Time Management 101: Add an Extra Hour to Your Day

Think of some of the most successful people you know. Have you ever wondered – “How do they do it all?” I’m not going to lie, I certainly have. The balance of work and personal life is not an easy one, especially when you are trying to do both at an extremely high level. But as I’ve found over the past few months, it is possible to increase your productivity on multiple fronts by making a few minor adjustments to your normal routine. Below are 8 sure-fire tips to boost your productivity and save time in the process.

1. Get organized. Highly effective people are organized people – period. Organization is the backbone of productivity and the first step to adding hours to your day. This may seem to be “easier said than done,” but you really can do it, if you commit to it. Personally, I have always been a fan of keeping things simple. A former manager once told me that there were four ways to approach a new item or task: 1) Handle it, 2) File it , 3) Delegate it, or 4) Get rid of it. Though this may be over simplified, but limiting your options does force you to take the action and get things off your plate.
2. Schedule everything. (…and yes, this includes fantasy football) Salary.com conducted a survey revealing that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour work day. Sounds crazy, yet we all do it! Wasting valuable time limits your production and costs both you and your employer money in the process. Keep one detailed calendar and refer to it the day before to get prepared.
3. Streamline your processes. Figuring out a better way to do something you do daily will make life a lot easier. Often technology can make a job easier if you are willing to look for (or pay for) a particular program or application. If it will help your cause, it’s worth it the cost. For starters, try Google or webware.com to get a listing of the most popular applications. (Webware lists the Top 100 applications as chosen by 1.9 million people) Bottom line, streamline your processes and you will finish faster.
4. Establish routines and stick to them. Your daily tasks will be easier once you figure out smarter ways to do them, and know when to do them. Once you get these new habits into your routine, you’re well on your way becoming more productive!
5. Multi-task only when it makes sense. Most people think: “If I can do more at once, I will get done faster.” Not always the case. If you’re doing something that doesn’t require much thought, it’s okay to multi-task. On the flipside, when you’re work requires you to truly concentrate, multi-tasking will promote errors and most likely additional headaches in fixing them.
6. Plan ahead. Now that you’ve established order in your life, you can think clearer, and won’t continue to get blindsided if things get thrown at you on short notice. The moral of the story – Plan ahead, save time.
7. Learn how to say no. (Really it’s OK!) One of the hardest lessons for me to learn, was knowing when to say no. Being determined, motivated, and career driven has many advantages, but it often leads you to being over extended. Making a good impression doesn’t have to mean accept every project that comes across your desk. Be selective and put forth your best effort on a few projects, rather than a mediocre effort on multiple projects.
8. And finally, don’t quit. No one ever said that adding an hour to your day was going to be easy. It will be challenging. There will be bad days, but you’ve put together a great plan now challenge yourself and stay committed! By executing the above, I have been able to add what feels like at least an extra hour to each day and you can too! Think about it - What would you do with an extra hour each day? Pretty soon, you’ll be the one everyone wonders about…

Have something to add to the list? Let me know your thoughts, I’m always looking to improve in this area.