10 Tips to Get More Done In A Day
Easy Tips to Help You Accomplish More Every Day
Don’t you wish there was more time in the day? Sometimes, but let’s be honest; I know I would still just waste time on all the unnecessary things anyway. More time does not equal more productivity!
Well, how do you go about making the most of the time you do have? You plan, you purposely do things, and you become ever-so-intentional with the day.
How about if I show you my top 10 tips that help me accomplish more in the little time I have to devote to important business stuff, get the rest of the household things done, AND still have time to catch up on my fun time.
Go through the steps each Friday before you end the workweek to plan and be prepared for the next week. Set these in motion and you will be surprised at how much extra time you have at the end of the day!
HERE ARE MY TOP 10 TO GET MORE DONE EVERY DAY:
1 – MAKE A LIST
Write down everything you can think of you need to get done next week. Set this list aside for a few minutes, get a drink, stretch, go to the bathroom, let the dog out, let the dog in, and now go back to the list. Immediately cross off all the things that are really not that important. Next circle all the things you can delegate to someone else. Highlight all the vital items, those things that absolutely HAVE TO GET DONE. Can you eliminate or handoff anything else? Once you have narrowed down the original list, rewrite this list based on priority. This is your task list for next week. Spread out the items so they are equally distributed each day.
Bonus Tip: You should have no more than 3-5 major projects each week. And no more than 3-5 minor projects to finish each day. Any more than this and you need to think about asking for help and/or hiring someone.
2 – TURN THE PRIORITIES INTO GOALS
While having a priority list is an important thing, when you add timelines and milestones to them, they become easier to accomplish. Use the SMART method for your goals/projects.
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- Specific – determine the who, what, where, when, and why
- Measurable – detail the key progress steps you will be taking
- Achievable – make sure the project is realistically accomplishable
- Relevant – this goal/project must be important to growing your business
- Time-bound – add a deadline to finish the project
3 – TIME BLOCK
Sit down with your calendar; doesn’t matter if it’s digital or paper. Think about when you actually get started working. That’s when your workday officially starts. From there, block out either 30 minutes or one hour time chunks all day until your end-of-the-workday time. Assign each of those goals/projects (from your list above) to a time block. Spend time solely focused on the task at hand. Unlike popular belief, you cannot multi-task.
Bonus Tip: it is important to know your optimal talent times. “What is a talent time?” you ask. That is the time of day you are best at that talent. For example, you may not be a great person on the phone first thing in the morning. You may be super creative in the morning. So, you would schedule your morning time blocks for the creative projects on your list and all the phone calls in the afternoon. Got it? Good. Moving on…
4 – BATCH PLANNING
This is similar to time blocking, but now we are planning the bigger items. For example:
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- Errands – Plan all your errands for one day; doctor appointment, post office, pharmacy, groceries, oil change, etc. Get it all done in one day while you are out.
- Social Media – one day take an hour and choose all your graphics, another day write all your copy, third day design all your posts, and fourth-day schedule.
- You get the idea, right?
5 – SCHEDULE IN PROCRASTINATION
Yes, you heard me right! You know you are going to do it, so why not plan in time in your busy day to have permission to procrastinate. No more than 15 minutes every hour, or 30 minutes every 2 hours. Use your best judgment, though. If you know it will be hard to get up after 30 minutes, make it 15. However, when our brain knows that we will have time later on to do nothing, the work will get done!
6 – REMOVE THE DISTRACTIONS
If you have dishes that need to be washed or laundry that needs to be done, make sure you finish those tasks before you start your day. Get up a little earlier if you need to or wrap them up before bed the night before. Set a timer. Put your phone on silent mode and out of reach for the duration of your project block. I’m not kidding!
Bonus Tip: I put in a load of laundry when I get up, start my morning routine and when the wash is finished, flip the laundry to the dryer. Then I start a cleaning task. When the dryer is done, I take a quick break to fold and put it away, and I’m off to work. Doing a load of laundry and one cleaning job each morning frees up my weekends!
7 – GET ORGANIZED
When you know where everything is and how to get to it, this will stop the time suck of searching. Plan in time each day to clear your inbox, refile digital documents, purge a drawer, or clear off a shelf. Over time you will have a clean, organized, appealing, restful, focused office space.
Bonus Tip: Clutter is chaos. I don’t care who you are or how your mind works, when there is clutter laying around, your brain cannot focus. Use baskets, boxes, filing cabinets, or move it out. Whatever you need to clear the clutter, do it!
8 – FORGET THE IDEA OF MULTITASKING
Trust me, it does NOT exist. Instead of making you more productive, it ruins your chances of focus. Because, when you have 3 plates spinning on sticks, you cannot give attention to each one as is required. You may have them all in the air, but at some point, you will lose focus and drop them all. Stay on task, focus on that one thing for a short period each day, or two to three times a day, and it will have a beautiful, professional-looking outcome.
9 – AUDIT YOUR TIME
Need a real eye-opener to how you really spend your time? How many times during an hour do you get distracted? Keep a pad and pencil on your desk. Set a timer for 30 minutes and start working. Phone goes off? Make a mark. Go to the bathroom? Make a mark. Answer the door? Make a mark. Get a snack? Make a mark. Answer a text? Make a mark. Check Facebook? Make a mark. Respond to an email? Make a mark.
When the timer goes off, count the tick marks. Were you really working that whole time? You would be surprised how easily we let ourselves get off task. Our brains are wired to be curious, so when something diverts our attention off the current task we are on, we immediately respond to the stimulus. That’s why putting into place all the above tips will give your brain less to be distracted with and at the end of the day give you more time and have gotten more done.
10 GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT
This one gets overlooked way too often. You are capable, you are good at what you do, you can succeed, you are strong, you are smart, you are talented, you are valuable, you are worthy, you are successful!
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