How To Reduce the Need for Low-Value Tasks (and what high-value tasks you can replace them with)

It’s inevitable. After a while, you realise that you’ve been wasting your time at work on trivial matters while neglecting the most important tasks. You’re stuck with a job schedule that doesn’t match up with your expectations.

After coming to terms with this unsettling truth, the next step is the most difficult: taking action. Difficult to put into practice because low-quality work has a habit of following you around and seeming to be important. Since it’s simpler to say “yes” than “no,” you simply end up saying “yes” to a lot of unimportant requests because other people’s priorities take precedence, the urgent gets prioritised over the important, and you have to follow arbitrary procedures at work.

There is a way to end this, however. By reducing the need for low-value tasks, you can have a much more efficient work schedule. Read on to find out more. 

Outsource 

When done well, outsourcing can do wonders for a company’s productivity. When particular tasks are outsourced, the remainder of the work can be done with greater efficiency, and employees can focus on what they should be doing rather than taking on extra tasks because there is no one else available to perform them.

When it comes time to pay taxes or handle other financial matters, outsourcing accounting services can be a time-saver. Even if you prefer to do things yourself, at least outsource the heavy lifting. In other words, enlist the help of a trusted tax-filing platform. They will not only have live help should you need it, but also specific calculators that include the latest 2022 W4 calculator, as well as calculators for crypto, self-employment, and basic income tax.

Another option is to hire an outside firm to handle your marketing for you, as this is a task that is best left to professionals and cannot be rushed.

A personal assistant, or even a virtual one, can be a great asset if you work alone. In spite of the extra expense, having an assistant take care of mundane but necessary errands like scheduling flights and accommodation, researching shipping costs, writing emails, and even answering the phone can free you up to focus on the work at hand.

Have The Right Equipment 

If you want to reduce the time spent on low-value tasks so you can do much more high-value tasks and create more profits for your business, you’ll need to have the right equipment. This could include machinery, automation tools, or perhaps a digital duplicator machine. What you need will depend on what you do in your business. 

When you have the right equipment – that is, equipment designed for the job you want it to do that is high quality and works efficiently – you can reduce the time you are currently spending on necessary but low-value tasks, giving you more time to work the more important aspects of your job. 

Make A To-Do List

Maybe you’re not getting anything done because you’re too stressed out about everything you have on your plate. If so, make a daily to-do list and tick off each item when it’s completed. Mark each item as either “urgent and important,” “urgent but not important,” “important but not urgent,” or “not urgent and not important.” In this way, you can determine which tasks are more pressing.

Tasks that aren’t crucial or time-sensitive can be put off until tomorrow, and so on.

And there you have it – just a few ways you can reduce wasted time in your workplace, and how you can fill your time better instead.