PTL's Candace Benger asks; is there a better way to get what you need?

That can't be right, can it? Do less, get more? Surely it should be 'the more you put in the more you get out' – something that was instilled into me as a child, particularly around exam time.

However, as I have got older (and hopefully wiser) I have realised that actually it's about working smarter and not necessarily longer.

How many of us have to do lists without an end, both at home and at the office? Feel like we are hurtling from one task to another with half-hearted efforts because there is no time for anything more?

Now's the time (it is January, month of resolutions after all) to stop, take a breather and really assess what you are actually doing and whether there is a better way.

Time is an extremely precious asset, so there is no point in wasting it on doing things that you really don't want or need to do, or don't intend on being excellent at. Delegate them to someone who does, because chances are that someone else could do it better than you.

I find myself busier than ever before and there are some things which just do not receive as much of my attention as I would like them too, as there are just not enough hours in the day. So I sat down, assessed what I was good at and what I enjoyed doing and delegated the rest. Put simply, I decided to employ a cleaner.

I had been putting it off for ages, telling myself that it was a waste of my hard-earned resources paying someone to do something that I could probably do myself. But I decided to give it a go - nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that.

So once a week a lovely lady named Emily comes into my house and works her magic for a relatively small fee - and I can honestly say that it's the best thing I've ever done.

A small change has made a huge difference and I now have the time to devote to the things I am good at and those which I actually enjoy, rather than feeling the pressure of trying to fit too much in.

The Government is focused on getting people to provide for their retirement, rather than relying on the state, and the responsibility on employers has grown to provide pension schemes for their employees that offer 'good member outcomes'.

As a consequence there is more emphasis on good governance and naturally more requirements with regards to compliance, but most small to medium-sized businesses don't have a dedicated pensions resource that are skilled in dealing with the increasing responsibility.

I would bet my new cleaner (and she is worth a lot!) that pensions is not something they enjoy or look forward to.

I'm sure that given the choice they would much rather be focussing their time on what their business is set up to do. Unfortunately, it's not something that can be ignored and needs to be near the top of their businesses agenda, so it falls to an existing internal resource who has very little time, skill and motivation to deal with it.

I have freed up lots of time (see above), so pass it to me!

Appointing a specialist firm of independent advisers, whose day job is supporting, educating and guiding companies through the challenging world of pensions governance, can take the burden away from the business.

They can do all of the leg-work around identifying and agreeing the best and most appropriate solutions, whilst freeing up the company's internal resources to focus on their core business.

Written by Candace Benger, Penions manager, PTL.