How to drastically simplify your workflow and get more done

Flickr/Matthew Pearce

"Life is simple," wrote Confucius, "but we insist on making it complicated."

Good advice … and timely.

In fact, Retired Navy SEAL officer and "Extreme Ownership" co-author Jocko Willink recently identified simplicity as the key to not just to effective leadership, but success itself.

The trouble is that we’re terrible at simplicity.

Nowhere is this more true than in the world of workflow. With so many conveniences at our digital fingertips, life should be getting easier. Apps, virtual assistants, and productivity tools abound.

And yet, if we’re honest, our workflows are anything but simple.

That’s why I’ve put together four steps — from some of the best names in business — on how to simplify your workflow and actually achieve "less is more." 

1. Start with your vision

According to Warren Bennis’s classic "On Becoming a Leader," leadership can be summarized (simply) as "the capacity to translate vision into reality."

Unfortunately, most leaders suffer from either a lack of clear goals or — worse — overly complex goals.

Both are detrimental to simplicity.

In an interview with Business Insider, Fannie Mae's CFO Dave Benson explained,

I have found that a business that can be easily understood within a few succinct sentences is worth a look. Who does the business serve, what are the two or three key financial drivers, and what is the distinct competitive advantage?

To embrace simplicity, you have to start with the fundamental, heart-level questions: "Do I have a vision? Do I know what I really want for my business, for my relationships, and for myself?"

Until you have a one-sentence answer to each of those questions, you don’t have a vision, and complexity will reign.

2. Find your friction

Once you have a clear vision, the next step is forecasting potential roadblocks.

According to Pulp PR’s fantastic infographic "Productivity Killers at the Work Place," the four most common friction points are:

• Meetings and conference calls
• Surfing the internet
• Email
• Daily commutes

How do you plan to address these problems? What actions can you take now to minimize future friction? Is that meeting, conference, or email really necessary? Only by having a clear picture of your most pressing roadblocks before you encounter them can eliminate friction.

In particular, take a long hard look at the tools you and your team use to be productive. Recent studies put the total number of applications and cloud services used within enterprise organizations between 508 and 759. This sheer number is a constant source of over complication.

Instead, look for meta tools that combine tasks. Memit, for instance, is a new startup whose SaaS replaces a host of clipping, curation, and sharing tools like Evernote, Pocket, Readability, and Buffer. It also automatically stores saved content directly to your preferred cloud provider.

Similarly, your overall workflow management system ought to prioritize integration. As WorkflowMax discovered, by combining lead generation, proposals and quotes, project management, time-tracking, and invoicing into a single program, businesses on average save "628 hours of time and $22,000 every year." In other words, less is definitely more.

All this means that utilizing a smaller set of digital tools that prioritize integration across teams and department is a simple way to decrease complications and eliminate friction.

3. Create a routine

In a nutshell, successful people build their lives around routines … especially morning routines.

This principle is equally true when it comes to shaping workdays around preset patterns, schedules, and rules.

Why?

Because routines provides a clear set of directions that answers the question, "What’s next?" This simple step massively reduces mental stress and anxiety, not only for yourself, but for your team members as well.

Moreover, routines eliminate choices. According to Margaret Heffernan’s article, 4 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Maximize Productivity, "limiting my choices frees me up to spend mental energy on things that matter more."

Lastly, routines provide detailed and repeatable processes regarding how to achieve your vision.

While it is important to implement a routine, a leader must also keep in mind that individuals work in many different ways. As long as one crafts his or her routine with the overarching vision in mind, it will be successful.

4. Learn to say no

This may seem counterintuitive at first, but once you establish a routine, new ideas (no matter how great) are the enemies of simplicity.

For a leader, the thought of not utilizing a great idea may seem perverse, but it is always wise to consider the effect on your team and process.

In particular, it’s essential to ask, "Will this serve and fit the vision?" In other words, will it create barriers or roadblocks in achieving the final goal? Will the disruption in schedule truly match the value of the idea itself? Does this idea simplify our business plan or complicate it?

As James Altucher — coauthor of the book "The Power of No" — puts it:

A well-placed "no" can not only save you time and trouble, it can also save your life.

Likewise, in the words of Warren Buffet, "The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything."

Cultivate your "no" muscle. And be ruthless. If it doesn’t support your vision, don’t do it.

Simplicity isn’t easy …

Simplicity is a battle.

But following these four steps will give you a fighting chance:

• Start with your vision
• Find your friction
• Create a routine
• Learn to say no

In the end, Confucius was right: "Life is simple." So don’t insist on making it complicated.

By night, Aaron Orendorff is busy "saving the world from bad content" over at iconiContent. By day, he teaches communication and philosophy at the local college. Follow him on Twitter.

NOW WATCH: Why women cheat — and what their husbands can do to prevent it