7 MUST READ, TIME SAVING TIPS

Oh no, not again! Another day without enough hours in it! These are days that happen to all of us and having just got back from a week off it is even worse! You know what I mean, right?

So I have decided to remind myself (and my blog readers) of the time saving things I often do when I am not racing round like a headless chicken. Those are the days that are busy but I still have time to think about and act on time saving activities.

So here are my 7 Time Saving Tips….

1.      STOP racing round and take time to think! Take a deep breath, clear your mind of the clutter and give yourself space to think.

2.      PLAN & PRIORITISE by carefully considering which work definitely has to be completed by the end of the day. This is ‘A’ Priority Work.

3.      CREATE A LIST that has all you’re ‘A’ Priority Work at the top. Work down the list without allowing yourself to skip an item because you don’t feel like doing it right now (oh, you do that to!).

4.      STOP PROCRASTINATING(putting of those difficult jobs until later)and work only on your ‘A’ Priorities. If you are anything like me (human), you will definitely err towards procrastination. Putting off those high priority jobs and replacing them with low priority ones, or worse still no priority jobs (e.g. socialising) definitely wastes time.

5.      COMPLETE ONE JOB AT A TIME and feel the buzz as you complete successive jobs on your list. The more you stick to your list, fully complete each job and cross them off the list the more you feel the buzz. By the end of the day you will be amazed how much you have accomplished.

6.      PRIORITISE YOUR ‘X FACTORS’ All work includes ‘X Factors’. These are the things that impact your time constantly -  emails, phone calls, ‘walk-ins’ (people who call in without an appointment or are there to socialise) and social media communications that tend to take priority over everything else. The key is to prioritise all your work including the ‘X Factors.’

This is something I always forget to do. By deciding which ‘X Factors’ need your immediate attention (‘A’ Priority - have to be attended to by the end of the day) you save loads of time. The rest are ‘B’ Priority – can be done tomorrow/another day or worse still ‘C’ Priority – these are not necessary to the job.

7.      TAKE A BREAK Now this is the one tip I have to admit I am really bad at sticking to. Let’s be honest none of us are perfect and that includes me! However, if you get to the end of the working day (which I nearly have right now) and you still have not had a break (like me) then make sure you do something to de-stress in the evening.
Stress is the biggest stealer of time. That’s because the more stressed we are the less able we are to think and plan and the more we are likely to procrastinate.

So what are your time saving tips? Share them with others now by commenting below.