All Successful People Do This 1 Thing (Hint Its Not Work More Hours)

All Successful People Do This 1 Thing (Hint Its Not Work More Hours) This week, tzu siches been a lot of talk about 130-hour weeks being the key to success. But I dispute that.Im a big believer that success comes from working smarter, bedrngnis harder. In order to drive results, I think its smart to stay focused on the outcome not necessarily the input. Results are about smart project management and working well with others.And I belive there is one essential behavior that leads to more success the followup.Follow up is essential to your workplace success no matter what type of role youre in. Certainly, its critical for sales, but its also important if you are a project manager, if you are managing people, if you are pursuing a partnership, if you are fundraising or even if you are just part of a team.For many of us, especially women, its easy to be concerned that following up can be irritating or too pushy. Without follow up, opportunities, worksteps, and essential preparation ca n get lost. The focus you place on follow up will almost certainly make you better at your job.In sales, I find I rarely get aresponse until I follow up. Somehow, the very fact that youre following up on something makes it seem more important, and give you more gravitas. And, Im always amazed by the number of people that I follow up with who actually thank me when I follow up with them.When youre talking about peers or colleages, its easy to risk irritating people by following up. So Ive done my best to do it with a little humor to minimize the implicit judgement that people sometimes feel when they receive a nudge email. People may not love the follow up, but its likely that if youve had to follow up on something, they forgot to do it.Ifyoure doing a job search, follow up really is essential. Its easy to feel like people arent getting back to you and so theyre not interested...but the right amount of follow up can differentiate you from the pack and show the hiring manager you are serious about getting hiring.Based on my experience, here are some follow up tips Id recommend1. Build a solid system (and its not your inbox)Good follow up requires a good tracking system. Whenever I complete a sales call, for example, the first thing I do is make a musiknote in my calendar about when or what the next follow up should be. If you are doing large amounts of cold outreach, you may consider building a spreadsheet where you can track when and how many times youve followed up with an individual prospect.Whenever I have a conversation with anyone about a possible project or partnership, I make a note or add it to my follow up list. That way, I can be sure it doesnt fall through the cracks.2. Keep thorough notes, and use them in your follow upIn any kind of work, Im a huge advocate of keeping thorough notes. We are all so busy that its hard to keep track of all the things that were doing. However, when you follow up, its important to be acutely aware of your past exchanges with the person -- and to bring them to light. For example, when we belastung spoke, you mentioned that you were going to look into xyz. Do you have any findings to share?For note-taking, Im a massive fan of Evernote...its searchable and it even includes a reminder feature that is perfect for...well, following up.3. Walk the line between assertiveness and rudenessRecently, I received a follow up from a salesperson pitching me something that wrote, Immediate Action Required in the subject line. These types of glaubenszeugniss are very prevalent right now because they most certainly attract attention. However, I found it to be extremely off-putting. While I appreciated her persistence, in follow up (as in all communication), its critical to be humble and respectful. Consider a message more like this, Im writing to see if youve had a chance to review the materials I sent last week.4. Use some humorSometimes when you send follow up, the recipient can feel defensive. After all, the impl ication is you didnt get back to me However, if you can inject some humor or personality into your follow up, you can make the recipient a little more glad to receive your message...and a little more excited to be working with you.So this week, instead of putting in extra hours, see how much you can amp up your impact by following up a little bit more.A version of this article appeared on Inc.com.--Romy Newman is President of Fairygodboss and the co-founder. Sheson a mission to improve the workplace for women by creating greater transparency. Prior to founding Fairygodboss, Romy spent over ten years at The Wall Street Journal, Googleand Estee Lauder, where she held various leadership roles. Romy earned her BA from Yale University and her MBA from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women.Join us by reviewing your employer