Less is more / doing more with less

I've noticed the trend lately from many posting on LinkedIn that 'the squeeze' is on. What I mean, is being asked to do more work, but in less time. I've also noticed friends tell me they often take work home just to finish by next day, but this is a PROBLEM. "Teamwork makes the Dream work" yeah...but if you are artificially getting the job done "off the clock" that's unfair to others.

It's also unfair to leadership who will come to expect 10 hrs work in 8hrs time, or 50 hrs work in a 40 hr work week. Also trending, is a never ending list of things being added to a job description. One way to address this is saying no, or suggesting the new task on top of an already unrealistic work load go to the person not quite topped off with 120% work to do. Lunches get cut, or you eat a 'sammich' and keep working but don't charge the hour, but you are present for 9 hrs. I'm pretty sure over the table this is not ok, especially if your company can bill for your work but you are not charging for it.

Technology and skills can help. Upgrading from Acrobat Reader to Pro or Blue Beam can cut down redundant work and unnecessary steps towards getting your job done, not having to print/scan then upload, etc. You can find faster ways to get it done like learn to type or do voice to text apps. You can make your trips count so you don't move as much and waste it in transit. You can organize in such a way to minimize time filing or do your work a bit slower one time, vs 3 times and correcting 2 times, which wastes other folks's time. Slimming down your desk can be 'less is more' meaning less to organize and more space to do work. Finding ways to fill in the voids where you are required to be present and are waiting on material, you can then start paperwork and finish after inspection or supervising or whatever you do.

I'm open to other suggestions...? Feel free to comment on finding ways to streamline, ways to say no to being asked to do basically what seems impossible amount of work in ever shrinking time, or using technology to speed up time you do mundane routine tasks, or learning a skill on how to process data and store/email/file and document.

8736 hrs a year is what we get( 24hrs x 365). 40 hours a week is 2080 hrs. Many get 80 hrs vacay, so lets say 2000 hrs. Take 40 more off for the 5 main holidays (used to be more) and now it's 1960 hrs. That leaves 6776 hrs "not at work" each year, or 565 hrs a month for sleep, transit, eating, family, rest, art, maintenance, -in no order. I honestly feel like I have maybe 60 hrs a month I can say is "mine" for my waking hrs.

Ok, your thoughts? (and beware - 'the Ides of March' is upon us