Ask anyone you meet how they are, and there is a pretty good chance they will talk about how busy they are, how there aren’t enough hours in the day, or something along those lines. Whether they are a stay at home parent, or work full time, most people would love to be able to find more hours in the day to get things done. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, there will only ever be 24 hours in a single day. And we still have to fit sleep in there somewhere. The trick is to be able to get the most out of the time you have, without burning yourself out. Try these handy tips that are easy to implement in your daily life.
To Do List
If it needs to be done, write it down. Carrying it around in your head will only keep you awake at night and even then there is a pretty good chance that you will forget it. Keep a notebook somewhere handy nd every time you think of something, write it down. Only have one list going at a time. Buy a notebook that is only used for your lists. That way you can go back to older lists if need be or add things to a list for next week or next month. Don’t forget to break larger tasks down into smaller chunks so that they are easier to complete. Apply realistic timeframes to your tasks. If you don’t give your task a completion date, chances are it will never get done. Lastly, enjoy the feeling when you finish something and can cross it off the list.
Outsource
There are many types of outsourcing options available to us today. Lifestyle Managers, Virtual Assistants, Cleaners, Gardeners, Bookkeepers and the list keeps going. Some of us embrace outsourcing, but there are still those that resist. The most common reason being that they feel they can’t justify the money. Just like tradespeople, the people offering these services are experts at what they do. They know the best, time efficient ways to complete your tasks. Take a minute to work out how long for example, it takes you to do the grocery shopping and run a few errands. Wouldn’t it be better for you to spend that time on the revenue producing aspects of your business?
Multitasking
It is common knowledge that women are fantastic at multitasking, but is it really such a great benefit to be able to do this? While it’s great that you can do five things at once, are any of those things getting the attention that they deserve? There are times when multitasking is good, for example doing some filing, or tidying your desk while you are on hold. The majority of the time however, if you concentrate on doing one thing at a time, you will accomplish more and with better results.
Plan your errands
Before heading off to run errands, work out a plan of attack. Try to get all of them done in one block of time with as little backtracking as possible. As long as you have added them to your To Do List, you shouldn’t forget anything.
It’s OK to say no
If you have too much on your plate, and you know you can’t get it done, learn to say no. People would prefer to be told that you can’t do it, than to expect it to be done, and then find that you have either missed a deadline, or not completed the task properly.
