It’s the changing of seasons and we are surrounded with the beautiful scenery of fall and the wonderful fresh scent it brings. With this change comes the time to reset your focus on what the next few months will hold for you and your family. It’s a busy time for all as vacations come to an end and priorities change.
All of a sudden there are more people in the office and the workload begins to ramp up, children are back in school and you start feeling the clock ticking when you look at just how much you need to get done before the cooler weather starts and the holiday festivities begin. I was driving around this morning and it’s official according to the radio, I am behind the eight ball if I have yet to start my Christmas shopping! It’s only a matter of weeks before retail outlets start playing the Christmas carols.
If you’re like me, your time is worth a lot!
I’m constantly searching for ways I can increase my productivity and that it not be at the expense of feeling stressed out, which we all know can have an adverse impact to our health and well-being.
Free time is the most expensive time you have because nobody pays for it but you.
Today I’m going to share a top 10 list of some of the best ideas I have found that have helped me save time in the hope that they will also help you.
1. Sleep, food and exercise are the foundation of productivity. Having adequate amounts of all 3 of these increases your focus, motivation and energy levels.
2. We all know distractions are a time waster, yet it’s easy to fall victim to them so I liked an article I read that covered off the concept of time boxing. It asks you to set aside 30 minutes to do the task at hand and nothing else – no phone calls, emails, Facebook, talking to others, putting dinner in the oven – Nothing!
3. Follow the ‘two minute rule” – if you have things that you can do in two minutes do it now rather than procrastinate or planning to do it later when it will take double the amount of time and energy.
4. Never walk empty handed! I like this one, every time I am walking from one room to another I look around to see what needs to go with me and pick it up. There’s always something that needs to be carted into the basement or taken into the living room.
5. Set your intention and never sit down in front of the computer without a plan for what you need to do there and how long it will take. Your intention may be to spend 10 minutes on Facebook – do it and then log off!
6. Too many things on your plate and not sure what task you should tackle first? Ask yourself what is the most valuable use of my time right now?
7. Consolidate all daily errands in one trip instead of driving to the store twice in one day or coming home and then leaving again to drive to pick up dinner.
8. Stop watching live TV! I don’t watch a lot of TV and have learned just how much time I can save by taping programs I do want to watch and viewing them later when I can skip over all the commercials. This is great for dramas, comedies and regular episodes of a series you enjoy but not so great for sporting events. Sometimes you just have to be willing to make sacrifices and watch a few commercials 🙂
9. Choose your companions carefully. We have all had at least one overly chatty colleague, friend or family member in our life. Stop enabling their behavior by setting limits on your availability, doing this in a respectful manner.
10. Turn off alerts on your iPhone. Set regular times to “check in” (see #5) and get your updates all at the same time rather than being drawn into checking them every time you hear the ping!
These are just a few of the small steps you can take to simplify things in your life so you can have more time for the things you really enjoy.
The choice is yours…what’s your time worth?
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