In order to really be successful, every business needs to master the art of utilizing their resources in the most effective manner possible.

In other words, every business that wants to be successful has to figure out ways to maximize efficiency, so that the greatest possible benefit is achieved, using the least possible investment of money, time, and manpower.

Efficiency is such an important principle, that we naturally look for ways to optimize it in areas of our lives that don’t even necessarily have anything to do with our careers.

For example, one of the key benefits of having a boiler condensate pump is that it makes a boiler more efficient to run.

So, if you’re looking for ways to increase efficiency in your professional life, here are a few handy suggestions.

• Opt for the simplest systems that address your needs

A lot of the systems out there that might help you to increase the efficiency of various operations in your business, will inevitably be very complex. Some degree of complexity is, of course, necessary, but it should be minimized as and when it’s practically possible to do so.

The more complex the systems you use are, the more ways in which they can break down, and the more work it is likely to take to understand and apply them properly.

As a general principle, opt for the simplest systems you can use, that address your needs adequately. Among other things, these are likely to prove to be more robust over time, and less likely to be a source of ongoing expense.

• Allow large, undistracted blocks of time for “work sprints”

Plenty of people pride themselves on their ability to “multitask,” but research keeps finding, again and again, that trying to do multiple things at once only makes you less efficient at everything you do – not more efficient.

Habitual multitaskers simply do not get into the “flow” state necessary for achieving real, meaningful efficiency and focus.

By contrast, allowing large, undistracted blocks of time for “work sprints” – where you spend all of your focus on one task, and don’t do anything else at all (even checking emails) – is apparently the key to getting far more done, far better, in far less time.

So, don’t multitask. Time block instead.

• Stop trying to be all things to all people – do less, but do it better

The phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” is pretty well established, and goes back quite a long way.

The lesson encoded in the saying is that you can do a lot of things decently at best, but you can only do very few things really well.

Many businesses fail to be properly efficient, specifically because they are trying to do too much, in the misguided belief that they should attempt to “be all things to all people.”

Forget that notion. Instead, do less, but aim to do it better. The more you can narrow your focus, the more efficient you will be.