Success is a result of hard work. Or is it? Most lawyers and other legal professionals waste a lot of time doing non-billable tasks, often needing to be more productive and satisfying. Working smarter to improve profitability, job satisfaction, and productivity would be best. It’s first essential to identify areas of unproductive tasks and find solutions that are best for you.

A law firm’s work is never done.

It is part of the job to work long hours alone. Lawyers want to impress their managers, co-workers, and clients. Many of these hours are spent on unproductive tasks, which take time away from more productive and happier tasks. Take a look at some of the differences between productive and unproductive work.

Unproductive work can include tedious, low-value work that leaves you feeling burned out and exhausted. This is a sign that you are letting unproductive tasks dominate your day. This type of work can include process-related elements, such as creating jobs manually, sending repetitive emails, copying and moving files, receiving legal services, onboarding clients, etc. All of these tasks need to be done, but they can be automated using simple workflow tools.

Productive work can also improve your job satisfaction. This work may be more visible to clients and helps you feel accomplished. Once the manual, inefficient processes have been streamlined, you can do more work that is valuable to your firm, your client and yourself.

Four tips to improve productivity

These are some simple actions that you can take to improve your productivity.

Make the most of your day.

Knowing how you work and when you are most productive is crucial. This will help you use your energy more efficiently. Some people are more productive first thing in the morning, while others do better in the afternoon. Is your lunch break a boost to your motivation or a deterrent? Are you prepared to take on complex tasks in the early morning hours? Would you be better at these tasks if they were done later in the day or earlier? You must know when and how you are most effective to have a productive workday.

Take a break

Take breaks. It is impossible to work continuously and expect 100% performance. You can refocus and reenergize yourself by taking breaks.

Use the 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule is also called the Pareto Principle. 80% of the output results from 20% of the input. You can maximize your efficiency by focusing on the most critical items first. You can do this by identifying your most important tasks and those that produce the most results. Focus on these tasks first rather than spending a lot of energy on low-value, non-beneficial tasks.

Invest in the best technology for the job.

HighQ can automate many unproductive, repetitive, and tedious tasks. HighQ’s adaptable technology improves the efficiency of all team members, from CIOs, IT leaders, managing partners, lawyers, and knowledge management leaders.

Small steps to greater productivity

HighQ can help you achieve operational efficiency by automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks. These intelligent, automated processes increase productivity and strengthen operations and workflow, enable seamless collaboration and insight sharing, and improve engage customer engagement. Reducing the amount of non-productive work won’t happen overnight; you can take small steps to prepare your firm for a productive and prosperous future.