Tips for Work
Most of us spend the most time at work, so let’s start there. If you
have a to-do list that’s a mile long — or worse yet, no to-do list at
all — here’s what you can do:
1. Do less. This is my favorite productivity tip,
as long-time readers know — simplify your schedule by doing fewer
things but focusing on the important things. This will greatly increase
the impact of the time you do work, decreasing the time you need to
work. What about the tasks you don’t do? See the tips below for more on
dealing with them.
2. Delegate. If a task needs to be done but is not
one of your most important tasks, and it can be done by someone else,
delegate it. Sometimes you can get rid of half your to-do list by
finding others who can do the task as well or even better than you can.
3. Limit your workday (or adjust your hours). If
you work more than 8 hours a day, by setting a limit of 8 hours you’ll
force yourself to focus on getting the must-do tasks done within that
limit. If you work 8 hours a day, try limiting yourself to 6 hours.
You’ll find that you’ll prioritize, work more efficiently, and waste
less time, so that you can get the work done within that time frame. I
try to give myself a 4- or 5-hour window on most days. What if you
can’t reduce your hours (maybe you’re required to work a certain number
of hours)? See if you can shift your work hours either earlier or later
than the rest of the crowd. That’ll reduce commute time if you don’t
commute during the busy traffic hours, and if you work when almost no
one else is in the office you can get tons more done.
4. Get the important stuff done early. Pick the top
2-3 things you need or want to accomplish today, and get those done
first. While on other days you might push these important things back
(and possibly not get them done at all), if you do them first the rest
of your day will be gravy. In fact, if you have the freedom, you can
sometimes even call it a day after you get the important stuff done —
the rest can wait until tomorrow.
5. Ask your boss to re-prioritize for you. If you
don’t have control over your schedule or to-do list, talk to your boss.
Tell him you are trying to be more effective with your time, and you
only have time for X number of things today (say, 3-4 things) … so ask
him to pick those things for you. Tell him if you try to do everything
today you’ll be less effective and may not get as many things done or
do as good a job. This prioritizing is essentially what you’d do
yourself (see the first tip) if you had the freedom.
6. Batch tasks. Instead of interspersing your work
day with small tasks all mixed together, try to group similar tasks and
do them at once. For example, instead of responding to emails
throughout the day, batch them and do all your emails once (or twice) a
day. Do all your paperwork at once. Make all phone calls in one batch.
Do all errands at once. This grouping of tasks saves a lot of time and
allows you to focus better on the important tasks.
7. Focus on one project and get it done. Instead of
juggling a large number of projects, set aside a block of time to do
one project until completion. For me, this often means setting aside
half a day or a day (I try to break my projects down into manageable
chunks) to work on a project, and I try to complete it if at all
possible. Often this means getting all the resources and information
you need beforehand, so you don’t have to look for it or wait on it
when you’re ready to actually work on the project. This also means
clearing my schedule, so I’ll get other tasks done beforehand and I
won’t schedule anything else for that block of time. Then work on that
project exclusively and try very hard to get it done. This, I’ve found,
is often the most effective way to work on projects.
8. Avoid meetings. Not all meetings are a waste of
time, but many are. If you spend a lot of time in meetings, but would
rather be doing your actual work instead of listening to other people
talk about things they could have sent you in an email, see if you can
get out of some of those meetings. You’ll get a lot more done.
9. Avoid long conversations at work. We’ve all had
long conversations with co-workers that were very unproductive — often
not related to work or anything important. Sometimes they’re long phone
conversations. And while I like conversing with other human beings as
much as the next guy — it’s important to maintain good relationships
and friendships — at the same time you could be spending that time
doing other things. I personally would rather get all my work done and
go home and spend time with my family. So I try to stay focused on work
rather than having lots of long conversations, although I’ll make an
exception now and then.
10. Learn to say no. This is crucial if you want to
have a simplified schedule. We all receive numerous requests each day,
and all of them are demands on our time. If we say “yes” to those
requests, we are giving up our time and committing to doing something
for someone else. But if those requests aren’t in line with our
priorities, then we are usually biting off more than we want to chew.
So learn to say “no” instead. Often this is uncomfortable, because we
fear it means disappointing others. But learn to tell people that you
just don’t have the time to commit to this right now, and often they’ll
understand.
Time-saving Computer Tips
1. Disconnect when possible. This is my favorite
computer tip. When I really want to focus on a task, and really get it
done, I will disconnect from the Internet. Sometimes this means just
closing my browser, other times it will mean disconnecting from my
wireless network, and still other times I unplug the cord. However you
do it, disconnecting from the Internet is a great way to get things
done. Of course, you’ll eventually want to re-connect, but having
blocks of time when you’re disconnected can be extremely productive.
2. Quicksilver or AutoHotkey. Quicksilver for Mac users, Autohotkey
for PCs. I’ve used both an find them to be indispensable tools for
getting things done efficiently. For example, we all have documents,
programs, folders and websites we go to frequently — set up a hotkey to
open them with a keystroke. It takes a little learning to figure out
how to set these up (but you can Google tutorials), and to set up each
hotkey might take a couple minutes. But once they’re set up, you’re
lightning fast. You can go beyond these hotkeys for more powerful
combinations, such as a hotkey to email something or resize a photo or
do a thousand other things — I have probably a dozen or so I use
regularly that save me hours when you add them all up over the course
of a month.
3. Keyboard shortcuts for email. Similarly, your
email program almost certainly has keyboard shortcuts, and if you’re
not using them you should learn them. By using shortcuts for opening,
sending, filing, searching and navigating through emails, you can work
through a batch of emails in no time. And if you add shortcuts (via
Quicksilver or AutoHotkey) for commonly used text or signatures, you
can zip through your replies faster than I can go through a batch of
Oreos.
4. Email filters. Let your email program do your
work for you. I use Gmail filters, but programs such as Outlook or
Mail.app, or what have you, all have similar filtering features. Learn
to use them and set up filters for your most common emails. This will
usually happen over time as you notice that you’re getting a lot of a
certain type of email. For example, I get certain stats and financial
reports relating to my work that I have labeled and filed by a filter,
so that they never see the light of my inbox. Then I can always go and
look in that label (or folder) to read those reports if I need to, but
don’t need to read them when I go through my inbox. I also use filters
to automatically delete emails from people who send me chain and joke
emails (harsh, I know, but I get tired of those), and to file
notifications from services like Facebook, Twitter, Paypal and other
services.
5. Limit IM, Twitter, forums, other social stuff.
You can spend all day chatting with others, or Twittering or going on
online forums or social media. And while all of these tools have good
uses, they can take up too much of your time if you let them. Set
limits for yourself — say one hour a day to do all of these things, at
a certain block of time in your schedule. You’ll have lots more time
for the important tasks.
6. Stop worrying about filing. I’ve written about
this before, of course, but I don’t really believe in filing anymore.
Everything I do is digital these days, both online and on my computer’s
hard drive. And I learned from Gmail that you can just archive
something and search for it later without any problems (I’ve been doing
this for two years with no problems finding things at all). So I do
this with everything: files on my hard drive, documents in Google Docs
and Spreadsheets, other types of online files. And my filing time has
been reduced to almost zero — while I used to spend lots of time filing
each day.
Tips for Home
1. Keep things clutter-free. I’m a big fan of
clutter-free homes and workspaces, not only for their nicer aesthetics
but because 1) it helps you to focus on what you’re doing instead of
being distracted by visual clutter; 2) it’s more serene and relaxing;
and 3) it saves time. How does it save time? It makes things easier to
find, easier to clean, easier to navigate, and reduces wasted time
reshuffling, sorting, looking through, and clearing away piles of
clutter.
2. Keep things in their place. Similarly, having a
“home” for everything saves time. You can have an uncluttered home but
not know where anything belongs … instead, have a place for everything,
and put things back in that place when you’re not using them. Make this
a key habit in your life — when you’re done with something, put it back
where it belongs. It takes a few seconds to do that, and saves time
cleaning up later, looking for things (how many times have you lost
something and searched long and hard for it?), and generally keeps
things neater and uncluttered.
3. Teach kids to clean up after themselves. If
you’re a parent, you know that keeping an uncluttered household isn’t
easy when you have little rugrats running around making a mess every
minute of the live-long day. Start your kids, from an early age, with
the habit of cleaning up after themselves when they’re done playing. So
let’s say they take out a bucket of building blocks and make a huge
mess — that’s OK, but when they’re done, help them to pick everything
up, put them in the bucket, and put the bucket back in its “home”. My
younger kids like to sing a “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere”
song as they clean. Make it a game! With six kids, this has saved us
countless hours of cleaning up after our kids.
4. Prep the night before. Whether you’re single or have a household full of kids, mornings might be a rush for you. Instead, create an evening routine
where you get everything ready the night before, so you can start your
day off right. This might not technically save time, but it gives you
more time in the morning to focus on getting important things done
rather than rushing through your routine.
5. Don’t watch too much TV. I personally have wasted entire days
watching TV, so I know what a big time-hole television can be. Instead,
limit your TV viewing time — maybe an hour a day? — and use the time
you otherwise would have been watching TV on more important things —
spending time with your loved ones, exercising, writing that novel
you’ve been dreaming about.
6. Plan your weekly menu. If you plan out what
you’re going to have for dinner (and even lunch) each day of the week,
you can save a lot of time. First, you can go grocery shopping and get
everything you need all at once — in fact, if you repeat the weekly
menu the next week, you can do two weeks of shopping in one trip.
Second, you can prepare food ahead of time (see next item), and pack
your lunch easily for work. Third, you don’t have to worry about what’s
for dinner each evening — it’s right there on the menu you posted on
the fridge.
7. Cook big batches. I like to make large batches of food, which is especially helpful when you have a big family. I’ll cook up a big batch of chili, veggie soup, spaghetti, or other dish, and eat the leftovers for lunch or dinner (sometimes it can be several lunches and dinners).
8. Do all your errands at once. This is the same as
the “batching” tip from the work section above (as is the previous tip,
and the next tip). Write your errands on an errands list throughout the
week, and do them all on one day. Plan your route so you do the least
amount of driving possible, and get it all done quickly. Compared to
running multiple errand trips, this method saves a lot of time.
9. Do your banking online, all at once. I like to
do this once every week or even two weeks … I have all my bills ready
to pay (actually, most of them are set up to be paid automatically by
my bank’s bill-pay system), I reconcile my online bank statement, pay
the bills, check my automatic savings transfers and so on.
10. Clean in one big rush. While I like to keep things clean by cleaning as I go,
there’s also the sweeping and mopping and cleaning the bathrooms and
things like that … and it’s a big time-saver to do it all in one big
rush. My whole family will take different parts of the house, and we’ll
do the cleaning all at once as fast as we can. We’re done in 30-45
minutes, and we can relax the rest of the day. Ahhh!
11. Get your workouts done in no time. If you don’t have a lot of time but want to stay (or get) in shape, try bodyweight exercises
in circuits, but make the workout more intense by trying to do as many
circuits as you can in a short amount of time. For example, do circuits
of pullups, pushups, and bodyweight squats (5, 10, and 15 respectively)
… and do as many as possible in 10 minutes (or 20 if you’re fit).
Create your own circuits with different exercises, or look for similar
challenges online to mix things up. Don’t do these intense exercises if
you’re just starting out — just try to do a few circuits but not
quickly if you’re still a beginner.
12. Keep a great big calendar. My family stays
organized with a big calendar on our fridge (which I also manually sync
with Gcal because I like Gcal). Everything goes on our calendar:
parties, meetings, school events, soccer games, music lessons,
birthdays, volunteering dates, and so on. This ensures that we don’t
overschedule, that we’re all in sync with each other, and that we don’t
miss appointments or events. And one big calendar saves time because we
don’t have to keep checking with each other or looking at various
schedules.
13. Get a babysitter or swap babysitting. If you
are a parent and don’t have time to do things, hire a babysitter so you
can find the time, or swap babysitting with another parent. My sister
and I do this, for example — we’ll watch her kids some days and she’ll
watch ours on others. It’s great because we have more time to do
things, and our kids get to play together.
What are your time-saving tips? Share in the comments!