We have so much we want or need to get done per day, week, month, and year. And the to-do list keeps growing.
It’s not unfamiliar for career-driven people to work all hours attempting to get a project done. And it’s not unknown for introverted homebodies to get sucked into social obligations they feel they have no choice but to attend.
Lost time is never found again.
– Benjamin Franklin
For guidance on how you can quit working all hours and free up more time to do the things, you love or need. Whether devoting more hours to a passion project or helping the less fortunate the below tips can help.
Focus At Work
Parkinson’s law shows us that whatever time you have to complete a given task at work, the job will expand to fill that time unless you make a conscious effort to focus on that task and get it done in a reasonable timeframe.
To help you get stuff done while you’re at work, write down what you need to achieve and how long it will take you to complete each section. You can use a Pomodoro focus app on your mobile to give you a timeframe to work in, allowing you to work in short, manageable bursts.
In doing so, you’ll free up more time to get ahead of your next tasks, and perhaps even finish your work early so that you may go on to relax or enjoy yourself doing something else.
Use Apps To Your Advantage
You can use many apps to help you with your productivity levels and quest to save time in your work and personal life. There are apps to organize your invoices, finances, tasks for the day, and so forth. Take a look at the app store to see if you can find any that can help you in your daily life.
Say No More Often
You will have a myriad of opportunities in your life to choose from – some are work-related, others are sociable. Some entail learning something new.
Most of us are tricked into the frame of mind that being busy means we’re successful and winning at life. And so you may begin to take on too many opportunities – most of which you are not even really that interested in doing. To feel and appear “successful.”
Saying yes too often causes a drain on your time, energy, and sometimes your money and takes you away from your most important goals. Therefore, saying no more often is essential. Say no, if you don’t want to work overtime. Say no to the high school reunion that you don’t want to attend. And say no to agreeing to a course you’re just not interested in. In doing so, you’ll save a hell of a lot more time.
Do Errands One Day A Fortnight
Try and organize errands to fall on the same day. For instance, if you need to go shopping for a new coat, add on a few other errands you can complete while you’re at the shops, such as dry cleaning your clothes, posting a birthday card, or depositing money into the bank. Organizing errands into one day every fortnight will save you time popping out here and there throughout the week to complete chores.
Save Time Thinking About What To Eat
A large part of our time is committed to making decisions every day, particularly if you struggle to make decisions quickly. For instance, we need to decide what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. So to keep it simple, plan what you’ll eat a week ahead.
You might have porridge and fruit for breakfast, prepare a chicken salad for lunch, and a vegetable stew for dinner. Easy healthy meals will save you a lot of thinking and prepping time. Not to mention it’ll also stop you from spending money on fast-food too.
Prepare Outfits For The Week
Alongside deciding what to eat, choosing outfits each day also takes up time. To avoid five outfit changes each morning, you can either decide your outfits a week ahead or layout what you want to wear the night before. Add in your underwear and accessories to save even more time!
Silence Phone Notifications
Emails, eBay, and of course, social media are constant distractions emerging from your phone, buzzing and pinging for your attention. Avoid these distractions by going into your phone settings and adjust your notification settings to silent.
Silencing phone notifications will prevent you from getting lured into a recent sale from Target or a new deal on Wowcher when you could be getting your work done faster.
Hire Assistance
Help can come in all sorts of forms and free up your precious time, money, and energy. You might want to consider hiring a cleaner to take care of your home so that rather than spending your free time tidying and cleaning, you can enjoy yourself.
Another suggestion is to hire a virtual assistant for your business. Virtual assistants can help take care of a multitude of tasks from sending sales emails to dealing with complaints or data entry – there are plenty of things a VA can assist you with.
Wake Up Early
You’ve probably heard this time and time again. But waking up early really is a great way to get ahead of your day. It gives you more time to work towards your goals, plus it tends to be the most peaceful time of day, which is excellent when you need to focus and power through your to-dos.
So why not think about setting your alarm clock an hour early for tomorrow morning?
Do Your Important Tasks First
We are most productive and have the most willpower earlier on in the day. So outline which tasks are essential and need to be completed urgently, and always tackle these first. Plus, when you get your most challenging and urgent tasks done, it gives you a sense of accomplishment that converts into confidence and momentum to get the next most important thing done.
This snowball effect can help you efficiently get through your jobs with ease.
Call Customers Instead of Emailing
Flying emails back and forth can sometimes be long-winded. Usually, converting sales and resolving significant problems is easier to do during a call. If the person you need to talk to is busy, schedule a call at a time that suits both of you. Have your agenda ready before the call to go through anything of importance. Once the sale is complete, the issue is resolved, or a solution is reached, you can wrap up the phone call and save yourself time investing in a lengthy email trail.
Train Staff To Do Tasks Without You
It’s common for managers to need to ‘sign off’ on tasks before an employee can submit them to the customer. But the need for constant approval takes up a lot of time in your schedule. Why not instead train your staff to do the job to a standard where no checking from you is required or delegate this task of yours to an employee you trust.
In doing so, you’ll no longer be interrupted throughout the day or pulled away from what you’re trying to complete. Stopping and restarting projects at work is time-consuming in itself, therefore eliminating this issue will allow you to get things done fast.
Own Less Stuff
The more stuff you own, the more you need to maintain, use, and look after your things. The same goes for the size of your home, the number of cars you have, and so forth. Suppose you would prefer not to spend your free time tidying up the clutter in your home and garage. Think about downsizing everything you own.
Fewer things in your home and office space will make it easier and quicker to keep your area clean. Meaning you have more time to focus on the essential things in your life and avoid getting sidetracked by all of the stuff that’s competing for your attention.
Know What You’ve Done Is Good Enough
For the perfectionists and self-doubters, you may have noticed it takes you longer to complete tasks in both your personal and work life. The next time you begin working through your to-do’s, meet the brief set, set yourself a time frame to do it, complete the task, and then move on.
Doing well will initially be quite tricky. But, eventually, it becomes second nature and will, of course, save you the world of time too.
Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.
– Harvey Mackay
Time is your most valuable resource. Use it wisely to ensure you are living and creating the life that you want. And stop wasting it on irrelevant tasks that don’t fall in line with your values and desires.
Whether spending more time with your aging parents—or devoting more time creating the business of your dreams. The perfect time to start streamlining work tasks and cutting back on things that have little to no interest to you is now!
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