Productivity Techniques:
Making Good Use of Your Time
Life gets busy. With work, family and other obligations, how do you even find the time to take care of yourself? It’s crucial to maximize your time throughout the day, even when you’re on the go. Here are some tips on finding small pockets of time throughout the day so you can be more productive.
Set It and Forget It-Great for a slow cooker, not a great adage for work. Whatever system you put in place you can’t set it and forget it. You have got to work the system for the system to work for you. If it’s paper or an app you must check it regularly. You need to move actions forward in a system that you trust.
Simplified To-Do List Most of us have a to-do list that is intimidatingly long. To keep it under control, take time during your day to scan your to-do list, then pick the top three items to work on. Just three. It’s tempting to think we are going to get ten items knocked off our to-do list but that rarely happens.
Consider Success To help yourself decide on those three tasks, ask yourself “I could consider today a success if I completed ___, ___, and ___.” If you have more time in your day, pick the next three priority tasks.
Break It Down Take those tasks you’ve deemed important and break them down. What is the next smallest step you can take in getting it done? When you can get a smaller task that will only take 15 minutes you can start to chip away at a much larger project in smaller chunks of time.
Two Minutes or Less The idea is simple: If you can get it done in two minutes or less, get it done. Send it, sign it, fax it, click it, buy it, burn it, write it. Whatever you have to do. Move it off your desk and off your to-do list.
Create a ‘Don’t Do List’ It’s exactly that, a list of things not to do. Add to that list-procrastinate, make it perfect, check email many times a day, attend a meeting without a clear agenda. Write down all the things that drag you down on a day-to-day basis. Then stay clear of them.
Screen Time You mindlessly scroll through pictures on Instagram. Read the latest post from a long lost friend on Facebook. Your crushing it but with candy crush, not with work. Add Facebook, Instagram and games to your ‘don’t do list’.
Create a List of Alternative High Impact Tasks These are tasks that you can be doing instead of social media. Meal plan for the week, grocery items needed, scan your calendar for upcoming events to get a pulse on the next few days. Have a conversation with your partner or your kids. A real heart to heart conversation.
Find the things that matter most and do those things. Live the good life, don’t watch it vicariously through social media.
Margo Crawford is a Productivity Coach and Professional Organizer with Wave Productivity. She works with entrepreneurs, small business owners and business professionals to help them get more focused, organized and productive in their workplace. She coaches by phone throughout the country, and in person in Phoenix, Providence and Boston.
This article was originally published in Green Living Magazine. Green Living magazine is the premier Arizona eco-conscious lifestyle magazine centered on your daily life and the way you express yourself as you live, work, and play green. We offer the latest in products, fashion, wellness, and home while enlivening you to make a difference in our environment. Our content is modern and has a wide-spread reach. Green Living magazine is designed to empower you with new ideas and inspirations using nature’s resources to lead you to a more sustainable you.