We all live in a fast paced world where time constantly feels like it’s in short supply; indeed, the world seems to have picked up pace in recent years due to advancements in technology amongst other things. Today, we are more time starved than ever because, for some reason, we feel we need to be doing so much more than we used to… that said, we’re also becoming more mindful and aware of the need to take time out for ourselves.
Indeed, many people today are looking more to making more money than they are time. It seems to be more understood and appreciated that whilst we can quite easily make more money we can never make more time, in terms of the fact we each have a limited time here – and therefore we need to make the most out of the time we do have.
Many people get quite resentful of having to put so many hours into working for someone else, particularly if they don’t feel they are being paid what they’re worth and whilst time was once an overlooked and under appreciated resource, we all seem to be becoming more mindful about how we invest our time and make the most of our lives.
Time is an incredibly valuable and scarce resource; so now let’s look at some time saving tips to help you squeeze the most out of your limited time.
- ORDER GROCERIES ONLINE
When you think of how much time you could save if you were to simply order your groceries online and have them delivered to your door it’s a no-brainer. The drive to the store, the time in the store, packing bags, driving back, unpacking bags, not to mention the potential for congested traffic. A great way to move forward with online shopping is to set essential items to repeat on a weekly or monthly basis, and then select any specific items you fancy each week.
The great thing about online shopping, of course, is that it means you’re less likely to impulse buy; as supermarkets are psychologically geared to make you impulse buy with the various discounts, strategic placing and special offers in-store. When shopping online, whilst there are special offers to be had, you’re less likely to engage in impulse purchases such as the chocolate bars at the checkout.
- GET A CLEANER
It’s true that not everyone can afford a cleaner, but this can be such a time (and sanity) saver, particularly for busy moms. You can always turn cleaning into a fun game where if you have kids, they can get involved with chores as a playtime activity inspired by Mary Poppins. If it’s just you undertaking the cleaning chores you might want to set yourself a timer and see how much you can get done in thirty minutes, as this makes cleaning a slightly more engaging and manageable task as you are breaking it down into smaller chunks of time, which feels more manageable for most people.
- WORK REMOTELY
If possible, see if you can work remotely, from home, in a way that enables you to work flexible hours; this way, your time becomes your own. This not only saves time in terms of commuting to and from work, but also money, as there is a considerable cost associated with most people’s daily commute to and from work.
Similarly, if you study, online courses are often cheaper than traditional courses due to the reduced overheads plus you don’t need to travel to the course, pay for extra accommodation, and so on, meaning you save some money that could be better spent too.
If you run a company yourself, or have influence within your workplace, you might want to recommend Riteq as a tool to help manage workplace productivity – meaning there’ll be more leniency to allow staff to work from home, given the reporting mechanisms that can be put in place.
- ORGANISE YOUR TIME
The convenience of online working and online studying means you have much more time to enjoy your life. In reality, we often spend far too much time living in reaction to work – trying to fit our lives in and around our work commitments, yet it doesn’t have to be that way.
The amount of time you can save by having a good planning system in place is absolutely phenomenal… indeed, a lot of “time management” comes down to planning your tasks before starting them, so that you can keep on top of things and make progress where it really counts
- RELY ON A TEAM
Most people feel like they need to do everything on their own and the concept of delegating important tasks can be quite a scary prospect, particularly if you have a small business, but even in your personal life it can be good to assemble a team of people to support you and delegate tasks to specialists within each area; whether that’s high level business activities or housekeeping, the principle remains true.
- THE PARETO PRINCIPLE
The Pareto Principle, often known as the 80/20 rule suggests that 20% of our activities account for 80% of the final outcome; meaning 20% of the tasks you have on your to-do list will create 80% of the good stuff you want to bring about.
In simple terms, you want to focus on tasks that are going to have the greatest impact and get these done first. The first step, of course, is to work out what these priority tasks are.
The best way to go about this is to write a list of all your tasks for the day, week, or month and then determine which tasks are going to create the greatest impact; and make sure you do these tasks as a priority. Sometimes these won’t be pleasurable tasks, but it’s not about doing the tasks you find most enjoyable or effortless first – it’s about getting through the tasks that are going to make the biggest positive impact.
- WORK WHEN YOU WORK
Brian Tracy, a pre-eminent time management expert that wrote the book “Eat That Frog” advocates the idea that you work when you work and you rest when your rest; meaning, if you are sitting down to work – ensure you have a singular focus on the task at hand in a distraction free environment. Similarly, if you’re going to rest then make sure you make this time a time of proper rest and relaxation.
Today, particularly when working from home, people multitask by working with their laptop on their lap whilst having the TV on in the background, or even dropping in and out of a conversation with their spouse. By fully working when you work, you can drastically reduce the amount of time you are needing to spend working – and you’ll get the added benefit of being able to fully rest when you rest, rather than having one foot in both camps, half working and half resting.
- USE LISTS
The world’s most successful people have one thing in common; they all write lists for everything, whether this is their goals or their tasks for the day, it’s always written down.
Today, there are a number of apps such as Wunderlist that help people keep track of their to-do lists, and the great thing with an app like this, is that a number of categories can be created in addition to a high priority section.
The great thing about lists is that there’s power in progress.
Indeed, each time you tick something off your list, you will receive a physiological boost in the form of an endorphin release which will catapult you forward into making more and more progress, because positive progress can be addictive (in the best possible way).
Image Credits: Pixabay
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