I came across this article that lists various things what people do to reclaim time during the day. We all are bummed-out with a lot of things during the day. Simple changes can make a huge difference. Recently, I have been creating a simple task list in the morning (or the night before) with the minimum things I need to do to feel satisfied at the end of the day. This not only helps me allocate my time better but I am normally done with those tasks by late afternoon having the evenings to do whatever I like - either go play some sports, meet a friend or get a head start on some additional work.
So, here are some of my favorites from 80 Ways to Steal Valuable Minutes for Your Work Day:
“I also use my waiting-in-line time to answer emails and manage my calendar.”
“Leave the last task of each day ‘almost done’. Then in the morning you can hit the ground running. You won’t spend time deciding what to do and will start with a feeling of accomplishment.”
“Establish an early morning no interruption time. Use the first hour or two of work to work on things that require focus. You’ll get more done. Email, phone calls, and interruptions have a way of expanding to fit the time we allow them.”
“Take 15 minutes at a specified point of the day—maybe before lunch —to work on something that’s your passion … at the end of a week you will have put more than an hour into that one thing.”
“Exercise - It sounds counter-intuitive. You have to spend time exercising. But, research has shown that exercise boosts cognitive function, creativity, problem solving and productivity. In fact a NASA study showed employees who exercised daily worked at 100% efficiency after 7 hours, while those who didn’t saw a 50% drop, meaning it took them twice as long to accomplish the same thing. So, exercise, in effect, creates time.”
“Call - We’ve become so accustomed to doing everything digitally, trading flurries of emails, IMs and texts, we sometimes forget that we can get the same thing done in a fraction of the time with one or two quick phone calls.”
“Start scheduling certain days to do certain things, so there is a flow to your week or your month. This adds structure to an otherwise crazy week.”
“Keep your ego in check. Don’t let the popularity contest known as social media suck you in. If you focus on making quality stuff - from content to services, time frittered on Twitter and Facebook seems far less important - because it is.”
“Schedule creative time blocks. You can’t be on top of you’re creative game with endless interruptions. Personally, my best chapters, posts and strategic plans need about three hour time chunks for me to roll around in them and tie together the best parts. Undivided attention is the best time-bender there is.”
“Ruthlessly pare down your e-mail inbox - As a first step, cancel any e-mail newsletter subscriptions that you do not read anymore. If you subscribe to more than one newsletter in a certain category (e.g. innovation newsletters), choose the one that delivers the most value to you on a daily basis. If you’re still missing the other e-mail newsletters after two weeks, find out if they have a Twitter feed or some other way to receive their tidbits and advice. The e-mail inbox should only be for priority communication.”
Do you have any time-saving tips to share?
