Smart Work

Organise your way to renewed focus and calm

Smart Work: How to Increase Productivity, Achieve Balance and Reduce Stress is the busy professional's guide to getting organised in the digital workplace. Are you drowning in constant emails, phone calls, paperwork, interruptions and meeting actions? This book throws you a lifeline. Whether your workforce is in person, hybrid, or remote, Smart Work shows you how to take advantage of your digital tools to reprioritise, refocus and get back to doing what’s important. You may already have the latest technology, but if you're still swamped, you're not using it to your advantage. This useful guide shows you how to centralise and organise your workflow for better outcomes. With Smart Work, you'll develop a simple and sustainable productivity system to manage your inputs and realise your goals.

Like most professionals, you want to do great work and achieve great things. But when half your day is spent on emails, phone calls and 'extra' duties, you rarely get a chance to shine. This book changes that. Get back in control so you can start performing like a star.

• Get organised, focused and proactive
• Conquer the daily incoming deluge
• Spend more time on the important work
• Leverage your desktop and mobile technology
• Optimise your tools for remote and hybrid work

When work is coming at you from every direction, it's difficult to focus and prioritise. Things get lost in the shuffle. But when you channel everything into a single stream, you settle into a flow and get more done in less time. Smart Work is your guide to finding your flow—and the bottom of your inbox.

This book is part of the Smart Productivity series, helping readers find practical solutions for better managing their time, energy and focus.

About the Author xiii

Acknowledgements xv

Preface xvii

Introduction xxi

Part I: Centralise Your Actions 1

1 Consolidate your work 5

2 Schedule it forward 27

3 Focus your day 51

Part II: Organise Your Inputs 71

4 Reduce the noise 75

5 Keep it simple 97

6 Process to empty 117

Part III: Realise Your Outcomes 137

7 Identify your value 141

8 Make time to plan 149

9 Fight for importance 163

Next steps 185

Index 191

DERMOT CROWLEY is an author, speaker, and the founder and director of Adapt Productivity, a leading training and coaching service in Australia.

Are You Drowning in Emails, Overwhelmed by Your Workload and Struggling to get Ahead in this New Work World?

Today’s workplace has drastically changed. Not only do we need to manage increased workloads and competing priorities, but we also have to adjust to a new standard of working – the hybrid workplace. Smart Work is here to help.

Written by leading productivity expert Dermot Crowley, this revised and updated edition shows how you can turn technology to your advantage and develop a simple, modern and sustainable productivity system that works, whether you’re working in the office, at home, or in a hybrid environment.

You’ll learn how to:

• centralise all your commitments and priorities
• organise your inbox and email actions
• realise your goals and make time for the work that matters.

Smart Work teaches you practical strategies for working in a demanding workplace, no matter where it is.