ChatGPT tool can support you in creating and correcting texts, formulating emails, finding ideas, initiating translations, structuring presentations and many other activities.

The key to working efficiently and reducing stress: good prompts – i.e. instructions that you give the AI to get the desired response. 

Tools and services from FLYERALARM for efficient working

Arguably the best method for reducing stress is to use clever business solutions and services that minimise your own workload. Here are some examples:

Design advertising material online

Designing flyers, T-shirts, mugs, posters, banners, postcards or other advertising materials online is really simple. With the FLYERALARM online design tool, you don’t need any prior knowledge or graphic design expertise. All you need is a little creativity, the intuitive program has the rest on hand for you. More specifically: over a million design templates sorted by industry; a huge database of licence-free images; upload function for your own photos; graphics and logos; and much more. Creating your own promotional material has never been so easy!

More about the online design tool

Commission design professionals

With the FLYERALARM layout and design service, all you need is a product of your choice from the online shop and a rough layout idea. Describe your ideas as precisely as possible and experienced graphic designers will design your layout according to your wishes. And the best bit? Even before the design professionals start, you will receive a cost estimate for maximum transparency.

More about the layout and data service

Strategy 5: Develop routines and habits

Especially when working from home, many people find it difficult to develop and maintain healthy routines. Yet rituals are real superfood for our brains! If you make certain activities a habit, they require less conscious mental effort to carry out. You can then use the energy saved in this way to tackle other tasks.

But how do you develop healthy habits? Well, for example, you could start your day with a little exercise to get your circulation going. Then create a short to-do list for yourself to structure your day and only then move on to the first coffee or tea of the day.

Conclusion: A strategic approach for efficient work

Good time management, clear goal setting and prioritisation, teamwork, regular breaks and the development of routines have all been proven to increase your productivity and reduce unhealthy stress. You can also use clever tools and services to minimise your workload. Artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT can also support you with in a variety of tasks.

Last but not least: stay calm. Even when the world is turned upside down again.