What are some uncommon ways to work smarter instead of harder?

A 'Brainstorming' Question indeed! Thanks a lot Mr. Noufal Ali.

First of all, I don't think that the ways to work smarter can be "uncommon"; Nope; most of the time people are aware of them but reluctant to go against the status quo. 

Below is a list of  some important techniques/ways by following which one can work smarter instead of harder:

• Get clear on the objective: Everything has an objective. It’s just a matter of whether you know it or not. What is the end objective you are looking for? The people who don’t know the objective of what they are doing, are the ones who waste the most time. If you know your objective, you can be laser-focused and cut right to the chase. The clearer you are, the better. 
• Create a vision: Now that you know your objective, what is your vision? See the objective as your direction, and your vision as your destination. Knowing your objective lets you know where to travel in, while knowing your vision helps you charge forward. 
• Take the eighty/twenty route: There are always many different ways to achieve the same outcome. Eighty/twenty route refers to the route that takes the least effort but gives you the maximum results. What’s the most effective route that will get you from where you are to where you want to be? Take that path. 
• Go for high impact items: There are endless number of things you can do to achieve a goal. Go for the most important tasks – the ones that cause the highest impact. For example in school, I would not attend lectures if I felt they would not make a difference to my learning. As I develop my blog, I concentrate on the key tasks that make the most difference such as writing high quality content for my readers and spreading the word about my articles. 
• Create structures to maintain your flow: If you know how motivation works, you will know it comes in bursts and waves. It’s not possible to maintain a hundred% full motivated state every single second. Hence, you need to create/leverage on your environment to maintain your flow. Examples are your physical environment, people you hang out with, your routine and communities you are a part of. 
• Stop being a perfectionist: Being a perfectionist isn’t all that perfect if it prevents you from achieving more. Release the perfectionist mindset. Stop obsessing about the details and specifics; they often take care of themselves.  
• Learn from others: There are great resources, smart people, direct opportunities and top books around you all the time. Learn to make use of them. When I started out in my personal development industry and with my blog, I read materials from the experts and consulted the top bloggers, which helped me gain important insights immediately. Even today, I continue to do so as I expand my work. There is never a stop to how much you can learn from others. 
• If it works, stick to it: If there is already a success formula that’s working, then reapply that formula. There’s no need to innovate or reinvent the wheel for the sake of it. Innovate only if there’s value in doing so.
• Automate: Is there any way to automate your tasks, especially labor intensive ones? It can be the simplest things such as setting up filters in your emails and using more functional applications that get the job done better. With The Personal Excellence Blog, you can automate several processes such as filtering specific emails to respective labels, having your new articles automatically feeded to Twitter/Facebook, and having automatic thumbnails for your articles. That saves a lot of time so you can get right to creating quality content for readers. 
• Delegate: For the lower impact items that need to get done (such as administrative activities), delegate them to someone else. If you are running a business, hire someone to take care of them.
• Review regularly: Do a regular review of what you have done in the past week and the corresponding results. Then analyze the things that are working and the things that aren’t working. With the former, keep them; with the latter, remove them. Very soon you will have a very streamlined list of things that work.

1. Learn to say "No."
2. Sleep at least 8-9 hours
3. Don't be a night Owl. Work in between  5am-10pm not from 10pm-5am
4. Stop multitasking.
5. Take more breaks: respect your natural attention spans
6. Spend time in nature
7. Move around and work in blocks
8. Limit your to-do list
9. Measure your results, not your time
10. Build “getting ready to work” routines
11. Track what you’re wasting time on
12. Exercise daily even if you think you have no time

Thanks for a meaning full Question. and i agree with Miss. Farhana Answer

 I think if we are Working on development and modernization makes things simpler and easier beside a hard working 

1. Use Smart Tools & Techniques, definitely a big fillip.  Tools can be management, productivity and the like. With this tech era, without proper tools you are in a Loss

2. Improve your personality as a whole, be more congenial and try to work as a team to get things done.

3. Reach out to and network with people, try to find out new maneuvres for working smart.

4. Improvise like the Japanese

Note: I dont know if these are uncommon, but just my two cents.

Find your biological prime time.

This is the time when your mind is naturally most focused. Fin it out and schedule some uninterrupted work time accordingly.

Schedule 1-2 hours just for yourself.

Having a scheduled block of uninterrupted work time will allow you to focus fully on your tasks

Divide big tasks into small tasks.

This will not only make the work more concrete and actionable, but it also makes it seem smaller and easier to start

Stop multitasking.

Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance, draining your energy faster.

Tackle the worst task first.

This will give you a sense of relief and energise you for the rest of your tasks.

Do everything that takes less than 2 minutes, right away.

Pretty straightforward. Just do it.

Block distracting websites.

Block all those sites you know you’re easily distracted by while working. You can use apps such as StayFocusd.

Use the Pomodoro Technique.

Time management techniques allow you to prevents burnouts and you will increases efficiency. Work on just one task for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break and repeat. Make a bigger break after three sessions.

Use room scents.

Certain scents positively influence your mood and mindset. Citrus stimulate alertness and revitalise the senses. Rosemary is perfect for fighting physical exhaustion in the morning; cinnamon improves focus and concentration; Peppermint boosts energy and clear thinking.

Eat “brain” food.

Blueberries, nuts and seeds, leafy green vegetables, avocados, fish and dark chocolate are great to boost your brainpower.

Watch your working hours.

Working more than 50 hours per week, will produce no greater results than people who work less.

Set a deadline for each task.

Having a deadline and limiting the timeframe for each task will allow you to focus and get things done faster. (Parkinson’s Law)

Drink coffee strategically.

Drink coffee between 09:30-11:30 AM and 1:30-5:00 PM when your natural cortisol level drops.

Delegate.

If 70% of something can be done by someone else, delegate it.

Automate daily and weekly tasks

If you have recurring tasks, find a way how to automate them. IFTTT is a great service to automate small tasks.

Use waiting time for small tasks.

Gaps are great for answering quick emails, reaching out to somebody or read the news.

Track your time.

Knowing where your time goes will help you to act on it and save more time in the future. RescueTime is great for this.

Do similar tasks together.

It helps you to optimise your time instead of wasting it by switching between those tasks throughout your day.

Do email response batching.

Schedule exact times when you are going to check and answer emails. In-between just delete spam and check if something is urgent.

Dictate.

Use dictation; it’s 4x faster than writing.

Improve your typing speed.

Having great typing skills will help you to be more efficient when writing.

Learn speed reading.

This way you can read more and faster, saving time.

Set the office thermostat to 70-72°F (21–22ºC).

Any temperature above 73ºF (23°C) or below 68°F (20°C) decreases your productivity by 10%.

Use a standing desk.

Don’t sit the whole day. Standing transmits a sense of urgency and allows you to be focused on the completion of your task.

Have a plant on your desk.

Having plants nearby increases productivity and indoor air quality.

Clean your desk when you’re leaving the office.

Chaos and clutter distract you and limit your ability to focus and to process information.

Take a power nap.

Naps boost cognition, memory, performance, reaction times and alertness.10-20 minutes naps are best to increase focus and productivity.

Relaxation, peace of mind and love what you do

Focus on the most important things

Best uncommon way to work smarter I think is to use the approach of being self-aware and socially-aware (within your working environment) to doing things.

This has something to do with emotional intelligence or EQ.

If we are so much aware of how the people can assist in a direct or indirect process, then we are able to work efficiently and get the things done smartly.

By Prioritizing your tasks, paying attention to details, and building and nurturing healthy relationships at work; which would in turn help you to achieve more efficient results through people.

1-Using Time Management Matrix (google to know more)

2-Approach more than one way for completing tasks that cant be completed the ususal way.

3-break big tasks into smaller chunks to complete daily.

4-Selecting times of full mental alertness, within a workday or even night time, to complete tasks requiring mental focus

5- For preparation of long reports, start with a draft (with content list) and get the agreement of concerned parties before completion (to save great deal of time)