Time Management – Creating An Extra Hour In Your Day

One thing that we would agree on is that we could all use more time. No matter what we do it seems as if there just is not enough time to deal with work, family and individual tasks to keep our lives rolling along. If you could create an extra hour in your day what would you do with it? From what I have seen and read lately here are a few things that productive individuals do to squeeze more time out of already full days.

  • Get it done – whether you run your own small business or work for a large corporation most things you do don’t have to be perfect. Unless you’re a surgeon and are dealing with Life and death situations…just get over it already and get it out there – get it done.
  • End of day list – the one thing that efficient individuals due at the end of each day is to organize the tasks that need to be completed the next day and write them down. Make a list of the day so that you may begin first thing the next morning.
  • Block the Internet – many of us now work in environments where we have easy access to the Internet via a workstation or some handheld device that has easy access to the Internet. It’s all too easy to slide over To Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or a variety of other news sources. Each time you slide over to one of these websites you can almost count-on a loss of 30 minutes. Personally I have discovered the Chrome browser –  the StayFocused extension. While not a perfect solution it does remind me to be aware of my time.
  • Automation – take a hard look at the processes you do over and over again each day. Are you still doing these things by hand or with some outdated software? You might be able to do them faster and better with some cloud-based option. Google Drive comes to mind as an example of a cloud-based tool that helps me create efficiencies on a daily basis.
  • Delegation – of course we can do things ourselves and can probably do these things better and faster. However, that may not be the best use of our time. If we are in a management position or running our own business we might better use our time on time-saving activities or income-producing activities. The bottom line is just delegate.
  • The answer is no – the simple way to keep something off your to do list is not to put it there to begin with. Before you take on a difficult or time-consuming activity just simply ask yourself “what impact will this have on my time?”
  • No multitasking – set aside time to focus on just one thing and see it through to completion. Many individuals might be great multitaskers but actually doing too many things can be counterproductive…and this only lengthens your to do list.

Have fun – stay focused.

-RG