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Free Up More Time in Your Day15 Jul 2015

If your initial reaction to this is: "easier said than done", we're happy to offer some quick and useful tips on how to actually squeeze more out of your day.

A significant part of getting good at achieving more in less time is finding and keeping an appropriate state of mind. Agreeing with the general feeling, that there is just never enough time for doing all the things that need doing will guarantee low efficiency, won't it?
Therefore, once you accept that it is possible to change the way you work and get more done without running 11-hr workdays, here are some clues on how to get better at playing the time:

Limit distractions

This is not just about the people chatting around you in the office (headphones recommended), it's also beneficial to mute the phone and log out from the inbox. Indeed, you can decide when to call people back and how many times a day it's necessary for you to check email.

Plan a time-frame and stick to it

If you know how long a task should take, you're giving yourself a better chance at getting it done in time.

Automate

Use keyboard short-cuts, email templates, reuse document content etc. If there is anything you've done before, chances are it wouldn't be so hard to do it much quicker next time round..

Do the hardest and most important thing first

This way you'll make sure you have the best of your energy for the things that matter the most. Also, having done the biggest task first thing in the day should create a better mind-frame for the rest of the day.

Delegate things whenever possible

This will not be possible for all of us, but - if you're lucky enough to have someone who can take something off your hands, use this to your advantage.

Eat and sleep right

May seem obvious, but stressed people tend to forget all about it, getting even more tired than necessary by not eating healthily and not sleeping enough.

Give your mind a break remembering things

Use an app for lists and to-dos, leaving your mind to do just the thinking. Whatever you want to think of yourself, the mind does have its limits.

Plan your time off

It's not meant to happen if and when you get a chance, time to relax needs to be a regular occurrence. The more busy you are, the more important to remember having to take a break.

Assuming you had the time to go through the points above, you should be able to give at least one of the tips a go and see for yourself whether things can get more efficient or not. Once you realize that they can, what you'll do with the extra time gained is completely up to you..