When you are working with a looming deadline, accuracy can often be sacrificed to speed, but there is no reason you can’t have it both ways.
Pressure is a funny thing, in that, while it often brings out the best in a person, (insert diamond and coal analogy here), it can also cause fractures to form, if too much is applied over too long a period of time.
A good example being when you work quickly with a specific goal in mind and a set target, it can be stressful ensuring that you maintain a certain standard, without dipping in quality.
So, if you want to work away like an eight-armed octopus, but are concerned about sacrificing accuracy to speed, how can you ensure a perfect blend of efficiency and precision that won’t lead to burnout or further stress?
Practice time management
Pressure can come from a number of sources. For example, your personal life, familial obligations, your health and workplace stressors, to name a few. In the working environment, deadlines are frequently at the core of your day-to-day operations and if you approach them in a pressure-induced frenzy, you may find that inaccuracy is an all-too-common byproduct.
The best way to avoid inaccuracy caused by something being completed in a rush, is to sit down and strategise.
By drawing up a rough idea of what needs to be done, how, the resources you will need and how the final product should look, you have a general outline of what is achievable in the amount of time you have at your disposal.
By improving your time-management skills and being realistic about what is possible, you will find that you can establish a routine that fits in with the demands of your working day, while also leaving time for anything unknown that might crop up. You can’t plan for everything, but you can strategise for most occurrences, within reason.
Test yourself
There is an old adage called Parkinson’s Law, that is along the lines of, you fill the time that you know you have. Basically, if you know you have five hours for a project, then you are likely going to use all of that time, even if you could have optimised it a little better.
So, the next time you have a looming deadline, rather than bringing it down to the wire, why not push yourself to get it all done a little quicker. By testing yourself you can work on those all important time-management skills and encourage yourself to work smarter, still leaving yourself enough time to review what you have done.
Setting yourself practice projects, where you actively time yourself and implement your hard and soft skills, where the focus is on both accuracy and speed, is a fantastic way to improve in a setting that is relatively risk free. Those newfound abilities can then be applied to real-world tasks.
Eliminate distractions
We all respond differently to the stress that comes with a deadline. Some people can knuckle down, focus and get the job done, but many others can be distracted, with the deadline itself fuelling the pressure. If you are in the second category, the best way to work quickly and efficiently is to remove all forms of distraction.
That might be any pets you have in the room, your mobile phone, a running television, even any music that you might be playing in the background. It is not about establishing an isolation chamber, but rather, allowing yourself to work with speed, without external or irrelevant influences creeping in and stealing your attention.
Additionally, a focus on comfort can help you stick to the task at hand. For example, an ergonomic chair or other health-oriented working apparatus, well-ventilated rooms with heat control, acceptable noise levels, clean spaces and so on. For many, an organised space is the first step in ensuring an organised working mindset.
Limit your resources
One easy way of prioritising both accuracy and speed is ensuring that you aren’t overdoing it with the resources. Rather than using a bunch of tools, techniques or outside sources, narrow it down and make sure that what you have selected is reputable and relevant to your work.
This means that you aren’t trawling through useless or discredited content and can instead focus on a few items that add something of value to your project. Basically, quality over quantity.
Also, try to limit the amount of tabs or screens you have open. If you are constantly jumping between sources, especially ones that don’t pertain to your work, then you could increase your chances of making an error.
When it comes down to it, we all make errors, especially when we are working quickly. But learning how to merge accuracy and speed is a great skill to have and one that will always stand to you. So, why not put some of what you have read into practice and start your upskilling journey now? After all, it is never too late.
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