I have definitely noticed that some people I have worked with work quicker than others. I can give one person a project and have it be done in 20 minutes, and another person the same project and have it take 1 hour, and both people can be giving it their honest best effort the full time. (Like, not a situation of one person goofing around on Facebook while the other works; both working hard, but one works faster than the other.) I think the root of the difference is partially in personality and more in how the individuals' work style was cultivated through their home and school environments as they were youngsters; however, that means much of it is learned, and can be learned as an adult, though harder at that point.
I'm not sure, though, how to go about learning it
At its core, it seems to be a difference in the processing/functioning speed of the person. So, my unbased opinion would be that one way to work on speeding it up would be to practice being quicker in general. Train your mind to operate more quickly. My theory is that your mind is capable of working quicker, but is used to working slowly, so if you train it to work more quickly, then it will transfer those skills to work, too. So…
Need to fold laundry? Time yourself, and try to beat your former best time. Last week it took 10 minutes to fold the load of towels? This week try for 9.
Handed a pile of workpapers from the client that need to be alphabetized? Race yourself to see how fast you can get them sorted.
Got some free time? Look for a basic arithmetic worksheet. Here's an example where you can make your own: https://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/math-worksheets/basic-math/math-worksheets.php Generate a PDF of 100 addition problems, just with basic numbers (1-15, no crazy 1367+4561), and time yourself going through the sheet. Generate 3 different versions of it, 100 questions each, and rotate through them. We had a similar sheet in our school curriculum, and we got pretty quick at them. My siblings and I would compare times and yes, I'll admit that I felt inferior if I couldn't beat my 2.5 and 5 year older siblings' speeds, so I put a lot of effort into these. 😉 However, even when I was doing algebra in highschool, I'd sometimes go back and borrow a younger siblings' timesheet (as we called them) just to reinforce the quick math skills. So, do some of these. Maybe do all 3 sheets once a day. Should take less than 10 minutes total once you're practiced with them.
Come up with more ways you can train yourself in speed. Think of everything as a NASCAR pitstop. The goal is to force your mind and body to function in quick mode. You don't need to be doing complex things for these “trainings”, though; just simple things that you can do quickly. Once you get the speed, the complexity can come later.
I don't know for sure this works. I'm just an armchair psychologist, as they say. 🙂 But, I think it might. You don't want workpapers to be the only place you push for speed, cause if they are, you're likely to make mistakes. But if you can train yourself to be efficient in general, then it will naturally carryover into your work, and soon you can be the star performer that people watch work and say “I can't keep up with them and have no clue how they can get so much done so quickly”.
P. S. The faster you work, the more time you have for play! 🙂
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